About VELENA

Art of metal, light and surface.

VELENA creates limited-edition artworks on metal. The starting point is not a motif printed onto a support, but the material itself: surfaces that take in light, reflect it and look different from every angle.

The works are reduced in form and colour, yet substantial in their execution. From a distance they appear calm; up close they reveal texture, transitions and depth.

Every metal has its own temperature: brushed aluminium feels cool and clear, other surfaces considerably warmer. Depending on the room – a living room, an office or a practice – a different material fits. COLLECTION 01 is made on brushed aluminium.

Tim, der Künstler hinter VELENA, auf einem Sessel in einem hellen Raum, hinter ihm TRACE / 02 und LUMEN / 01
Origin

A summer evening in the fields

It began with a different idea: silhouettes of personal objects, cut from metal. At the size I had in mind, though, they became too delicate – the details got lost.

The real idea came on a warm summer evening, eating pizza with a friend out in the fields: artworks made of metal that don’t just show a motif but play with light and reflection. That same evening I skipped training and started on the first design – VEIL.

Today I assemble every work by hand in Langen, in the room I grew up in. The image plate is bonded to a carrier frame, and the shadow-gap frame is fixed to it with black rivets. The edition is limited to 49 copies per motif – 99 would have been too many for me.

The first copy of VOID now hangs in a friend’s living room, between black, white and metal. At his housewarming party, guests stopped in front of it, discussed it and finally agreed it was one of those pictures you could look at for hours. That is exactly what these works are made for.

— Tim, the artist behind VELENA

Nahaufnahme der gebürsteten Aluminiumoberfläche eines VELENA-Werks mit feiner, linearer Struktur
Material

Surface and light

Brushed aluminium has a fine, linear texture. In the bright areas of a motif it remains visible and takes in the light of the room – differently in daylight than in the evening, differently from the front than from the side. The metal is therefore not a support but part of every work.

Making

From print to framed work

  1. Print

    Direct print on silver brushed aluminium Dibond. Where the motif brightens, the metal remains visible and becomes part of the image.

  2. Framing

    The image plate is bonded to a carrier frame and fixed with black rivets inside the aluminium shadow-gap frame – by hand, in Langen.

  3. Marking

    Each copy receives an engraved edition plate in black anodised aluminium with the title of the work and the edition number.

Approach

Three principles

  • Material as part of the work

    At VELENA, metal is not a neutral support. Its texture, its sheen and its reflections belong to the image.

  • Reduction

    Few forms, a limited palette. From a distance the works appear calm; up close they reveal transitions, texture and depth.

  • Limitation

    Each motif is published in 49 numbered copies. Once the edition is sold, it will not be reissued.

COLLECTION 01

Four works on brushed aluminium, 49 copies each.

LUMEN / 01 · TRACE / 02 · VOID / 03 · VEIL / 04

View the collection