The German artist Katharina Grosse impressed the art world with her innovative compressor-driven paint spraying technique. She used it for the first time in 1998 on the occasion of the 11th Biennale of Sydney. The inclusion of the site plays a central role in Grosse's work: Her haptic in situ paintings and installations are part of her artistic expression. Grosse's large-scale, expansive installations focus on the object-space relationship, as does her flat application of paint. Occasionally, the Freiburg-born artist plays with optical illusions with the help of sprayed paint.
Recently, Grosse’s art was represented at the Helsinki Biennale (12.6. - 26.9.2021). With Shutter Splinter there was an old school building spray-painted from the outside, its interior contaminated with Actinobacteria, and abandoned since the 1980s. She also incorporated the surrounding vegetation into the installation, as well as the plywood from which the building is constructed. In typical Grosse fashion, the project enters into a symbiotic relationship with its surroundings: While the schoolhouse will be demolished after the exhibition, the remaining traces of the painting will slowly disappear – at the latest when the seasonal weather sets in. The artist restages transience and puts cultural memory in dialogue with natural processes. The Berlin-based artist celebrates her 60th birthday on October 2nd.
