Barbara Ellmerer
Symbiosis
Galerie Andres Thalmann, Zurich
Opening Thursday, 19th September 2024, 6 – 8 p.m.
Exhibition, 20th September – 16th November, 2024
The œuvre of Swiss artist Barbara Ellmerer seamlessly merges her curiosity for the natural sciences with an intensive exploration of the medium of painting. In her works, the artist alternates between perspectives, ranging from the external appearance of a plant to its internal structures. Ellmerer is particularly fascinated by biological processes and forces that operate within structures. For instance, in one of her previous series, Atomjump, she delved into the behaviour of cold atoms.
Ellmerer’s new series, Organell Margulis, which occupies a central space in our exhibition Symbiosis, adheres to this approach. In this body of work, the artist zooms in closely on a fundamental component of the plant cell: the organelle. It is the living part of a cell and is responsible for different functions. Furthermore, Ellmerer draws inspiration from the American evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, who revolutionized scientific understanding in the 1970s. She theorized that evolution is driven by symbiosis, that is, through the cooperation of different organisms. Her concept of a symbiotic planet challenged the Darwinian theory of „survival of the fittest.“
The exhibition Symbiosis impresses us with a series of large-format works that invite viewers to immerse themselves in another realm – inside a plant. While the paintings pay homage to researcher Margulis, they are first and foremost dedicated to the art of painting: a form of painting that subtly, and at times ironically, integrates scientific diagrams while simultaneously conveying immense emotional depth. Ellmerer’s colour palette and the interplay of various hues are given meticulous consideration. She applies layer upon layer of paint, creating a depth that occasionally evokes the ocean floor or a fleeting glimpse into the cosmos. Within these layers, there are seemingly infinite forms to discover. The initially microscopic view expands, guiding the eye to a space where colours grow and proliferate.
Ellmerer’s works translate an understanding of the forces at work within a cell into the medium of painting. To achieve this, the artist sometimes employs unconventional materials, such as silver nitrate, lacquers and fluorescent paints on canvas or paper. When she finds that brushstroke and composition alone no longer suffice to depict these concentrated forces, she turns to the vibrant hues of neon green or vivid pink.
For Ellmerer, natural science also serves as an opportunity to reflect on the medium of painting itself. The question of what propels painting forward is always central to Ellmerer‘s work. In this context, scientific research in biology and physics intertwines with aesthetic inquiries into perception as a convergence of forces and matter.
The exhibition also features the final works from her series Sappho, which the artist has been working on since 2019 and is now complete. This series is named after the Greek lyric poet Sappho, who lived over 2,600 years ago. Her poems have largely survived only in fragments. It is precisely these gaps and unknowns that Ellmerer uses as a starting point for her paintings. Like Sappho‘s incomplete poems, Ellmerer’s canvases are only partially covered with ink – sometimes the linen is entirely unpainted. This creates spaces that stimulate our imagination when viewing them, offering the possibility to fill in the gaps with our own individual associations.
Born in 1956, Barbara Ellmerer regularly exhibits her work in galleries and museums internationally. Her works have been displayed in venues such as the Casa Museo Mariàtegui in Lima (Peru), the Chiang Mai Social Installation (CMSI) at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut Bangkok (Thailand), the Musée d’art et d’histoire Neuchâtel, Kunsthaus Langenthal, and Kunsthaus Biel Centre d’art Bienne (all in Switzerland) as part of the exhibition (Un)Certain Ground - Current Painting in Switzerland, among others. Her works are represented in numerous public collections as well.
The Galerie Andres Thalmann is extremely pleased to present Barbara Ellmerer’s fifth solo exhibition at Talstrasse in Zurich.
Justine Krämer
Biography