MALWINE STAUSS
TEXTS
ERDLINGE | solo exhibition
JARMUSCHEK + PARTNER | March 16–May 8, 2024
Face, arms and legs. Although some of them consist only of drops, petals or stars, the creatures in Malwine Stauss‘ watercolors have a human touch. Each of the figures conveys a mood, seems to have a complex mind and a unique character. Beyond any cliché, they appear like types - mysterious allegories that could take their place alongside images of muses or personifications of seasons and virtues. And yet we search in vain for a clear code to understand these colorful figures. They tell us nothing about established orders.
With her latest series of works, Malwine Stauss takes a step back and looks at the human condition from the outside, inspired by science fiction and fantasy. The bodies of her earthlings (ERDLINGE) don’t have a conventional shell, but with their associatively charged colourfulness convey insights into emotional worlds far beyond their roles as roses, rain or roots. With disarming transparency, the artist uncovers the interior and at the same time makes vividly clear that human existence can never be separated from its surroundings. Nature, light and shadow, the elements of the planet exert their influence and form the basis of an alternative vision of the future far away from space travel, machine aesthetics and mechanization.
Space-consuming yet light, sometimes playful, Malwine Stauss‘s figures are capable of touching us emotionally. They arouse our curiosity and challenge our empathetic and benevolent gaze in a friendly and accommodating way. Without being intrusive, they hold a mirror up to us and make us ask existential questions: What makes us who we are? What connects us? How do we communicate? Where do we come from and where do we want to go? Like superheroes, the glazed clay statuettes with their colorful suits, blue faces and flower collars radiate a cheerful self-confidence, warm- heartedness and optimism. They smile sympathetically at us and, despite their vulnerability, seem to be strong together in all their differences. Malwine Stauss ERDLINGE are symbols of versatility and a wealth of emotions. Getting involved with them is worthwhile and promises joy and hope.
+++
MALWINE STAUSS (*1993 in Dresden) studied graphic design at the HGB Leipzig from 2013 to 2019, received her diploma in the illustration class of Prof. Thomas M. Müller. In 2019, her work was selected for the curated special exhibition Academy POSITIONS at the POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair. Since then, Malwine Stauss has published her characteristic watercolors in several own books (including THE TRIP with Colorama 2020, HEXEN 2021 and SOLA 2022 with Rotopol), in magazines and as part of numerous other book projects. While her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions and at art fairs, Malwine Stauss has given interviews and been invited as a guest lecturer at the HFG Karlsruhe. She lives and works in Berlin and Leipzig.
___
INTRODUCTION | Jarmuschek + Partner 2022
The figures by Malwine Stauss appear delicate, but by no means fragile or weak: They stand or sit firmly on the ground with strong legs and big boots, wear brightly colored overalls and put their hands on their hips. They adopt poses that radiate self-confidence and assurance – which some viewers may find latently provocative. Because the women that Malwine Stauss creates in her drawings and sculptures take up space and assert themselves in their environment. They are the focus of the picture and dominate it with their colorful bodies and dynamic hairstyles. The faces, which appear unusually flat and reduced at first glance, seem to find their models in Greek archaism, but on closer inspection they are much more relaxed, individual and lively than these. They exude friendliness and strength of character. The figures are surrounded by modern arabesques in the form of ball chain braids and geometric tendrils. Standing independently, these ornaments display an almost alchemical, fascinatingly vital versatility. One of the protagonists is surrounded by colorful tunnels, that might reminiscent of earlier disco lighting and is at the same time not far removed from a Christian mandorla, the corona of celestial bodies or a very colorful rainbow. Influences from pop culture, fashion and music accompany the process of creating the works by Malwine Stauss and can be read as diverse references to the present. For the development of her seemingly light, sometimes playful compositions, Malwine Stauss not only uses a clear, simplified formal language and a color spectrum that is in no way inferior to the intensity and variety of the 1960s and 70s, but also shows a great affinity for colorful patterns as well as for gouache and pastel colours. Both in the glazes of the clay sculptures as well as in the watercolor drawings, the artist likes to deliberately let her colors run into each other. Mysterious inner formations and seemingly organic interdependencies turn the natural materiality of the works into small, atmospherically charged side scenes, where everything seems to be in flux and connected. Abstract-spatial and figurative compositions can repeatedly be found side by side. In their interplay, new legibility emerges, the highlights of which are the books by Malwine Stauss.
Intuitively, Malwine Stauss often finds an amazing proximity to those of Christian icons in the central placement and arrangement of her pictorial personnel - which should not be a coincidence, since both places are about the auratic presentation of powerful symbolic figures. Spirituality is in the works of Malwine Stauss also present in terms of content: Already during her studies, she found an artistic affinity and inspiration in the works of Spritist painters of the 19th and 20th centuries such as Hilma af Klint, Emma Kunz and Georgiana Houghton. Again and again - and especially in her book of the same name - the artist confronts us with witches („Hexen“) and associates them with knowledge, self-determination, influence, power and closeness to nature: characteristics, values and places of longing of many women worldwide The stories that Malwine Stauss creates with her drawings, text formations and books are personal and abstract at the same time. They tell of life experiences and journeys, emotions and moods, encounters and human connections. They trace the human constitution, fears, longings and inner movements. In her life-affirming pictures, Malwine Stauss creates a utopia that is at the same time a manifestation of what already exists in our world: solidary communities, awakening - and strong women in the most positive sense.
text: Ines Wittneben
___
FURTHER TEXTS (SELECTION):
https://www.berlinartlink.com/2021/02/09/malwine-stauss-interview-artist-book/
https://elephant.art/malwine-stauss-artist-interview-witchcraft-occult-feminist-2019/
https://malwinestauss.com/about
THE BOOKS
http://www.rotopolpress.de/produkte/sola
http://www.rotopolpress.de/produkte/hexen
https://coloramabooks.space/collections/all/products/the-trip
https://korbinian-verlag.de/products/sich-erinnern-man-selbst-zu-sein
https://documenta-fifteen.de/gehen-finden-teilen/
INSTAGRAM
@malwinestauss