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until 21.o1. | #3706ARTatBerlin | Taubert Contemporary presents from 11. November 2022 the exhibition Allergic to Peanuts by artist Julia Gruner.
Julia Gruner’s first solo exhibition at Taubert Contemporary comprises three groups of works that illustrate the artist’s consistent questioning of the medium of painting. The basis for this is a genuine interest in a wide variety of materials, which Gruner subjects to meticulous material experiments and analyses.
The “Lazy Paintings” (2022), which resemble seat cushions and whose surfaces are made of pure acrylic paint, lounge around ponderously in the gallery space. These three-dimensional paintings, brought from wall to floor, feature color combinations that are unusual in the best sense of the word, ranging from poison green to bright pink and darkened reds. The quirky textures are created by combining water-based acrylic paint with various oils (in this case, peanut oil) that repel each other based on their chemical characteristics.
The “Domestic Paintings” (since 2020) originated in the first Corona lockdown. Cut off from the studio, Gruner resorted during this period to materials available within her own four walls and repurposed them as painting materials. The artist mixed various household liquids such as cleaning products, cooking oil, nail polish, or honey to create colorful amalgams, which she applied to a foil, scanned in high resolution, and finally printed the resulting image. In view of the beautifully curved “brushstrokes” created by toothpaste, for example, and the impression of being confronted with abstract painting, the artistic work itself is at the same time subtly addressed.
Last but not least, the ongoing project of the “Painting Water Tiles” is presented in the exhibition. The starting point for this was the question of the environmental compatibility of so-called painting water. After all, this solution, which is produced when painting utensils are washed out, contains liquid plastic due to the color binder acrylic, but is usually simply fed into the household water cycle. The artist found that there was no knowledge or awareness of alternative disposal. So she decided to mix the painting water with plaster and pour it into empty sausage and cheese packaging. After each day of work, a new tile is thus created, which refers to many hours of work in the studio.
– Romina Dümler
Julia Gruner (*1984 in Lüdenscheid, Germany)
lives and works in Cologne, Germany
Vernissage: Friday, 11. November 2022, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Ausstellungsdaten: Friday, 11. November 2022 – Saturday, 21. January 2023
to the gallery
Titelbild: Domestic Painting (Zitronenfrische), 2020
Exhibition Julia Gruner – Taubert Contemporary | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
