Opening I Meret Kern - Nebenmir, Nebendir

In the organizer's words:

Meret Kern - Nebenmir, Nebendir
Opening: Friday, May 09, 19h
Sound performance:
BAHA PROJECT 21h
Marco Costanza 22:30h
Midissage: Wednesday, May 14,18-21h
Finissage: Sunday, May 18, 15-19h
Exhibition: until May 18,
Visits outside opening hours by appointment

Meret Kern (*1997, lives and works in Hamburg)

The imagination that Meret Kern lets flow into her works is fueled by painting and drawing itself, but also by her observation of human relationships. The interaction of these two poles can be seen in her working method, which is initially characterized by a tentative search for the motif. The artist makes intuitive pictorial decisions without relying on a predetermined theoretical auxiliary construction, framework or a classic picture canvas. However, this renunciation could already be seenas the beginning of a conceptual approach that is reminiscent of a saying by the painter Albert Oehlens: no magic, no science, no excuses. The artist completely dispenses with preliminary sketches, instead boldly placing a first stroke on the sheet (or canvas), often without knowing how the motif will develop. It has something of an improvisation, like in music. Perhaps the second stroke knows more?

Her creatures are unknown to the artist. Strictly speaking, they don't even exist. At least not outside the picture. The bodies that Meret Kern invents arise spontaneously in the act of drawing and find their individual human form there. Precise in outline, the matter of the bodies she forms appears approximate, cloudy, light, barely fleshy, deflated - or never completely filled, as if they were devoid of earthly weight. And yet they have presence, some groups are larger than life, offer viewers a real counterpart and meet them at eye level.

Excerpts from: The ghosts I called... On the work of Meret Kern by Andreas Schlaegel

Meret Kern shows her latest charcoal drawings and gouache in her exhibition at Oel-Früh. Kern has been studying fine art at the Hfbk Hamburg with Kerstin Brätsch and Debo Eilers since 2024 and studied fine art at the HfG Offenbach with Heiner Blum and Gunter Reski from 2019-2024 until her intermediate diploma.

Instagram:@meretkern