Corinne Wasmuht

• 23.10.–23.11.2002

The 247 × 413 cm large painting Gate 11 from 2002 shows a view of the Düsseldorf train station bathed in blue light, strange and unfamiliar. The viewer's line of vision is seemingly lead through different layers of glass, reflections of traffic mingle with the suggestion of very private moments: an unmade bed is reflected in the lower part of the picture — "as an intimate and private projection in contrast to the exposure of public places. Although the sites of departure are deserted, her most private place, her bed in its unmade state, is present through its reflection. At the same time the resting places are about symbols for dream worlds and inner journeys." (Corinne Wasmuht)

These superimposed images of everyday situations give the actual places a highly unreal and difficult to perceive character. In its strangeness, the recognizable place is shifted into another dimension, into a parallel world. The characteristic style of Wasmuht's painting and the composition of the pieces support and strengthen this procedure: extreme or exaggerated perspectives, dominant light reflections, the spaces seem melted.

Corinne Wasmuht: “I consciously use places which actually exist and photos of objects well known to the viewer as subjects for my paintings. But their omnipresence seems strange because of their spatial and content context (for example through their exaggerated perspectives and light reflexes, the coloring, etc.). This feeling of strangeness also arises from the apparent photo-realism of the motifs, which, however, do not in fact match reality.”

The artist, who grew up in Argentina and Peru, lives in Berlin. At the Galerie Martin Janda, her first solo show in Austria, she is showing new, large format paintings in addition to a series of earlier pieces dealing with portrayals from natural science.

All quotations are from an unpublished text by Corinne Wasmuht (2002).