Ellen Mäder - Gutz
Tulpan & Pernilla
17.12. – 21.01.2007

Under the title “Tulipan and Pernilla,” the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven is showing works by artist Ellen Mäder-Gutz from December 17, 2006, to January 21, 2007.
With great technical precision, the artist (sculptor) uses sculpture, printmaking, and drawing to open up unusual perspectives on plants and flowers from the local flora.
In the 1970s, Ellen Mäder-Gutz studied sculpture and graphic design in Berlin-Weißensee. Coming from the realistic school, she has continually immersed herself in the forms and colors of nature. Urged from the outside to the inside, she has continuously moved away from the representation of the seemingly real. In this way, she has developed an artistic expression that is modeled on nature but is not a representation of it. Through concentration on detail and a love of experimentation, organic forms are brought into a new field of vision.
A deliberate combination of different materials with form and color gives the artist’s works a strikingly sensual presence and a high degree of plasticity. The interweaving of various artistic techniques staged in the exhibition “Tulipan and Pernilla” offers a broad spectrum of spatial qualities. The artist’s versatile approach to the phenomenon of space can thus be experienced.
Consciously drawing on the tradition of metaphorically linking nature and femininity, Ellen Mäder-Gutz makes the hidden visible. The symbolic meaning of flowers has always been known, with their stamens, pistils, and petals evoking associations with the female sex. Similarly, flowers can be found that show analogies to the male sex. The artistically staged proximity makes it possible to discover the “secret.” Insisting on the freedom of the gaze and that of the artistic form, a sensual statement emerges—a beautiful form made visible.
The artist lived and worked in Elmlohe from 1990 to 2004, enriching the cultural life of Bremerhaven and the surrounding area through numerous artistic and communicative activities.

Curated by Anne Schmeckies.