Discover and experience art in one of the newest contemporary art galleries in Hamburg. At the opening event of our gallery on the 31st of March, we will be presenting three artists: Susanne Böhm, Mario Henrique and Anja Klich. Each artist’s works find home in the world of contemporary art, but their works could not be more varied and more striking.
Henrique's oversized works confront us with the faces of our time: faces of refugees and migrants, victims of a distorted reality created by politics and the media. The faces in his paintings engage the observer with penetrating, sad, innocent and sometimes questioning looks. The faces tell stories and invoke various emotions upon the observer.
Böhm's works on the other hand, are mostly averted from the viewer, and anonymous. The "New German Pop Art" artist uses strong and contrasting colours to express perplexing everyday life. As a result, the forms, shapes and surfaces are so clearly defined and so accurately separated from one another that a nearly paralysing calm is introduced. She allows the observer to give expressions to the empty faces.
Klich’s works are mostly abstract and are inspired by feelings, music, various impressions from the urban life and by the peace and tranquility of nature.
Delving deeper and taking a closer look at the three artists, we shed more light on each artist and their artistic perspectives:
Susan Böhm
Susan Böhm currently resides and works from her studio in Mannheim, Germany. After graduating from the Free Academy of Arts in Mannheim, she has since held multiple solo and group exhibitions. She cannot trace back a specific initial artistic moment, but rather lends her artistic beginnings to her own curiosity for art, especially Impressionism and the desire to withdraw into herself. To her, everything can be considered contemporary art, but she prefers to own abstract and geometric works because they simultaneously convey order and chaos. She finds her artistic influences from American Pop Art, along with David Hockey, Andy Warhol, Ellsworth Kelly, amongst others. She defines modern art as the “here and now” and is interested in how current events are portrayed in the media. Her own works involve mixed, colourful geographical patterns with anonymous faces that explore everyday normalcy in which she herself adds to the chronicling of these current events. She advices beginner artists to be free and open to the seemingly unimportant details of everyday life in order to understand transmitted messages or feelings.
Mario Henrique
Coming from Portugal, Mario Henrique currently lives near Lisbon where his studio/gallery is based. Having always worked in a creative field, he began painting 3 years ago. He first began to feel like a professional artist when he started to sell his paintings, not in the sense of money, but rather that someone would treasure his work enough to want to care for it themselves. He considers his art collections to be of an eclectic taste that involve modern African artists and tribal artefacts due to their interesting human features. He also owns pieces from modern Portuguese artists as well as an original Salavador Dali which he says, keep him humble as an artist. Influenced by artist such as Lionel Smit, Diogo Navarro, Max Gasparini, Gerhard Richter, and Andy Warhol, as well as many other modern and contemporary artists, Henrique defines modern art as an attempt to elevate thought as an important part of a modern society. His own works involve contemporary figurativism to capture intimate and spontaneous emotions through quick brush strokes. He personally cannot offer advice to beginners so that they are not influenced when they choose to communicate through artistic expression.
Anja Klich
A native of Hamburg, Anja Klich finished her art diploma in 2000 from FOS Grafik and Design. As a child, her love of art began in the 5th grade due to a teacher giving her the opportunity to practice art that developed into a lifelong passion. She herself doesn’t collect art, but places her largest artistic influence on Salvador Dali. Her own works involve ideas from her peaceful lifestyle with her family amongst the forest. Her ideas stem from preliminary sketches in which she transforms them from influences such as feelings and music to contemporary art pieces. In 2005, she took a lengthy trip to Australia, which also influences her art still today. Her philosophy is not to stand still, but to continue developing herself as an artist. For her, modern art is a form of continuous self-realisation that involves questioning society. Her advice to beginning artists is to find a theme in which you can present yourself in an authentic manner.
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If you are interested in seeing the wonderful works of these artists in person, please join us for the official opening event of the Grace Denker Gallery on March 31st at 5pm. There will be snacks and finger food along with background music and a relaxing, artistic atmosphere. Small take home pieces of art are also available. Members get in free with an invitation and membership card. To sign up for the event, you can find us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/art.craft.living/.