Sophie von Hellermann
Untitled, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
180 x 230 cm
Born in 1975 in Munich, Germany. Lives and works in Margate, UK. Sophie von Hellermann’s paintings recall the look of fables, legends, and traditional stories that are imbued with the...
Born in 1975 in Munich, Germany. Lives and works in Margate, UK.
Sophie von Hellermann’s paintings recall the look of fables, legends, and traditional stories that are imbued with the workings of her subconscious rather than the content of existing images. Her romantic, pastel-washed canvases are often installed to suggest complex narrative threads. Von Hellermann applies pure pigment directly onto unprimed canvas, her use of broad-brushed washes imbues a sense of weightlessness to her pictures. Von Hellermann’s paintings draw upon current affairs as often and as fluidly as they borrow from the imagery of classical mythology and literature to create expansive imaginary places.
In subject matter and style, von Hellermann tests imagination against reality, imbueing her works with a fragile, fleeting and spontaneous appearance. They combine eclectic cultural, scientific and literary references in imaginary scenarios, so that personal and collective histories are made to intersect and collide. Von Hellermann’s paintings comprise a compelling form of visual autobiography, replete with fantasy, sentiment and desire. They present a generous array of arresting images that look both backwards and forwards in time. In her paintings she restlessly explores various emotive locations and scenarios populated with intriguing characters. Sophie von Hellermann received her BFA from Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf and an MFA from Royal College of Art, London. She had a solo booth with Pilar Corrias at Frieze London 2023.
Selected solo exhibitions include: Out of Time, Pilar Corrias, London (2022); Schloss Freienwalde, Bad Freienwalde, Germany (2022, commission); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pilar Corrias, London (2020); Judgement Day, Chisenhale Gallery, London; and Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (2006).
Selected group exhibitions include: Let The Sunshine In, Pilar Corrias, London, UK (2023); Sirens: Sophie von Hellermann and Anne Ryan, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK (commission) (2021); Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2021); With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters, Elmhurst Art Museum, Berlin (2019); Jahresgaben 2016, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2016); Empathy and Abstraction: Modernist Women in Germany, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2015); I Cheer a Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea (2014); In the disappearing mist, the gift of whispers, Focal Point Gallery, Southend (2012); Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (2011); Sophie von Hellermann and Josh Smith, le Consortium, Dijon (2009), Dear Painter, paint me…, Pompidou Centre, Paris (2002), and Trouble Spot Painting, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp (1999).
Sophie von Hellermann’s paintings recall the look of fables, legends, and traditional stories that are imbued with the workings of her subconscious rather than the content of existing images. Her romantic, pastel-washed canvases are often installed to suggest complex narrative threads. Von Hellermann applies pure pigment directly onto unprimed canvas, her use of broad-brushed washes imbues a sense of weightlessness to her pictures. Von Hellermann’s paintings draw upon current affairs as often and as fluidly as they borrow from the imagery of classical mythology and literature to create expansive imaginary places.
In subject matter and style, von Hellermann tests imagination against reality, imbueing her works with a fragile, fleeting and spontaneous appearance. They combine eclectic cultural, scientific and literary references in imaginary scenarios, so that personal and collective histories are made to intersect and collide. Von Hellermann’s paintings comprise a compelling form of visual autobiography, replete with fantasy, sentiment and desire. They present a generous array of arresting images that look both backwards and forwards in time. In her paintings she restlessly explores various emotive locations and scenarios populated with intriguing characters. Sophie von Hellermann received her BFA from Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf and an MFA from Royal College of Art, London. She had a solo booth with Pilar Corrias at Frieze London 2023.
Selected solo exhibitions include: Out of Time, Pilar Corrias, London (2022); Schloss Freienwalde, Bad Freienwalde, Germany (2022, commission); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pilar Corrias, London (2020); Judgement Day, Chisenhale Gallery, London; and Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (2006).
Selected group exhibitions include: Let The Sunshine In, Pilar Corrias, London, UK (2023); Sirens: Sophie von Hellermann and Anne Ryan, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK (commission) (2021); Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2021); With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters, Elmhurst Art Museum, Berlin (2019); Jahresgaben 2016, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2016); Empathy and Abstraction: Modernist Women in Germany, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2015); I Cheer a Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea (2014); In the disappearing mist, the gift of whispers, Focal Point Gallery, Southend (2012); Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (2011); Sophie von Hellermann and Josh Smith, le Consortium, Dijon (2009), Dear Painter, paint me…, Pompidou Centre, Paris (2002), and Trouble Spot Painting, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp (1999).
Courtesy of LAMB Arts
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