Ellen Gronemeyer

Anton Kern Gallery is pleased to present Ellen Gronemeyer’s third solo exhibition in New York. For Déjà Vu, the Berlin-based artist presents twelve new oil paintings and, for the first time, five small tables. Positioning the imaginary space of a painting alongside functional objects, the exhibition considers the act of looking, and the permeability of fantasy and reality.

Gronemeyer’s studio practice is led by her materials, and an unconscious process. Working on many compositions simultaneously, the paint itself becomes a central protagonist. Each finished work is built up of many layers of oil paint, creating a friction between image and surface. The artist’s bold color palette is tempered with black and white, bringing depth and luminosity. Gronemeyer’s figures evoke precarity, whether depicted alone or in groups. Feelings of isolation and containment are sparked by the paintings’ croppings. In Single Bed, a woman stands alone on a mattress in an otherwise abstract landscape; the mattress becomes like a life raft in a vast ocean. One step forward, and she would be absorbed into the abyss.

Gronemeyer extends her layering technique to a new format; turning paintings into tables. In these works, she adds pieces of broken glass on top of painted abstractions, and finishes them with a layer of epoxy resin. There is a tension here between unity and disintegration; pieces wanting to become whole again. Set flat on top of metal bases at different heights, the artist plays with the viewer’s vantage point to create a spatial limbo.

Ellen Gronemeyer (b. 1979, Fulda) lives and works in Berlin. She graduated from HfbK University of Fine Arts in Hamburg in 20025. She held teaching positions at Goldsmiths College and Chelsea College of Art in London, prior to her current position at Kunstacademie Düsseldorf. Recent solo exhibitions include Newcomer, Kadel Willborn, Düsseldorf; Raphael lights up life, Greengrassi, London (both 2024); and Forty Winks, Linseed Projects, Shanghai (2023). Her work has been exhibited in major institutions, including Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof; Sammlung Falkenberg, Harburg; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Musée d'art Contemporain, Bordeaux.