She suddenly said

since 2005, 43cm x 60cm, mixed-media collage on diamond paper

„She suddenly said ...“ betrays the artists‘ dedication to this painterly approach, an approach which above all explores the material quality of paint and pencil and how these take possession of and pierce through the surface of canvas and paper. As in „Jacke wie Hose,“ the framing device of these paintings is the cut-out shape of a female body which is the defining framework of this book, of course. Regarding the choice of material and subject matter, „She suddenly said ...“ represents a cross-over work between fashion and painting. The translucent paper the artist chose is, in fact, tracing paper as used by taylors and fashion designers. In this work, however, bodies are traced from two kinds of sources images. They are appropriated from popular fashion magazines and autobiographical photographs from the artists‘ personal collection both represented as copied surfaces that appear as cut-out shapes on the tracing paper. These borrowed and re-cycled shapes and human silhouettes are painted over. In fact, the artists‘ brush mimicks the styling tools of beauticians coloring bodies and faces with make-up to achieve a particular aesthetic effect: the enhancement of beauty. The silhouettes made from „perfect“ bodies -- models -- and ordinary photographs of innocent faces, are juxtaposed with representations of the uncanny -- skull shapes, animals, monsters etc. -- which cut through the original context from which these bodies were borrowed. Recontextualizing these bodies within a different, unfamiliar setting, a surreal effect is achieved. Moreoever, these borrowed bodies are paired up with consumer items -- food, touristic sites, and hunting trophies -- accentuating the power of commodification and the desires it produces.