Ute Gruenwald

Ute Gruenwald (* 1943 in Berlin ) is a contemporary German-American painter.

Life

After a brief course in psychology, Gruenwald studied painting and art in architecture from 1965 to 1967 at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart . Married to the sculptor Boris Grünwald , she emigrated to the USA with him and their two children in 1969 . In 1981 she began studying drawing and painting at California State University, Long Beach . From 1982 to 1985 she studied at the University of California, Los Angeles , Art Department, majoring in painting ( MFA 1985). In 1986 she co-founded the Santa Monica Fine Art Studios in Santa Monica, which she ran as director until 1991. During this time there is a teaching activity. In 1992, after 22 years in America, she returned to Germany , where she continued her work and teaching. She lives near Göttingen .

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Since she could not agree with the simplified ideologies at the art academy of the 1960s, she withdrew from any grouping and began her own painting experiment in the style of the old masters and with themes from the present ("Poppies" 1972; "Dirty Sally dancing ”1981). It was not until 1982–85, during her newly started studies at the University of Los Angeles, UCLA, from which she graduated with an MFA, that she radically opened up to the various directions of this time. Large acrylic and oil paintings were created (the cycle “Self-Portrait” 1983–85; the cycle “Da Vinci Variations” 1985 and “A Beautiful Painting” 1985) and first attempts at installation and performance . This openness towards the new media and artistic forms of expression determined her thinking and work from then on and also explains the diversity of her work. Nevertheless, painting with its imaginary spaces and the resulting free creative possibilities always remained an indispensable part of their artistic engagement (e.g. "Toxic Times I-III" 1987/88; "... your father is at war" ( boiling soup) 1989; “Ich bin ein Rübenberg” 2005; “The promise - the promise” (sugar heaps) 2009 and the five-part installation “The thoughts are free” 2008). Ute Gruenwald was never interested in developing her own style. If you were to look for one, you would definitely find it in the intensity of their discussion and the complexity of their work. Your work is always communicative. A seemingly real visual language draws the viewer into the respective work. But through an absurd "kink of alienation" (UG) he is released back into his own imagination, where his thoughts can act independently and freely. The freedom of thought is a topic and concern for Ute Gruenwald.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1982 Benefit Show Jeffry Foundation, The Jeffry Institute, Los Angeles, CA
• 1983 Plurality, Gallery 350, Beverly Hills, CA
• 1984 Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
• 1985 Frederic S. White Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
• 1987 Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
• 1988 Dushane Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
• 1988 Mario Villa Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
• 1990 Newcommers Show, Municipal Art Gallery, Hollywood, CA
• 1991 Solo Show, Santa Monica City College Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
• 1993 Solo exhibition, Altes Rathaus, Göttingen
• 1993 Solo exhibition, Kunsthaus Essen
• 1995 Solo exhibition at the Kunstverein Kassel in the Fridericianum
• 1995 Group exhibition "Art in the Pauliner Church", Göttingen
• 1996 Solo exhibition at APEX Gallery, Göttingen
• 2001 “My feet are green” (picture installation), APEX gallery, Göttingen
• 2005 Solo exhibition, Künstlerhaus Göttingen: "I am a beet mountain"
• 2006 Solo exhibition at the Bursfelde monastery church: "As if there were a thousand ways"
• 2006 Group exhibition LK Göttingen (1st winner of the Culture Prize)
• 2008 "Thoughts are free ...". Solo exhibition at Künstlerhaus Göttingen as part of the art sequences
• 2010 Solo exhibition "Simultaneously", Künstlerhaus Göttingen
• 2011 group exhibition "..." (quote), Künstlerhaus Göttingen
• 2012 group exhibition NordArt
• 2013 group exhibition NordArt
• 2014 Solo exhibition "Walle, walle, ... that, for the purpose ...", oil painting - installations, Künstlerhaus Göttingen

literature

• Kassel Art Association . 1995 Annual Report, pp. 10–13.
• Art sequences 2008: On site - on time. Part 2, texts: Anja Marrack. Göttingen 2008, pp. 28-33.
• North Art. Exhibition catalog 2012. Büdelsdorf 2012, ISBN 978-3-9813751-4-5 , p. 82.
• Ute Gruenwald, New Work. Oil paintings and installations, Künstlerhaus Göttingen 2014, 40 pages, ISBN 978-3-88452-260-8

Collections

Ute Gruenwald's works are in private collections in the United States, Australia, and Germany.

Web links

• utegruenwald.de