Anne Neukamp
Torsion
Artist
Anne Neukamp
(1976, Düsseldorf), German
Original Title
Torsion
Date2017
Mediumacrylic, oil and tempera on canvas
Dimensions250 × 190 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionAnne Neukamp is a German painter based in Berlin. Her canvases are inspired by ordinary banal objects, well-known symbols, and signs or elements of digital origin. These can be understood as part of a visual archive of consumer society, omnipresent in our daily surroundings. Neukamp’s subtle manipulation of these elements rids them of their unambiguous identifiability and transforms them into unidentifiable signs situated on the boundary between figuration, abstraction, and ornamentation. They are often slanted, enlarged, multiplied, or contorted into enigmatic silhouettes. The mechanical repetition of these shapes evades hierarchization and allows the author to disrupt their anticipated fetishization. The viewer perceives the motifs as familiar, yet their clear recognition and identification continually escapes. By deconstructing their legibility, Neukamp highlights the close connection between symbols of consumerist environments and those of digital environments, with both geared toward the fast transmissions of information and its psychological impacts. This in turn spotlights the manner in which we perceive logos and the way they automatically become stored in our memory. Neukamp’s visual transformation of these symbols rids them of their pre-programmed content and spotlights their hidden metaphorical and psychological potential through which brands influence and manipulate our consumer behavior. Her works simultaneously focus on the aesthetics and communicative function of these symbols. The omission of shadows endows the paintings with a strange elusiveness and further exacerbates the illegibility of their content. Neukamp’s paintings are defined noy only by their materiality and technical precision, but also by subtle irregularities arising from her creative process, which can only be appreciated through the viewer’s physical presence in front of the artwork. Neukamp makes use of the specific qualities of the raw cotton canvas and of a sophisticated combination of oil, tempera, and acrylic paint. The powerful expression of her paintings is based on contrasts of rough and smooth textures, neutral and vibrant colors, and an oscillation between thick, three-dimensional forms and flat, monochromatic surfaces. Such juxtapositions intensify the work’s ambiguity and further liberate its visual forms from their established contexts. The paintings are created through a meticulous technique of layering oil, tempera, and acrylic paints, producing an illusory effect not dissimilar to that of contemporary digital aesthetics which are essentially based on illusion and a suppression of reality.
This painting titled Torsion (2017) depicts two short, white strips, each segmented by black lines. They float on a light, monochromatic surface and are anchored by two metallic elements, creating a sense of ambiguity which prevents their clear deciphering. This is true both for their representational and their spatial dimensions—they are impossible to identify as specific objects because they evade principles of imitation and mimesis. The segmentation of the strips by black lines can associate abstract graphic symbols and possibly slashes used between words in written text. The strips themselves also distantly evoke speech scrolls lining the visual narrations of medieval paintings, thus emphasizing their potential communicative function, which is currently delegated to logos and corporate design. The painting’s aesthetics also evoke the works of American pop artists; however, in contrast to pop art’s visual comprehensibility, Neukamp’s work destabilizes the viewer’s ability to identify objects. The equivocal title of the painting underscores the ambiguity of its content, inviting free association and further inhibiting our ability to decode the visual sign. This approach stems from the author’s conviction that art should not give the viewer any explicit cues, thus preserving the autonomy of the individual’s gaze.
Anne Neukamp (*1976, Düsseldorf) began studying painting at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. She proceeded to study at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Dresden, where she experienced some of the remaining atmosphere of the Eastern Bloc. This encounter with the East helped her understand the close connection between socio-political systems and the ways people think and communicate. Her studies in an institution of the former Eastern Bloc also influenced her emphasis on the scrupulous craftsmanship of her canvases. In 2015, she was awarded the prestigious Pollock Krasner Foundation grant. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Columbia University (New York City, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin), the KAI 10│Arthena Foundation (Düsseldorf), the Heidelberger Kunstverein, and the 5th Prague Biennale.
This painting titled Torsion (2017) depicts two short, white strips, each segmented by black lines. They float on a light, monochromatic surface and are anchored by two metallic elements, creating a sense of ambiguity which prevents their clear deciphering. This is true both for their representational and their spatial dimensions—they are impossible to identify as specific objects because they evade principles of imitation and mimesis. The segmentation of the strips by black lines can associate abstract graphic symbols and possibly slashes used between words in written text. The strips themselves also distantly evoke speech scrolls lining the visual narrations of medieval paintings, thus emphasizing their potential communicative function, which is currently delegated to logos and corporate design. The painting’s aesthetics also evoke the works of American pop artists; however, in contrast to pop art’s visual comprehensibility, Neukamp’s work destabilizes the viewer’s ability to identify objects. The equivocal title of the painting underscores the ambiguity of its content, inviting free association and further inhibiting our ability to decode the visual sign. This approach stems from the author’s conviction that art should not give the viewer any explicit cues, thus preserving the autonomy of the individual’s gaze.
Anne Neukamp (*1976, Düsseldorf) began studying painting at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. She proceeded to study at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Dresden, where she experienced some of the remaining atmosphere of the Eastern Bloc. This encounter with the East helped her understand the close connection between socio-political systems and the ways people think and communicate. Her studies in an institution of the former Eastern Bloc also influenced her emphasis on the scrupulous craftsmanship of her canvases. In 2015, she was awarded the prestigious Pollock Krasner Foundation grant. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Columbia University (New York City, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin), the KAI 10│Arthena Foundation (Düsseldorf), the Heidelberger Kunstverein, and the 5th Prague Biennale.
