CROSSINGS - Retrospektive Valentin Seiler

Crossroads were the central theme of Munich artistVALENTIN SEILER’s life. From early childhood until his death at age 24, he focused on this motif. What began as childlike drawings of cars soon evolved toward increasing abstraction. White lines on black paper, black lines on white paper. Turn marks and arrows. That was all it took to create a fascinating world of imagination. Despite the abstraction, viewers will repeatedly discover figurative and concrete elements in the lines.

The intersection as a symbol of the search for orientation: this may have been what drove VALENTIN SEILER in his tireless creative work. He produced more than two thousand works over the course of just twenty years—and he did so despite the increasingly limiting effects of a severe muscular disease. In the end, VALENTIN could barely move his hand at all; yet even that did not prevent him from keeping the creative process going until the very end.

It is only in recent years that the art of people with disabilities has become more visible; long underestimated and pushed into the background, it is now increasingly receiving the societal recognition it deserves. Five years after VALENTIN SEILER’s death, the Feierwerk Farbenladen is now presenting a retrospective of selected works by the artist.

VALENTIN SEILERwas born on March 26, 1997, in Starnberg. He grew up in Munich with his parents and his brother Viktor. He attended the Montessori School in Sendling and subsequently the Ernst-Barlach School on Pfennigparade. In 2017, he graduated from the State School for the Physically Disabled with a certification as a specialist in office communications. He was also a member of the Munich Disability Advisory Board and took a keen interest in improving accessibility for people with physical disabilities in the city. 
At the age of five, VALENTIN was diagnosed with a progressive muscle disease that became increasingly noticeable over the years. He became increasingly dependent on help from family and others and used a wheelchair. Nevertheless, Valentin led a self-determined and active life, most recently in his own apartment in Westend. And even as his strength waned, he still had enough energy left in his fingers to continue working on his unique drawings until shortly before his death on August 29, 2021.

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