Larissa Kikol

Face: The Berlin Art Scene showcases the vibrant diversity of artistic expression in Berlin through the lens of photographer Dale Grant. Featuring 200 artists photographed in their studios, the book presents a compelling snapshot of the city’s creative landscape, capturing talents at various stages of their careers; from emerging artists embarking on their artistic journeys to seasoned professionals at the height of their success. This rich compilation not only highlights individual creativity but also celebrates Berlin as a pivotal hub for contemporary art. In addition to the visual narratives presented through Grant’s photographs, the accompanying quotes from artists provide invaluable insights into their personal struggles and artistic triumphs. Image credits: 9783735610171_1_ALESSAND RO RAUSCHMANN Dale Grant 2024 Photography 28x27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant 9783735610171_3_CAROLINA DEL PILAR . STILL LIFE Dale Grant 2023 Photography 28x27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant 9783735610171_4_JUSTINA LOS Dale Grant 2023 Photography 28x27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant 9783735610171_5_RICHARD CRAWFORD Dale Grant 2023 Photography 28x27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant 9783735610171_6_SANGHYE OK LEE. STILL LIFE Dale Grant 2024 Photography 28x27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant

Life for the most part consists of banalities. What to make of it? Katharina Arndt has decided to dip thick brushes into luminous bold acrylic paints, which she applies expansively without regard for the ostensible gray areas of life. Every stroke is valid, there's no remorse or trepidation, everything is foreground, all elements of a picture are equipollent. The people in Arndt's paintings from 2022- 23 gathered in this catalog are simply there, for the moment, gaping into their cell phones, stuffing themselves with burgers. Nothing more. That makes her works distorted depictions of our hedonistic society with its craving for sensuality, even as we always have one eye riveted on the virtual. The harder, then, to face up to physical reality; with all photo filters off, its imperfections are unmistakable. And so, although we clearly delight in these gaudy colors, the pictures contain intimations of melancholy and death, too. Knowing that the hour of farewell is near, Arndt's figures stimulate their senses. They kill time down to the very end with jarring trivia, agitated Sisyphuses wallowing in their glittering inadequacy.

Jenny Brosinski's (b. Celle, 1984; lives and works in Berlin) paintings in large formats look like uncoordinated abstract compositions with traces of wear deliberately left in place. This brings their materiality to the fore and reveals the creative process. Expressive oil paint on unprimed canvas, spray-painted lines, typographic elements, shoeprints, or pieces of masking tape on the canvas: on the one hand, these are experiments and statements; on the other hand, they are engagements with painting as such. The artist added sculpture to her repertoire in 2019, making figurative and sometimes colorfully painted imaginary beasts in bronze or stone-- more evidence of her subtle sense of humor, which also manifests itself in her pictures and especially in their titles.

The paintings and installations of Cornelia Baltes straddle the divide between abstraction and figuration. Her pictures are inspired by observations of mundane details - apparel, body parts, or facial expressions - that she pares down to simple lines and shapes. She often interrogates the painted pictures's function, by painting on the wall beyond the canvas, by hanging a picture in the middle of the room as an object in its own right or laying it our on the floor.

David Hockney (born 1937 in Bradford) is one of the most influential and technically versatile artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. This new publication gathers some of his most defining work from the 1950s to the present, including major works in the Tate collection. From early graphic cycles, iconic pool paintings through to his plein air landscapes, iPad drawings, and multimedia installations, the volume documents central themes and genres in Hockney's oeuvre, as well as his constant experimentation. Original essays by renowned critics and commentators illuminate the artist's search for new forms of expression, the topographical and biographical reference points of his work, the technical innovation of his painting and printmaking, as well as his approach to new media.