Helene Appel: Try-Outs

In the organizer's words:

Helene Appel removes familiar things from their surroundings and places phenomena from everyday life at the center of her paintings. In various formats, from very small to oversized, the paintings appear so tangible and real that it is impossible to escape their presence. This is precisely what defines Helene Appel's illusionistic-looking paintings on raw, untreated linen: they transport the viewer into familiar, often random situations that are associated with touch, smell or taste and thus evoke immediate associations with the object. The haptic quality of the works tempts the viewer to touch them, so unlikely does it seem that they are always paintings on canvas. Each object is depicted outside its context on a 1:1 scale, which in turn draws attention to the details.
In her third solo exhibition "Try-Outs" at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, new objects assert themselves as the subject of the painting. A series of washbasins with dishwater and dishes is accompanied by large-format foam and fabric works as well as small-format "portraits" of roof tiles, a crispbread or pasta. The artist develops a suitable painting technique for each subject herself, which in some cases leads to a combination of different techniques within one canvas. "I use liquid watercolor paint to depict fabrics lying loosely over the canvas, which soaks the canvas and colors it, as it were. The structure of the canvas is used to depict the painted fabric. In new fabric works, this canvas structure is sometimes worked smooth in contrast, painted zippers reminiscent of technical drawings are worked into the picture and hold the fabric together. "Helene Appel once again demonstrates her spirit of research, which in her painting focuses on the aesthetics behind everyday things and reveals an anti-anthropocentric point of view. By exploring abstract elements, sculptural appearances and realistic painting on canvas, she gives often overlooked things a raison d'être and self-assertion that goes far beyond their usefulness, even breathing new life into them.

Helene Appel (*1976 in Karlsruhe) studied painting at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (until 2004) and at the Royal College of Art in London (until 2006). She lives and works in Berlin. Her works were most recently shown in solo exhibitions at the Williamson Art Gallery and Touchstones Rochdale Art Gallery in England (2023) and the Städtische Galerie in Delmenhorst (2022). The Hamburger Kunsthalle's most recent new acquisition by Helene Appel will be presented in the exhibition "Isa Mona Lisa" from fall 2024.