Output 7, 2026

Mark Hellbusch  

Output 7, 2026, 60 × 80 cm

belongs to the Smear Board series by Mark Hellbusch. The work combines a recognizable basic order with a rapid, consciously only partially controlled painting process.

The image is carried by violet and magenta tones. Fields and traces in turquoise, green, blue, yellow, orange, and pink lie above and below. Particularly striking is the still recognizable horizontal and vertical division: individual color areas almost appear like elements of a grid, but lose their clear boundaries through overpainting, smudging, and overlaps. Order remains visible but is simultaneously disturbed.

This very relationship is an essential part of the . Before the actual painting there is a much longer preparation. The subsequent painterly phase, on the other hand, lasts only a few minutes. In this short time, the prepared structure is changed, partially covered, and newly connected. What was planned only forms the starting point.

The term Output refers to the logic of digital systems and artificial intelligence: Input, processing, output. Hellbusch transfers this structure into an analog painting process. Color, material, movement, speed, and spontaneous decisions take the place of digital calculation. The result can be prepared, but not completely determined.

In the original order remains particularly prominent. At the same time, the strong colors and painterly traces repeatedly dissolve the grid. Thus, an image between system and disturbance, planning and immediate reaction emerges.

The plan determines the beginning – not the result.