Susanne Kühn. World of the Wild Animals

In paintings by Susanne Kühn (*1969 in Leipzig) of mostly large format a young female figure takes centre stage. She moves like an actor on a stage; she flourishes, brings movement and vitality to the scene. A strong light illuminates her theatrically; it appears like a spotlight, as if the actress moved in front of a dark and wide landscaped background.

In the interior scenes it is a complex and multilayered architectural space which provokes suspense but at the same time creates harmony again by (cor)responding to the colours of the figure's clothing. The intense play of colours within the composition receives additional lively highlights through various objects: vases, books, textiles and other everyday objects, arranged surrealistically around the room, floating, lying or standing often in undefined places. Even wild animals appear from time to time emphasizing the tension between inside and outside.

Each detail is painted with utmost care. The pattern in the blankets, the painting on the porcelain of the vases, the illustrations in open books, the wood grain of the floors, the structure of the feathers or the fur of the animals – all of these details are painted with the appropriate and characteristic style and thus seem almost tangible. Through the combination of this wealth of details and the density of the composition the impression of the surreal arises. This is helped by the fact that the interior and the objects in it belong to the past while the figure is clearly part of the present. A flowing correlation between times emerges, an interrelation of times which is consolidated in the experimentation and play of all picture elements.

After her studies at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig Susanne Kühn lived in the USA for several years and continued her studies at the School of Visual Artsand...

In the interior scenes it is a complex and multilayered architectural space which provokes suspense but at the same time creates harmony again by (cor)responding to the colours of the figure's clothing. The intense play of colours within the composition receives additional lively highlights through various objects: vases, books, textiles and other everyday objects, arranged surrealistically around the room, floating, lying or standing often in undefined places. Even wild animals appear from time to time emphasizing the tension between inside and outside.

Each detail is painted with utmost care. The pattern in the blankets, the painting on the porcelain of the vases, the illustrations in open books, the wood grain of the floors, the structure of the feathers or the fur of the animals – all of these details are painted with the appropriate and characteristic style and thus seem almost tangible. Through the combination of this wealth of details and the density of the composition the impression of the surreal arises. This is helped by the fact that the interior and the objects in it belong to the past while the figure is clearly part of the present. A flowing correlation between times emerges, an interrelation of times which is consolidated in the experimentation and play of all picture elements.

After her studies at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig Susanne Kühn lived in the USA for several years and continued her studies at the School of Visual Arts and at the Hunter College in New York. She received a Radcliffe Grant of the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study of the Harvard University. She was internationally represented by the gallery Haunch of Venison until their closure last year. Since 2013 Beck & Eggeling was entrusted with her representation in Germany.

Works by Susanne Kühn can be found in important collections nationally as well as internationally, such as at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden, the Museum für Neue Kunst in Freiburg, the Zabludowicz Art Trust in London, the Schwartz Art Collection of the Harvard University, the collection Alison and Peter W. Klein, in the UBS Art Collection as well as the collection of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Susanne Kühn lives and works in Freiburg.