Artists: Frauke Dannert, Monique S. Desto, Karina Kueffner, Christine Sabel, Astrid Schröder
Exhibition title: Surface to Space
Curated by: Jürgen Dehm
Venue: Kebbel-Villa, Schwandorf, Germany
Date: August 28 – October 9, 2022
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Kebbel-Villa, Schwandorf
Which artistic strategies can be used to correlate surface and space? How can painting, in particular, suggest spatiality beyond perspective representation? And how can a painted work enter a dialogue with the (surrounding) space and its specific characteristics? Five contemporary female artists of different generations present their individual answers to these questions in the current exhibition at the Kebbel-Villa on two exhibition levels.
Utilizing the entire area of 160 m2 of the ground floor, Frauke Dannert makes it possible to experience the exhibition space with its architectural characteristics and lighting conditions in a new way – through a specifically created, immersive spatial installation that consists of carpet inlays and wall paintings. Dannert’s expansive works can be understood as a consistent continuation of her collage practice, for which the artist dissects books on the history of architecture and subsequently recombines the resulting set pieces with photocopier, scissors, and glue stick.
On the first floor, Monique S. Desto uses the office of the artistic director of the Kebbel-Villa as an extended picture plane for her ‘Gebanne’. The pigmented latex sheet with a length of 80 m meanders along the walls, seizes furniture, displays its matt reverse side, only to switch back to the luminous front the next moment. The deformations left by the structures of the office space allow the painterly compositions of the latex to jump from the surface into three-dimensionality. In Karina Kueffner’s work, woven strips of decor-foil blend into the empty area between the two entrances to the exhibition space. Another of the artist’s works features loops of polyester strips that push from the surface of the painted canvas into the space. In contrast, Christine Sabel’s glass stela and her printed wall objects are designed to play a cunning game with perception. Every movement and every change of perspective lead to new optical effects. In the adjacent room, Astrid Schröder continues to play with illusionism: through seriality and repetition, the artist successfully evokes spatiality on the flat picture plane of her acrylic paintings.
Installation View Surface to Space, Works by Christine Sabel and Astrid Schröder, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Installation View Surface to Space, Works by Christine Sabel, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Installation View Surface to Space, Works by Christine Sabel, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Installation View Surface to Space, Works by Christine Sabel, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Installation View Surface to Space, Works by Karina Kueffner, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Astrid Schröder, From the series Notations (Notationen) 1 : 6 : 016, 2018, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Frauke Dannert, Lightroom, 2022, Photo: Gerhard Goetz, Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Frauke Dannert, Lightroom, 2022, Photo: Gerhard Goetz, Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Frauke Dannert, Lightroom, 2022, Photo: Gerhard Goetz, Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Karina Kueffner, Circus, 2018, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Karina Kueffner, Untitled (spring stripes), 2021, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Monique S. Desto, Gebanne: Villa, 2022, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Monique S. Desto, Gebanne: Villa, 2022, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Monique S. Desto, Gebanne: Villa, 2022, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa
Monique S. Desto, Gebanne: Villa, 2022, Photo: Elena H., Courtesy the artist and Kebbel-Villa