04/24/2026
“When I travel, I draw.
The first, and most important reason for this: drawing calms me down… there are no expectations and no pressure for artistic success. It’s a pastime, like smoking or drinking coffee, except it’s healthier and lasts longer.
The other reason has to do with my desire to preserve a moment. I’m aware that millions of other people have had an almost identical experience. Nonetheless, the moment feels very unique and personal. The simplest way to capture such a situation is, of course, to take a photo….
Yet, these photographs usually fail to capture whatever it is about a scene that moves me. This is especially true when there are no people in the picture. At best, the picture is a visual mnemonic.
Every detail is visible, and even the mood, the light, the contrasts are represented accurately. Once I’m back home and show the photo to somebody, I realize that it fails to convey what’s most important: the emotion. The viewer nods sympathetically but stumped, and I think to myself, ‘Oh, if you’d only been there, you’d understand it’.
A drawing is too abstract to provide an accurate depiction of a place. I leave out far more than I show: objects, textures, people, backgrounds. Elements that are consciously or unconsciously important to me are emphazised, made larger or more colorful than they actually are….
And more often than not, I have to concede, that even after many attempts, there’s no emotional link between the drawing and the scene I’ve attended.
Over time memories change. Most things fade, while others become more significant. Connections arise that one wasn’t aware of originally.
Sometimes a drawing can capture all this in a new and surprising way. And with some luck, the picture feels as authentic as the moment itself.” - excerpt from the prologue to Christoph Niemann’s book “Away”
A selection of his travel drawings are on view in his solo show “Idea Diary”. We also have signed copies of the “Away” publication available for purchase.
