Cornelia Baltes

Cornelia Baltes’ minimal compositions balance playfulness with subtle detail, where seemingly spontaneous brushstrokes are in fact meticulously applied with highly pigmented paint. Her paintings and installations oscillate between abstraction and figuration, with gestural lines of corporeal elements such as facial features, hands and feet painted over solid fields or gradations of bright colour. Grounded in a lexicon of imagery that conjures the viewer’s personal memories, experiences and associations, Baltes’ paintings morph into a different narrative for each of us. Her practice also includes murals and permanent installations.

An extensive monograph on Baltes was published last year by DVC Books, and she recently presented a major solo exhibition at Fuhrwerkswaage in Cologne.

Baltes’ work can be found in prestigious private and public collections around the world. She received an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2011 and has exhibited at institutions such as the Royal Academy of Arts, London; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; ICA, London; Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Kunstverein Ulm, Ulm, Germany; and Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf.