Caro Suerkemper: Unschuld in tausend Nöten

Eröffnung: Freitag, 08.02.2008, 19 Uhr

At Unschuld in tausend Nöten, Caro Suerkemper presents small-scale gouaches arranged on boards and a Janus-faced, Siamese twin in white, cast stone. The theme in her works on paper is the female form detached from everyday situations. Women in seemingly ritualized captivity are set behind bars and visors. Her drawings are characterized by geometrical reduction and an idiosyncratic tension between their detailed representation and generous layout. Formally, the drawings change from watery to opaque colours which, on the content level, correspond to a similar ambiguity between a spirit of playful earnest and the vitally crucial game. The gouaches by Suerkemper invoke ambiguous pictorial worlds, relate to “human situations and feelings, to disrobement, touch, anaphylaxis, insecurity, fear and aggression, as well as to our environment, to social conditions and conventions, different designs for life and interpretation of femininity and beauty“ (Karin Schick). “Usually alone and exposed, Suerkemper’s forms ensnare the observers, binding them in questions about the mechanisms of seduction and submission, lust and control, and power and vulnerability. Caro Suerkemper articulates her interest in rules, laws and orders with scurrilous wit. She seeks out clumsy gestures, inadvertently loose expressions, and gives her protagonists the wide eyes and balloon-like breasts of comic characters“ (Karsten Müller). The drawings by Caro Suerkemper trigger a surprisingly intimate intensity between reality and illusion. Not without irony, the question of guilt or innocence is thrown back to the observer – the stony Siamese woman writhes full of fervour in the centre of the exhibition space with a playful, misty-eyed glance.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, 1964, lives and works in Berlin. 1984-90 Studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe. 1994 lectured in Krasnojarsk/Sibirien. Working scholarship of the Senat für kulturelle Angelegenheiten, Berlin. Stay abroad in Minsk/Russia. 1995 Scholarship of the Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg; 1997 Scholarship of the Kunstfonds Bonn; 1998 Scholarship Junge Kunst in Essen; 2003 Scholarship Künstlerhaus Schloß Balmoral, Bad Ems; 2005 Scholarship of the Senat für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur, Berlin; 2006 Scholarship Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umpertide, Italy; 2008 EKWC (European Ceramic Workcentre), s´Hertogenbosch/The Netherlands. Solo Exhibitions include 1996 and 1999 Galerie Haus Schneider, Ettlingen; 1998 Kabinett im Kunsthaus Essen; 1999 Galerie im Kunsthaus Essen; 2001 Galerie Wallner, Malmö/Sweden; 2003 Galerie Jette Rudolph, Berlin; ADG Kunstverein Nuremberg; Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart; Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin; 2005 ausstellungsraum 25, Zurich; 2006 Galerie Römerapotheke, Zurich; Filiale, Berlin. Group Exhibitions include 1998 Kunsthalle Rostock; 2001 Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main; 2003 Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn; 2004 Kunsthalle Göppingen; 2008 the Livingroom, Amsterdam; Kunsthalle Darmstadt [upcoming in mid-April]. Publications include 2004 Caro Suerkemper. Wasserfarben, Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart; 2006 Caro Suerkemper, Gebrannte Kinder, Galerie Römerapotheke.

Caro Suerkemper: Unschuld in tausend Nöten