SCAD’s 13th annual deFINE Art exhibit showcased this past week and spotlighted several innovative artists now exhibiting in the SCAD Museum of Art. Wednesday night, honored guest Katharina Grosse and curator Dan Cameron were able to shed light on Grosse’s new exhibit “Chill Seeping” and speak about her process as an artist.
Katharina Grosse is a painter who focuses on installation art and abstract paintings. Her use of color and innovative materials allows her to create work that occupies and uniquely interacts with space. Her media consists of acrylic paint applied with an industrial paint sprayer, fabric, soil, and other found objects.
She found her calling to paint at the age of twenty after traveling and painting a tree on a canvas. After feeling confined by the subject matter, she realized that she could build her image of the world around her – not just what was there. With this new mindset about conveying her ideas through art, she studied various art forms at a small university, then strictly painting at the Düsseldorf School of Painting.
When asked why she chose her specific art style, she replied, “I went in a direction that was about the feel of color, that had the most presence and goes beyond formal qualities.” Grosse focuses more on color and its relationship with the world around her. Much of this was influenced by her time living in Florence. Surrounded by frescos and colorful houses, she was captivated by the concept of a painting transgressing the canvas. As a painter, she is able to turn her work into a spatial illusion, as “painting has a way to occupy the space that sculpture can’t”.
One unique thing about her work is that because it is exposed to the elements, her work will indefinitely change after she leaves the site, allowing it to grow and evolve. If she paints on grass, new grass will grow. If she paints on fabric, viewers will move the fabric, showing unpainted creases.
In her work “Chill Seeping” which was just showcased at the SCAD Museum of Art, Grosse displays both her works on canvas as well as her painted fabric installations. The fabric hangs from the ceiling and drapes down, covering the space. While discussing the work, curator Dan Cameron noted that the fabric works so well in this space because while it is painted, the softness of the fabric comes through and it still maintains its flexibility. “Chill Seeping” transforms the space into a colorful new world that viewers can explore.
Words by Caroline Tetlow.
Graphic by Fai McCurdy.