"The blowing of the air, the trickling of the water, the growth of the crops, the waving of the sea, the greening of the earth, the shining of the sky, the shimmering of the stars, I consider them great: the magnificent thunderstorm advancing, the lightning splitting houses, the storm driving the surf, the erupting volcano, the earthquake burying lands—I do not consider them greater than the aforementioned phenomena; in fact, I consider them smaller because they are merely effects of much higher laws" (Stifter, 1994). The series "BUNTE STEINE" is dedicated to the author and painter Adalbert Stifter. The first triptych of this series, "BUNTE STEINE. SCHICHT. SCHICHT. SCHICHT. HIMMELSSÄULE I, II und III" (hanging in the SERVUS Restaurant, Vienna 1010), was created solely from the rocks that characterize the titles of the stories in Adalbert Stifter's "Bunte Steine": granite, limestone, tourmaline, rock crystal, cat's silver, and mountain milk. The further development of this series is not limited to these minerals alone but enjoys the diversity of nature. All the materials used are pounded into pigments in a brass mortar through endless strikes, with which I then create the paintings. As a binding agent, I rely on the oldest glue in human history: hide glue. Now I would like to return to the themes that arise in the preface of the aforementioned volume: the great and the small. From my perspective, they are the driving force and starting point of art itself. It is the artist's concern to lead himself along with his surroundings from the small to the great through his artistic exploration. Because lightning, thunderstorms, or earthquakes alone attract the attention of the "[...] ignorant and inattentive, while the intellectual pursuit of the researcher primarily focuses on the whole and the general, and it alone can recognize grandeur in it because it alone is what preserves the world. The details pass by, and their effects are hardly recognizable after a short time" (Stifter, 1994). All phenomena that pass by, that is, everything perceptible, everything that has form, represents the small. The great, the consciousness that lies beneath the layers of these coming and going trivialities, is what we strive for, what ultimately satisfies us, what we truly are. To see and live this truthfully and comprehensively is the greatest good for me. Nothing compares to the fulfillment of it; nothing can take away this fulfillment. - Elias Franziskus Grüner, 2023