Biography of Katharina Fritsch
Düsseldorf-based contemporary artist Katharina Fritsch (born 1956 in Essen, DE) is known for her iconic sculptures and installations. Characterized by their simple outlines and brazen use of color, her works boast the clarity of religious icons or pictographs that reference anything from art history to folklore. The attention she pays to the color, scale and surfaces of the sculptures, and to their color, scale, and the space in which they are presented creates a strange tension between the familiar and the surreal.
Oscillating between reality and apparition, Katharina Fritsch's works—often tempered by humor—open up dark areas of our collective consciousness and confront deep-seated anxieties. Elements of the artist's own memories and fantasies are often recast into strange visions that assault a viewer's sense of reality, confronting them instead with bold startling directness as if in a dream or mirage. Her works on paper operate similarly championing simple outline, historical references and a dose humor.
Katharina Fritsch has partaken in a number of prestigious exhibitions including Illuminations at the 54th Venice Biennale. She represented Germany in the 46th Venice Biennale and has had many solo exhibitions including Kunsthaus Zurich and the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, White Cube, London, Tate Modern, London, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, SF MOMA and at the Dia Center for the Arts, New York.
