Museum Franz Gertsch. Karin Kneffel

Monumental paintings with full-frame ripe apples and grapes have made Karin Kneffel internationally famous. At the Franz Gertsch Museum, the German artist is presenting her new series of Madonnas, which deals with the religiously and art-historically charged subject in a modern and complex way. Other works are dedicated to Jesus and Joseph, fruit, candles and fire.

Monumental paintings with full-frame, ripe apples and grapes (which were already exhibited in the Franz Gertsch Museum in 2013/14 as part of a collection presentation) have made Karin Kneffel internationally famous. They not only show pure fruit, but also function as a frugal temptation and beguilement. They work on a low-threshold, intuitive level for viewers and evoke symbolic associations of seduction and fertility. With her paintings with clear messages, strong colors and extreme realism, Karin Kneffel is one of the most successful and independent painters in Europe today.

After the first stop at the Museum Kurhaus Kleve (2023/24), Karin Kneffel is also presenting her new series of works in Burgdorf, which have not been shown in museums before and which she created during the isolation caused by the coronavirus in recent years. With a few previous exceptions, this is the first time that the artist has ever made the image of man her subject. She paints Madonna statues from the 15th to 16th centuries with a special colored version that she found at home and abroad, especially in Italy and Romania. She concentrates exclusively on the faces and heads of the figures. The new works each consist of a diptych, the face of the Virgin Mary and the head with bust of the corresponding baby Jesus. A variety of references become clear between the sculptural faces: the ecstasy or rapture of the Marys, who look down on their baby Jesus and reflect both their own role as Mother of God and the compassion and mercy in the face of the fate of their child. The children, in turn, reflect childlike cheerfulness, loving devotion or prophetic foresight. Karin Kneffel's new group of Madonnas deals with this religiously and art-historically charged theme in a modern and complex way.

In addition to the central group of Madonna paintings, the exhibition is complemented by other works by Karin Kneffel, giving the presentation a religious but also existential component. There are fruit paintings on display, as well as paintings with Jesus figures, candle paintings, fire paintings, drop paintings and more. For the first time ever, there are paintings of Joseph, whom Karin Kneffel did not paint because of his Christian connotations, but because he - as Kneffel says - "raised an illegitimate child".

Born in Marl (D) in 1957, Karin Kneffel now lives and works in Düsseldorf. Before turning to fine art, she studied German and philosophy in Münster and Duisburg-Essen, which gave her the tools she needed for her complex visual worlds. At the Düsseldorf Art Academy, she studied under Johannes Brus and Norbert Tadeusz. She finally completed her studies as a master student under Gerhard Richter, whose motifs she painted fragmentarily or quoted with art history expertise. Kneffel received prizes and awards early on, including the Lingen Art Prize and a scholarship from the Villa Massimo in Rome. She has taught at the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Bremen University of the Arts, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

An exhibition by the Museum Kurhaus Kleve – Ewald Mataré Collection, Kleve (D) in cooperation with the Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf (CH). The exhibition was curated by Valentina Vlašić and Anna Wesle in collaboration with the artist.

An opulent catalogue in linen binding with slipcase and an edition of 12 unique pieces have been published. The edition is already sold out.

The exhibition is under the patronage of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, HE Michael Flügger.

KARIN KNEFFEL

FACE OF A WOMAN, HEAD OF A CHILD

23.03.2024 – 01.09.2024

On the cover: Karin Kneffel, Untitled, 2023
Diptych, Oil on canvas
Each 120 × 100 cm
Droege Art Collection
© 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich
Photo: Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf

Source: Museum Franz Gertsch