Caroline von Grone

» As I walk through the museum, I can tell which painting is based on a model and which is not!« – Caroline von Grone has a keen eye for situations and an unerring one for portraits. In 1991, she was a master-class student under Klaus Rinke at the Dü sseldorf Art Academy and, quite untypically for that time, had turned to painting portraits, either of models she had approached, for instance in subway stations, or later then of models who commissioned a portrait from her. It is absolutely her strength that she » does not invent« observations. This results in a visual acuity that is a definite pleasure for the viewer. Her paintings time and again offer an image within the image, such as abstractly conceived tiled walls, floor tiles, and the interiors of public places such as telephone booths and ticket machines. She also has frequently painted houses, for example, in a northern German housing estate, until these were eventually demolished. These ultimate conditions also interested her, as a counterpoint to the photography of, for instance, the Bechers. Part of Caroline von Grone’ s practice has always been the painting in public, because otherwise she » would not be able to capture the still-life presence within the picture if I tried to paint it based on a photograph.«

Martin Schick is since 1997 director of the Galerie der Stadt Backnang and has been responsible for an ambitious program. He has exhibited, among others, Neo Rauch (1998), Ilva Kabakov (1999), Sven Drü hl (2008), Markus Oehlen (2010). Caroline von Grone (b. 1963) has been developing a specific work in the genre of portrait painting. Her approach has always been conceptual. The motives are looking for them through the observation of reality, without inventing it, as she says. The artist works directly at the site, whether it is a project in an underground subway or in a construction site in a neighborhood, or in a gallery, or making portraits on request. The artist first studied at GHK Kassel (1984– 1986), 1987– 1988 at HBK Braunschweig, to finish with Klaus Rinke and Jan Dibbets at Kunstakademie Dü sseldorf 1988– 1992. Ina Jessen studied at the Department of Art History at the University of Hamburg between 2007 and 2013, where she received her doctorate in 2019 with her dissertation on Otto Dix and National Socialism. From 2012 to 2015 she was curator of the Dieter Roth Museum, Hamburg and also served from 2013 to 2016 as a research assistant for Franç oise Forster-Hahn at University of California, Riverside. Since 2015, Ina Jessen has also held teaching positions on topics related to Dieter Roth, Otto Dix, and political iconography, and provenance research. Wolfgang Ullrich (b. 1967) studied Philosophy, Art History, Logic, Theory of Knowledge, and German in Munich. From 1997 to 2003 he was an Assistant at the Institute for Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, while also teaching at various other universities. In 2015 he resigned from his position as Professor of Art Studies and Media Theory at the Karlsruhe University for Art and Design, which he had held since 2006. Bettina Steinbrü gge (b. 1970) is a curator, lecturer, art critic and from 2022 director of MUDAM Luxembourg – Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art. From 2014 to 2021 she was director of the Kunstverein Hamburg. Omar Kholeif is an Egyptian-born artist, curator, writer and editor. Kholeif's curatorial practice focuses on art that intersects with the internet, as well as works of art from emerging geographic territories that have yet to be seen in the mainstream. Kholeif is currently the Sharjah Art Foundation’ s Director of Collections and Senior Curator.