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until 20.04. | #4189ARTatBerlin | Galerie Schindler shows from 06. March 2024 the exhibition “GUILTLESSNESS” by the artist Bettina Sellmann.
Bettina Sellmann’s painting oscillates between the Baroque/Rococo period and the present day. She updates the aesthetics of the Baroque and Rococo periods by incorporating manga aesthetics, thus challenging cultural, gender-specific and social norms as well as the conventions of art history. The Baroque era – a period in which the utmost importance was placed on outward appearance and representation – shows great parallels to today’s dictates of self-optimization in life and social media. The cultural markers of the Baroque appear in Sellmann’s work as metaphors for the present.
Bettina Sellmann, Pink Carpet Dream, 45 x 40 cm, Acryl on Canvas, 2023, Courtesy Galerie Schindler
However, she uses the conventions of art history to dissolve the individuals depicted in translucent color gradients of intense color. The result is translucent negative images immersed in colorful explosions. Her paintings are “see-through versions” of old masters, as Ann Wilson Lloyd (from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston) defines them: “Inspired by art historical imagery, Bettina Sellmann creates ‘see-through versions’ of Old Master paintings.” * What becomes visible is the fragility of external appearances and the inner vulnerability of the subjects. Authenticity is created through the revelation of fiction. Perfect surfaces melt and transform in the search for an apparent essence. Perhaps the essence lies precisely in its dissolution.
Sellmann often fuses the formal language of the Baroque with a Kidult and Kawaii-inspired visual language. The omnipresent kidult and manga culture feeds above all on our search for innocence and originality. And here, too, everything is fiction: under capitalist production conditions, childishness and propagated innocence become a template and turn into their opposite – manipulative strategies for selling products.
Bettina Sellmann, The Club, 130 x 170 cm, Acryl on Canvas, 2024, Courtesy Galerie Schindler
This aspect is often ironically adapted or satirized in the visual arts. The disconcerting aspect of Sellmann’s work, however, is that it makes no use of redeeming irony. For her, this is a new twist in the tradition of the (exclusively male) “bad painting” of the 1980s/1990s. While this movement was about breaking as many taboos as possible, the taboo of the “cute” or even “feminine” was always upheld – a contradiction that for her always stood in blatant contradiction to the movement’s proclaimed striving for freedom. She therefore sees her position not least as “Bad Painting” 2.0 – very much in the spirit of Annekathrin Kohout when she speaks of “Cute Empowerment”, which calls previous stereotypes into question.
Bettina Sellmann, Julie, 45 x 40 cm, Acryl on Canvas, 2023, Courtesy Galerie Schindler
Bettina Sellmann deliberately uses the aesthetics of pastel-colored baroque or kawaii figures, which previously served a clichéd and discriminatory attribution, and makes prejudices transparent through this affirmation. The shift in perspective makes the improbable credible and puts up for discussion: How much can the sweet and elegant be exhausted without resorting to irony? To what extent can sweetness convey meaning and remain sweet at the same time? To what extent can sweetness be critical without ceasing to be sweet? Sellmann’s painting thus tests the usual parameters of perception of contemporary aesthetics and art.
Vernissage: Wednesday, 06. March 2024 6 pm
Exhibition period: Wednesday 06. March 2024 until Saturday 20. April 2024
To the Gallery
Image caption : Bettina Sellmann I GUILTLESSNESS I 170 x 130 cm I Acryl on Canvas I 2024
Exhibition Bettina Sellmann – Galerie Schindler | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Potsdam Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
