Helene Appel removes familiar things from their surroundings and places everyday objects in the center of her images. In various formats, between very small and over-dimensionally big, the paintings appear so tangible and real that one can’t escape their presence. It is precisely this that also characterizes the seemingly illusionistic paintings by Helene Appel on raw, untreated linen. They place the viewer in familiar, often random situations that are connected to touch, smell or taste and thus evoke immediate associations with the object. The haptic quality of the works tempts one to touch them, so unlikely does it seem that it is always about paintings on canvas. Each object is presented outside its context on a 1:1 scale, which in turn draws all the attention to the details.

In her third solo exhibition, Try-outs in Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle new objects assert themselves as the subject of the work. A series of kitchen sinks with dishwater and dishes is accompanied by large-format works made from foam and fabric as well as small-format “portraits” of roof tiles, crispbread or pasta. For each subject, the artist develops an appropriate painting technique, which in some cases leads to a combination of various techniques on one canvas. “To depict fabrics lying loosely over the canvas, I use liquid watercolor paint that soaks the canvas and is able to color it, as it were”, the artist explains. “The structure of the canvas is used for the representation of the painted fabric. In new textile works, this canvas structure is worked smooth in places, in contrast; painted zippers that are reminiscent of technical drawings are worked into the picture and hold the fabric together”.

Helene Appel once again proves her investigative spirit, which in her paintings focuses on the aesthetics behind everyday objects and reveals a non-anthropocentric perspective. By fathoming the depths of abstract elements, sculptural phenomena and a realistic painting style on canvas, she empowers the sometimes-overlooked things with agency and a sense of autonomy that goes far beyond their usefulness and even breathes new life into them.

Helene Appel (1976 in Karlsruhe) studied painting at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (until 2004) and at the Royal College of Art in London (until 2006). She lives and works in Berlin. She recently exhibited her works in solo exhibitions at the Williamson Art Gallery and Touchstones Rochdale Art Gallery in England (2023) as well as the Städtischen Galerie in Delmenhorst (2022). The Hamburger Kunsthalle’s latest new acquisition by Helene Appel will be presented in the Isa Mona Lisa exhibition from autumn 2024.