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Mike Weiss Gallery presents Kopftheater, a new exhibition of paintings by Berlin
based artist Stefanie Gutheil. This is the artist’s first exhibition in New York and at
Mike Weiss Gallery. Stefanie’s bold, multi-dimensional paintings are tactile
depictions of her own life. The patterns of unexpected fabrics and aluminum foil
adhere to the oils, acrylics and spray paint applied to the surface and come
together to form scenes from the artist’s excessive imagination, both playful and
grotesque. Her paintings provide the cast and set for her own kopf theater, or
theatre of the mind.
Born and raised in a small conservative town in southwest Germany, Stefanie
moved to Berlin ten years ago and since that time has witnessed the growth of
Berlin’s contemporary art scene; an international mish-mash of artists converging
on the city after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Her monsters and creatures, both
miniature and giant, are gross caricatures of the people in her daily life; artists,
musicians, dancers, poets and revelers in the city of Berlin. Tucked into the center
of the city’s nightlife pocket, the scene around the artist’s studio provides the
visual fodder for what becomes her larger than life imagery.
Influences from the chaotic and cramped compositions of Bosch and Brueghel
are evident. In Berg I and Berg II, a massive heap of excrement and bodies rises
up from the marred landscape of skulls and stumps; pyramid shaped in subtle
homage to Brueghel’s The Tower of Babel. Mostly dirt colored in appearance; the
landscapes are punctuated by flecks of silvery aluminum foil and hints of glitter
and cheeky floral fabrics. In Kopftheater, for which the exhibition is titled, a
Boschian landscape of monsters and gnarled animals peek and crawl out of the
angular cave-like structures, one losing its eye in a cinematic projectile thrust from
its socket.
The applications of materials to the canvas denote object and action. Sticky,
dripped acrylic froths from the mouths of radioactive dogs; globs of oil, shot like
bullets at the canvas, spew vomit from the mouths of behemoth monsters; stark
geometric, bright floral or swirling blue textiles glued flat and then painted on top
of indicate plant life, sea and sky or rooted structure. The diverse stylistic processes
used on each painting’s surface bond the chaos within the imagery. Through their
variety, they are united, much like the characters in Stefanie’s own life that
inspired these scenes.
Stefanie Gutheil lives and works in Berlin, Germany. The artist received her Masters
of Art and Bachelors of Art at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. She has exhibited
previously throughout Germany and Europe and this is her first exhibition in New
York.
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