Maiden voyages of never-built ships

Her current series of works is the result of a special discovery: the artist Christine Keruth has combined historical drawings and contemporary painting to create innovative works of art with a new form of expression. She came across the rare drawings in the art collection of a sailing club: Ship outlines and construction drawings for sailing yachts and boats. They were made between 1900 and 1911 by Otto Protzen (1868-1925), a Berlin sailor, writer and landscape painter. Keruth, herself a member of the sailing club on Wannsee in Berlin, was inspired by them to create her extraordinary paintings. The sailing enthusiast combines the technical designs with abstract depictions of the Wannsee from the perspective of a sailor. She develops a dynamic unity from the contrast between meticulous lines and impulsive, vital painting. Protzen's constructions, some of which were never realized, finally meet wind and waves in Keruth's paintings. The paintings bring visitors closer to the adventure of sailing by visualizing the necessary requirements of extensive specialist knowledge and intuitive action in dealing with the forces of nature. The exhibition ghostly ships at wannsee with 15 works on display runs from April 12 to May 24 at Vorona Galerie in Berlin.

Christine Keruth studied painting at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee and now lives and works in Berlin and Potsdam. In 2021, she completed her doctorate at the University of Potsdam on the topic of The Pietà Iconic in Contemporary Art. Modification and innovation of a pictorial formula. Keruth, who participates in the Art.Salon artist program, has exhibited nationally and internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been represented at art fairs in Berlin, Cologne and Singapore, among others.