In Contemplation

“IN CONTEMPLATION” is the name of the artwork by TAXIS in Mannheim – the first STADT.WAND.KUNST mural in the Lindenhof district. Not far from the banks of the Rhine, colorful, collage-like motifs stretch across ten stories of a residential building.

The building whose facade TAXIS worked on for two weeks has an extraordinary history. It was built in 1952 by GBG and was then considered Mannheim’s tallest residential building. The 99 one-room apartments were intended exclusively for single, unmarried women. A porter controlled the entrance, and in popular parlance the building was known as the “Dragon Castle.” Today, people of very different generations and life situations live here in fifty two-room apartments. During the creation of the mural, they and many people from the neighborhood were united above all by one thing: enthusiasm for the artwork. Passers-by repeatedly stopped, struck up conversations with the artist, brought drinks and watermelon, invited him to eat, or followed the progress on the wall during an evening walk with the dog. “Never before have so many people accompanied the creation of a mural so intensively as here,” says curator Sören Gerhold.

The mural was created as part of the GBG Group’s 100th anniversary. At the same time, STADT.WAND.KUNST is celebrating the long-standing collaboration between Alte Feuerwache, Montana Cans, and GBG, who together took the first steps toward an open urban art museum in 2013. The result is this impressive, roughly 30-meter-high wall painting, framed by tall trees. Parts of it can be seen from Stephanienufer, from the Waldpark, and from Ludwigshafen.

TAXIS, one of the best-known artists on the international street art scene, worked day after day from a lifting platform on the nearly 400 m² canvas. He first transferred his sketch to the facade using a doodle grid, then developed the motif freely. For him, it is completely natural that colors, shapes, and backgrounds change during the painting process: “I do design the picture at home, but it’s only on the wall that I see which colors really work together.”

Using facade paints, rollers, and brushes, he created a sky in various shades of blue, with green meadows, trees, and river landscapes below. Yellow, red, and green airplanes fly across it. Ring-necked parakeets and crows form a bridge to the immediate surroundings. At the same time, the image is deliberately left open to interpretation: the river delta could be anywhere in the world, and the woman in the long dress does not belong to any specific time – she appears timeless.

It is precisely this figure that raises questions for many viewers. Who is she? Why isn’t she smiling? What is she thinking about? TAXIS deliberately does not give clear answers to these questions. “If I painted a smiling woman, it would be like an advertisement. A smile wouldn’t be honest. I want her to appear skeptical. She pauses. I want people to ask themselves what she is thinking about.”

Even after two weeks of work in scorching heat on a lifting platform protected by three sunshades at a dizzying height, TAXIS is certain why he paints murals: “I simply love it. Painting outside makes me forget everything else. I like being tired, dirty, and sweaty. In those moments I feel connected to everything. This is not work – this is life.”