about
Clara Zelinka (°1982, Heidelberg, Germany) makes paintings, photos and conceptual artworks. By choosing mainly formal solutions, Zelinka tries to approach a wide scale of subjects in a multi-layered way, likes to involve the viewer in a way that is sometimes physical and believes in the idea of function following form in a work.
Her paintings don’t reference recognisable form. The results are deconstructed to the extent that meaning is shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted. By applying abstraction, she plays with the idea of the mortality of an artwork confronted with the power of a transitory appearance, which is, by being restricted in time, much more intense.
Her works sometimes radiate a cold and latent violence. At times, disconcerting beauty emerges. By studying sign processes, signification and communication, she creates intense personal moments masterfully by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round in circles.
With a conceptual approach, she creates work in which a fascination with the clarity of content and an uncompromising attitude towards conceptual and minimal art can be found.
Her works question the conditions of appearance of an image in the context of contemporary visual culture in which images, representations and ideas normally function. By emphasising aesthetics, she tries to develop forms that do not follow logical criteria, but are based only on subjective associations and formal parallels, which incite the viewer to make new personal associations.
With a subtle minimalistic approach, she focuses on the idea of ‘public space’ and more specifically on spaces where anyone can do anything at any given moment: the non-private space, the non-privately owned space, space that is economically uninteresting.
Her works are based on formal associations which open a unique poetic vein. Multilayered images arise in which the fragility and instability of our seemingly certain reality is questioned. By applying a wide variety of contemporary strategies, she seduces the viewer into a world of ongoing equilibrium and the interval that articulates the stream of daily events. Moments are depicted that only exist to punctuate the human drama in order to clarify our existence and to find poetic meaning in everyday life.
Her works are often about contact with architecture and basic living elements. Energy (heat, light, water), space and landscape are examined in less obvious ways and sometimes developed in absurd ways. In a search for new methods to ‘read the city’, she wants to amplify the astonishment of the spectator by creating compositions or settings that generate tranquil poetic images that leave traces and balances on the edge of recognition and alienation.
Her works directly respond to the surrounding environment and use everyday experiences from the artist as a starting point. Often these are framed instances that would go unnoticed in their original context. Clara Zelinka currently lives and works in Frankfurt and Berlin.
artist cv (excerpt)
2017 "Szenenwechsel", Pop Up Gallery- Schlieder Consulting,
Frankfurt, Germany
2016 Artodontics, Frankfurt, Germany
Gutenberg Huset, Mariestad, Sweden
Poster - Project “on the spot". Chania, Greece
2015 Project „painting down the house“. Frankfurt, Germany
2009 "Form, Farbe, Fluktuation", "Lange Nacht der Museen" -
Academy of Fine Arts, Mainz, Germany
2008 "Das Kunst" - Academy of Fine Arts, Mainz, Germany
2004 - 2009 Annual exhibition: "Rundgang" - Academy of Fine Arts,
Mainz, Germany
2006 "la serena", Tivoli, Worms, Germany
2004 BD4D“, Schloss Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
contact
c.zelinka@gmx.de