Kölnischer Kunstverein

Avery Singer was born in New York in 1987; in the recent past, she has formed a body of work which can be reckoned among the most powerful contributions to the recent history of art and has provided the medium of painting with new impulses – particularly in the context of the changing technical conditions surrounding it. Thus the artist utilises 3D programs like SketchUp or Blender to produce virtual visual worlds: in terms of their formal appearance these can be read as simple animations and accordingly make direct reference to their origins. Singer uses an airbrush gun to transfer this visual creation to her usually large-format canvasses, thereby negating any sense of a distinctive “hand of the artist”. Her approach results in visual formulations that allude stylistically to French Cubism as well as grisaille painting and thus seem, in a certain sense, to proclaim an anachronistic aesthetic.

At the level of content Singer thematises socio-political questions; in doing so, it is not uncommon for her to specifically focus on a humorous look at the rules and rituals of the art scene. For example, she has occupied herself with the process of a studio visit, the role of the artist or director as entertainer, the life of a muse or the image of the patron. Singer’s painting also repeatedly contains allusions to the great masters of the history of art, which also places particular emphasis on the conceptual aspects of her work.

Thanks to the unique nature of her work as an artist, Avery Singer has already been included in numerous international exhibitions in recent years: she has had solo presentations at the Kunsthalle Zürich, at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Within the context of her exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, which will open with a barbecue party on the occasion of the ArtCologne 2017, the artist’s manner of working will be presented to a broader audience in Germany. At the same time, the exhibition also presents a new group of works in addition to her figurative compositions; they represent a stylistic break with her previous pieces and Singer uses them to explore the broad realm of abstraction. These works are embedded within an architecture developed specifically for them: the space and the art will be interwoven with one another within the framework of the exhibition.

An artist’s book will appear in connection with the exhibition, which was developed in cooperation with the Vienna Secession.