The installation KLAPP KLAPP  is a version of "January Depression (Remedy)", see here on this page.
I created the series of drawings shown here during a four-week-long COVID quarantine in January 2021. I wasn’t allowed to leave the house at all. I felt frustrated by all the new rules, though I also didn’t really know what was right or wrong in this new situation. So instead of going against the rules—which was often my secret desire—I decided to go with the rules. I made my own.

I chose to restrict myself to the medium of painting: to paint only on grey cardboard in a 42 × 30 cm format, to use only unmixed primary colors from a very limited palette, to fill the paint into broad highlighter pens, and to “draw” instead of paint. I only allowed myself to depict things that were inside the house and only use kitchen things as collage elements. I had to produce at least three paintings per day.

The series is called January Depression.

When it finally became possible again to leave the house and hold exhibitions, I was invited to show my work at the Kunstverein Springhornhof. I decided to use the small January Depression drawings as the starting point for a larger room installation, in which the original pieces would serve as the foundation for expansive wall drawings and sculptures. The visual elements from the drawings broke free—they danced through the space, leapt onto the walls and spilled onto the floor. They gained their own sense of freedom—just like I did.

The installation exhibited at Kunstpalais Erlangen is a new version of the show at Kun sovereign Springhornhof - it's how I think the installation should be,  at least to me, it's the perfect, finished version.

(Verena Issel on the installation KLAPP KLAPP)

Curated by Amely Deiss