Even German artist Charline von Heyl struggles to describe her work, but she tries for Laura Davis

THE finished appearance of a Charline von Heyl painting is always as much of a surprise to her as it is to everyone else.

Before beginning, she gorges herself on books, images and other sources which could subconsciously influence her work. Then she stands in front of a plain white canvas, her mind empty, and begins.

Before making each individual mark, von Heyl runs through hundreds of possible moves in her head like a champion chess player. Even so, the one she ends up making isn’t always the one she thought she had decided to.

“The first move is always to unblank the canvas – just do something to it so it’s not blank anymore,” says von Heyl, whose first major UK exhibition opens at Tate Liverpool next week.

“It’s always been like that and it gets harder the older I get.

“It’s actually really quite insane in a way if you think about it – to always create something from scratch like that; to not have an issue or a statement or idea.

“If I’m in my studio like I am right now and there are eight blank canvasses, it’s actually absolutely paralysing.”

Even more exhausting, she reveals, is talking about her work, which does – she feels at least – defy explanation. It’s true that it is a challenge to define what makes a von Heyl painting. She creates abstract and figurative pieces in colour and in black and white. Some are rigid geometric patterns and others voluptuous curves.

The German artist is the link between them where another may struggle to be found, yet her works are not an expression of self.

“It doesn’t feel as though I am expressing myself in paint,” insists von Heyl, who moved to New York in 1994 and has a second studio in Texas where she goes to escape from city life.

“It’s not a narrative that has anything to do with me and the way I feel or think.

“I’m strangely detached from the paintings in that way. It almost feels as if they have to be coaxed into existence.”

Von Heyl sees each painting as a “quest for an unseen image” and the desire to be surprised by the result is a key factor in her art practise.