Gliaugir

Gliaugir (born 1954 in Dudweiler , baptismal name Volker Schmidt) is a German visual artist , illustrator , graphic designer and musician. He lives and works under the name Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir in Saarbrücken .

Career

From 1976 to 1981 Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir studied design / art in Saarbrücken, with Oskar Holweck , Robert Sessler and Jo Enzweiler . He completed his studies as a communication designer. In addition, he took a supplementary course at the European Art Academy Trier in the field of drawing.

In 1981 he founded a design agency in Saarbrücken, which he later ran with other partners as an advertising agency until 2001. In addition to conventional areas of work in advertising design, he developed a specialization in illustration. In addition to advertising and factual illustrations, he also designed cover and book illustrations, including for Saarland authors such as B. Gerd Dudenhöffer , Gerhard Bungert , Charly Lehnert , Detlev Schönauer and Schorsch Seitz . With the agency he won the Saarland Multimedia Prize in 1991.

Parallel to his work as an advertising designer, Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir had been active as a visual artist since 1972 and exhibited internationally, he gave up the advertising agency. The meeting with the artist and architect Cesar Manrique was one of the factors that shaped this decision and his further career .

Artist groups and symposia

At the beginning of the 1980s, Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir founded the artist group “therefore”, among others together with the photographer Thomas Gundelwein. From this collaboration with other artists such as Arnfried Astel and Waltraud Schiffels arose the concept of the "Karton", a thematically oriented collection of images by those artists that has been published in several editions and series.

In 2002 Schmidt-Gliaugir became the founder and curator of the “International Artists' Symposium Saarbrücken”, which he organized and directed together with Carmen Schäfer until 2015 on the premises of the Saarbrücken exhibition center. 60 artists of different styles from all over the world were invited and worked in the symposium on site and at the audience. Among other things, musicians were also hired, such as B. the Japanese composer and sound artist Naoki Kenji . The symposium was under the patronage of Peter Müller , Jo Leinen and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer . Furthermore, Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir was a member of the jury and artistic advisor of the international symposium “CERDA + CELTOI”, organized by Forum Europa in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (patronage Jean-Claude Juncker ).

Topics and techniques

In addition to his work as an artist and illustrator, he is also a lecturer in drawing at various institutions and educational establishments.

In the subject of many of Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir's artistic and illustrative works, the human being is the primary focus. Whether realistically implemented, interpreted or caricatured, human, social behavior is represented in his images / objects. Various techniques are used here. The artist's creative palette shows conventional, analog materials as well as digital media such as graphics tablets and video. Classical themes and figures, portraits of antiquity , the Renaissance , the Baroque , or comic scenarios are elements that he depicts and combines in his pictures on the one hand painterly and on the other hand as sketches. It can be seen, however, that in most of the works by Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir the focus is on the drawing. In doing so, he refuses to develop a consistent style in his work in order to then remain permanently faithful to it, slightly varied. In his opinion, style fixation limits creativity. He describes this as "cerebral, boring, against evolution".

stage name

In the Celtic and Germanic history very interested and engaged (z. B. via illustrations for archaeological literature), Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir met with a search on the description of a Germanic Brakteates . This medallion showed the rune inscription "GLIAUGIR WIU RUNOR". Literal translation: "I, the bright-eyed consecrate the runes". Meaning: "I, who has the shiny (meaning" third ") eye, consecrate (scratch, write) the runes (signs)". For Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir, this brand was a synonym for his work, from which he derived an identification for himself: “As a draftsman, you see the world from a special point of view, almost a different (third) eye, and draw (scratch) it. A good drawing also has a special charisma, if you will, a certain magic. ”The pseudonym GLIAUGIR was the official name of the artist for a long time, but currently he uses the combination with his birth name Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir

Musician

In addition to his artistic work, Volker Schmidt-Gliaugir was also active as a musician for a long time. He played as a guitarist, percussionist and singer in several rock, folk , jazz , punk , new wave , funk and pop bands and composed numerous songs. He released a few records with the bands Jehli & Weigli, P4 and Citro and played in jam sessions and concerts with guitarists Thomas Blug , Sammy Vomáčka and Heiner Franz , pianists Claus Krisch and Christoph Mudrich , and drummers Hans Mittermüller, Bernd Wegener and Herman Rarebell ( Scorpions ).

Exhibitions (selection)

INTERART, Moscow (catalog), Russia
Congress Hall Saarbrücken (on the occasion of the Max Ophüls Prize )
European Academy Otzenhausen / European Education Center
De Looper Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Gallery "L 'Etappe", Poitiers, France
International Symposium “12 Artistas”, Teguise, Lanzarote Island, Spain
"Exposición Permanente de Cesar Manrique ", Arrecife, Lanzarote (catalog), Spain
Borgo a Mozano, Lucca / Toscana, Italy
Saarland Museum / City Gallery Saarbrücken
Saarländischer Rundfunk (patronage of Minister of Education Diether Breitenbach )
Sistel Host, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Installation “Charco Verde”, Puerto Naos, La Palma Island, Spain
Performances "Volcán Chimida" + "Castillo de Guanapay", Lanzarote, Spain
"Expo transfrontalière", via city partner St Avold / Dudweiler
Steiner Gallery / Babstadt Castle, Bad Rappenau (catalog)
Roman Museum Schwarzenacker / Homburg
Saarland State Theater , Saarbrücken
Representation of the Saarland at the federal government , Berlin
International Symposium Saarbrücken
1st prize of the “Art Moves” campaign / Saarbrücken

personal data
SURNAME	Gliaugir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Schmidt, Volker (real name); Schmidt-Gliaugir, Volker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German visual artist, illustrator, graphic designer and musician
DATE OF BIRTH	1954
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dudweiler , Saarland