Sue Hayward + Bettina Sellmann | Shimmer | Galerie Tammen | 13.02.–04.04.2026

until (04.04) | #4944ARTatBerlin | Galerie Tammen shows from Friday, 13. February 2026 the exhibition Shimmer by the artists Sue Hayward and Bettina Sellmann.

The common denominator of these two impressive painterly positions is reflected in the title of the exhibition. Shimmer means appearance or illusion in English, and this is precisely where the connection between the works of both artists lies. Shimmer refers to an iridescent light, like the reflection of the moon in water. The word evokes velvet, silver and pearls, a surface that is more than just matter. It appears different depending on the angle and the incidence of light. It is about a state that does not exist materially.

Gallery owner Werner Tammen in front of works by Sue Hayward

Sue Hayward and Bettina Sellmann are painters. Both flirt with past visual worlds, with a symbolism of beauty and power that was mostly established by men. How is it possible to find a contemporary form of expression that is not a repetition? Each artist’s signature style is unique. Transparency and transcendence are intertwined using extremely different techniques. The result is figurative pictorial spaces that represent perceived realities.”
(Quote from the opening speech by Dr Helen Adkins at the Tammen Gallery on 13 February 2026)

Exhibition view – gallery owner Tammen in front of works by Bettina Sellmann

“Bettina Sellmann studied in Frankfurt am Main under Jörg Immendorff and Christa Näher and is a master student of Thomas Bayrle. A 200-page monograph will be published by DCV in a few months.

Works by Bettina Sellmann

The compositions are begun on horizontal, stretched canvases with brushstrokes, worked with pourings of liquid dissolved pigments and repeatedly tilted and turned in different stages of drying. The process can take months, allowing time to actively flow into the work through transparent overlays. Sellmann draws on large-format portraits and group portraits by Anthonis van Dyck, Diego Velázquez and Thomas Gainsborough. These Baroque and Rococo painters dared to depict historical scenes differently from the usual academic style. Elegantly dressed protagonists from the upper classes were depicted not only in a manner befitting their status, but also as emotional beings. Sensitivity and representation, psychological constitution and attitude remain a challenge for painting to this day.”
(Quote from Dr Helen Adkins)

Works by Sue Hayward

Hayward’s muses are intuitively lifted from art history into the present day. The ideas of the reform movements around 1900 – the dream worlds of symbolism, the grace of the Pre-Raphaelites, the elegance of Art Nouveau – are interwoven with philosophical insights and scientific explanatory models. Max Planck’s quantum physics is cited, as are Plato’s octahedron and the Fibonacci sequence, which organises growth patterns in nature.

Opening speech by Dr Helen Adkins

The images are executed with great care on light plywood, transparent gauze and cut-out canvas. In addition, a so-called painting butter made of beeswax and dammar resin is mixed with pigments and oil paint. Spatula-applied structures, overlays and omissions are worked on over months. A physical and also spiritual void emerges between the gauze fabric and the wooden base: the boundary between suggestion and illusion is indistinguishable. This area, in which light and shadow take on the creative role, questions our perception of reality, matter and energy. Robust, tactile surfaces contrast with delicate, transparent areas. The skin is experienced as the boundary of the living, almost three-dimensional body. The interplay of levels, precisely explored by the artist, sings a hymn to the harmony of man, nature and the cosmos.”
(Quote from Dr Helen Adkins)

Exhibition dates: Friday, 13. February – Saturday, 4. April 2026