Beate Höing

Der Funke Gottes
Diözesanmuseum Bamberg
27. Juli – 10. November 2019

Ich würd´es wieder tun (solo)
Strzelski Galerie, Stuttgart
13. September – 20. Oktober 2019

Die Grosse Kunstausstellung NRW 2019, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
girls, girls, girls NBex project, galleri NB, Viborg Denmark

2018
Föhn, Kunstverein Landshut, mit Gabriele Basch
Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden, mit Andrea Damp

2017
birds and beasts, Galleria Salvatore Lanteri, Mailand / Italien
let’s play, Galerie Freitag 18.30, Aachen
Galerie Wildes Weiss, Bremen, mit Jakob Roepke

2016
A THING OF BEAUTY, Kunstverein Trier
und immer in der Nacht fällt mir was ein, dst. Galerie, Münster

2015
da draußen, Kunstverein Unna (K)
Irgendwie stimmt was nicht, Galerie Roy, Zülpich
Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf, mit Alke Reeh
in-between, dst.galerie, Münster

2014
fragil, Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden
feel at home, Kunstverein Kunstkreis Meppen
heimisch, Kunstverein Norden
Besuch, Religio, Westfälisches Museum für religiöse Kultur, Telgte
kein vogellied, Galerie Wildes Weiss, Bremen (K)

2013
homezone, Stadtmuseum Siegburg (K)
home sweet home, Kunstverein Kreis Gütersloh (K)
one artist show, Art Karlsruhe, mit Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf (K)
Porzellanwerkstatt Eberhard Schulz, Köln

2012
home affairs, Stadtmuseum Beckum (K)

2011
fragile memory, Galerie Jos Art, Amsterdam / NL
Bitte nicht berühren!, Museum Burg Vischering, Lüdinghausen, mit Sybille Kroos
Heimspiel, Ausstellungshalle Hawerkamp 31, Münster, mit Elke Dombrowski

2010
Memory Works, Kunstverein Greven
Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf, mit Xianwei Zhu (K)
fellig privat, Städtische Galerie, Villa van Delden, Ahaus, mit Maren Ruben

2008
Make yourself at home, Het Agterhuis, Hengelo / NL (K)

2004
Stadtmuseum Warendorf



Gruppenausstellungen (Auswahl)

2018
DIE GROSSE Kunstausstellung NRW, Museum Kunstpalst, Düsseldorf (K)
Juxtaposition, Galerie Biesenbach, Köln
Arte Fiera, Bologna, mit Galleria Salvatore Lanteri, Mailand / Italien
Art & Antik Messe, mit dst.galerie, Münster
Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm, Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf (K)
ON AND ON AND ON, Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden

2017
A LOT A LOT, Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden
Colours in a white cube, Kunsthalle Trier
Wendy, Ausstellungshalle Hawerkamp 31, Münster
Heimat ?, Projektraum Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin
Naturliebe – erneuerbare Haltungen, Künstlerverein Walkmühle, Wiesbaden (K)
Face Time, kuratiert von Heike Kati Barath und C.A. Wertheim, Galerie Roy, Zülpich, (K)
SAME SAME – but different, dst.galerie, Münster
P R E V I E W, Galerie Freitag 18.30, Marnach / Luxemburg (K)

2016
DIE GROSSE Kunstausstellung NRW, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (K)
DEW21 Kunstpreis 2016 – Nominierung und Ausstellung, Dortmunder U, Dortmund
8. Naspa Förderpreis, Keramik, Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen (K)
Das 2. Gesicht – Portrait heute, Burg Lüdinghausen, KaKtus Kulturforum e.V.
P R E V I E W, Galerie Freitag 18.30, Aachen (K)
Symposium, Forschungs-Feld, Telgte
Selbstwildnis, Kunsthalle Trier
Anonyme Zeichner, Kunstverein Rüsselsheim
Vårutställning, Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden
Miniaturen, Galerie Freitag 18.30, Aachen
SAME SAME – but different, dst. Galerie, Münster

2015
Retrospektive – 25 Jahre Kunst im Stadtmuseum, Stadtmuseum Siegburg
Bilder von Menschen / Porträt, Museum Holthausen / Schmallenberg
Kunstverein Landshut, 45. Jahresausstellung, Soloshow (K)
Art Karlsruhe, mit Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf
Påsksalong, Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden
Absprung, Marie Wolfgang, Praxis und Werkstatt, Essen
Räume, Skulpturen und andere Dinge, Kunsthalle Trier
Schloss Ludwigsburg, mit Kenji Fuchiwaki und Marianne End
Münsteraner Hängung II, Ausstellungshalle Hawerkamp 31, Münster
Anonyme Zeichner 2015, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Galerie Nord, Berlin
Anonyme Zeichner 2015, Galerie ArtQ13, Rom / Italien
Anonyme Zeichner 2015, Galerie GEYSO20, Braunschweig

2014
DIE GROSSE Kunstausstellung NRW, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (K)
Påsksalong, Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden
Falscher Hase, Galerie Münsterland, Emsdetten (K)
Herrgottswinkel, Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf (K)
Freundbilder / Feindbilder, Kunsthalle Trier
konnektor #31 – Anhängsel – Forum für Künste, Hannover
Art Copenhagen, mit Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg / Schweden (K)

2013
7. NASPA Förderpreis, FIGURATIV / THE FIGURE, Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen (K)
Beuysland ist abgebrannt, mit Galerie Peter Tedden, Kunstverein und Städtische Galerie Speyer (K)
drinnen binnen buiten draußen, Kers Gallery, Amsterdam / NL (K)
drinnen binnen buiten draußen, Galerie Roy, Zülpich (K)
Nachtgeschichten, Kunsthalle Trier
Galerie Hosp, Innsbruck / A

2012
9. Kunstpreis Wesseling, Kunstverein Wesseling (K)
ART FAIR Köln, mit Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf
Münsteraner Hängung, Ausstellungshalle Hawerkamp 31, Münster
1977, Kunsthalle Trier

2011
Art Karlsruhe, mit Galerie Peter Tedden, Düsseldorf
Zerbrechlich!, Kunsthalle Trier
sculpture works, Galerie kunst-raum schulte-goltz+noelte, Essen
cross over, Gocart Gallery, Visby/Schweden

2010
Animal Art, Kunstverein Schwetzingen/Kunstverein Worms (K)
Kindheit und Jugend, Kunsthalle Trier
Highlights zur Kulturhauptstadt, Galerie kunst-raum schulte-goltz+noelte, Essen

2009
Wahrheit, Badisches Kunstforum, Ebringen
Deck 4, Galerie Marianne Grob, Berlin, mit Friederike van Duiven
Galerie Marianne Grob, Berlin
Bombe, Galerie Plan B, Düsseldorf

2008
Haus der Kunst, München, Neuer Kunstsalon (K)
Kunsthalle Villa Kobe, Halle/Saale, Große Kunstausstellung (K)
Forum 2008, Burg Vischering, Lüdinghausen (K)
Kunstpreis der Bernd-Rosenheim-Stiftung, Offenbach (K)

2007
Kunsthaus Kloster Gravenhorst, Hörstel (K)
Haus der Kunst, München, Große Kunstausstellung (K)
Kunsthalle Villa Kobe, Halle/Saale, Große Kunstausstellung (K)
Wer, Wo und mit Wem, Haus der Niederlande, Münster
Koordinaten, LWL-Landeshaus, Münster (K)

2006
Kunsthalle Villa Kobe, Halle/Saale, Große Kunstausstellung (K)
Kunsthaus Kloster Gravenhorst, Hörstel (K)
Landesmuseum Münster, 175 Jahre Westfälischer Kunstverein

2005
Speicherstadt Nord, Münster


Vita:

1966 geboren in Coesfeld / Westfalen
2001 – 2005 Studium an der Freien Kunstakademie Rhein-Ruhr in Essen und Krefeld bei Veit Johannes Stratmann
2005 Akademiebrief

2008 Kunstpreis der Bernd und Gisela Rosenheim-Stiftung, Offenbach
seit 2010 Dozentin an der Europäischen Akademie für Bildende Kunst, Trier
2012 Katalogförderung der LWL-Kulturstiftung
2018 Stipendium der Aldegrever Gesellschaft e.V., Münster

Mitglied im Deutschen Künstlerbund

Sammlungen:

Stadtmuseum Siegbug
Keramikmuseum Westerwald
Sammlung des Bezirks Västra Götaland, Schweden
Sammlung des Kreises Steinfurt
Sammlung der Bernd und Gisela Rosenheim Stiftung
Sammlung Peter Tedden
Down Memory Lane in Pictures

TEXT:
The human/all-too-human in Beate Höing’s picture worlds

In her paintings, Beate Höing devotes herself to the classical fields of portraiture and of still life & interiors. In ever new examples and variations, she fuses together the possibilities of these traditionally rich genres, which arose and flourished in the 17th century, only to then decline. Though works of this kind were also painted in the 18th and 19th centuries, by the beginning of the 20th century the original pictorial concept had come to an end and a significant transformation took place. The onetime depiction of bourgeois and morally principled domesticity changed visibly, even radicalized and mutated at times to magical or even metaphysical settings, where they could very well develop their own horror. In Beate Höing’s paintings, still life and interiors once again seem to radiate domestic coziness and reassurance. This state of affairs must inevitably make a viewer skeptical.

At first glance, Beate Höing’s paintings seem harmonious and pleasant, perhaps even touching and almost kitschy, as though someone had set out to place her own homey ambience in the proper self-satisfied light. The themes and the props are quickly recognized and presumably also seen through: portraits of people or animals, vases of flowers, indoor plants, cushions and curtains, all describe the paintings. And the entire lot in a small, readily comprehensible format: more suitable for the living room mantle than for large exhibition rooms. Hardly serious art for a public showing—we muse.

Not till you delve more deeply into these pictures do you see the way their contents reshape themselves. They seem to tilt into an other, new pictorial sense. The second and deeper look is ultimately rewarded, as gradually a certain amazement sets in, regarding the intensity and range of what is portrayed. For a closer look reveals that the presumed harmonious and peaceful picture worlds have an accord that is double-edged and even insidious, capable of turning into its opposite. We become uneasy about our initial, naïve evaluation. Yet the pictures have remained the same.

A closer look reveals that the deliberately small works expand into autonomous picture worlds in which fantasy has a place beside normal everyday reality. And Beate Höing depicts the latter as broken, whether via the slight obscurity as though the portrayal was out of focus or hazy and, on the other hand, via the intentional centering on seemingly banal contexts. Much has the effect of a painted advertisement.

The pictures can also open up and develop enormous pictorial depths. There is often even room for a “picture within a picture”, when the interiors, imitating their prototypes, are actually graced with their own picture on the wall. The effect of her paintings’ depth also means that a single small picture can prevail and assert itself against a large exhibition wall. You at first hardly expect these miniature-like pictures to do so. Their three-dimensional effect is something Beate Höing not only achieves by her depiction of space, but also via the many layers and glazes of paint that constitute her canvases. The strata are applied one over the other on the unprimed canvas that absorbs paint naturally, until the desired effect is attained. Twenty to thirty painting sessions with tempera and oils—in part highlighted in white—are not uncommon. This is done in old masterly style and is time-consuming, but in the end achieves the desired effect.

Her paintings are often triggered by old photographs from family albums. These in fact interchangeable photos of birthdays, relatives, living rooms and holidays she leafs through, reflects on and raises to another level, never in disrespect or even pityingly as regards the constantly repetitive commonplaceness but, on the contrary, lovingly, personally, and even with an intimate view of the original occasions. Also this respectful treatment of the available source material and the stories it tells make up the keen sensuality of the artist’s works. Old photographs are the trigger for the new paintings, but only as a brief stimulus before an intense matter-of-course process sets in, which can lead to thoroughly new and different constructions and contexts. As Beate Höing says: “With me it’s all only about the new, relevant picture.”

Along with photos from the past and from childhood, fairy tales and stories are also major foundations for her works. Thus we encounter Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood just as well as charming princesses and mysterious nymphs, who recall a portion of an idyllic world from our childhood days. These themes also contribute to the great déja-vu effect of her paintings, and many viewers may ask in surprise where they may have seen this image before: perhaps the flowers at grandma’s? The tablecloth at your aunt’s? We used to have a living room cabinet like that! Textures and materials are near and dear to Beate Höing. And thus this abundance of furs and pelts, of the knitted and the woven in her pictures. Their naturalness, but also their plushiness she has accomplished via numerous paint layers, as though one dose too many of softener had invaded the washing machine.

By her own account, Beate Höing likes to exaggerate when it comes to furnishing accessories. Instead of reducing, she ups the ante: here one more décor, there another vase; here an added rug, there another ornament—always on the lookout for an imaginary boundary line that she must then not further overstep. Till voilà, the picture is complete and thus true. The actual content of the picture, however, remains encrypted and indeed enigmatic. It is never fully clarified. The new and, yes, different picture remains a mysterious, closed-off microcosm.

Occasionally her painted protagonists climb out of their pictures and become autonomous as ceramic statues. With hair intentionally rolled up “hotdog fashion” but smartly dressed, they step toward the viewers in full but dignified innocence, true to Luther’s word: Here I stand, I can do no other! Often the figures are combined with commercial kitsch ceramics, in which they are fatefully caught or rather lovingly embedded. The petit bourgeois meets art and vice versa. But here too the original expectation of a picture quickly flips. Quote: “You are lured with sugar sweet, but discover you dislike the taste!”

In addition to the painted family shrines, pottery pieces are at times lined up like wares at a flea market: Jesus next to incense smokers, saints next to figurines. Many an industrially produced ceramic was broken in two and as “rubble striplings” added to her own creations. Whereby both pieces are fired in tandem, so that the industrial ware goes through the oven twice over and is given a new exterior. The stimulating contrast between the professional products and one’s own, assumably dilettante, pieces is even specifically intended.

Along with single ceramic figures, Beate Höing also creates whole figure arrangements. In former centuries, such compositions were set on a table as centerpieces for festive occasions. Heathen mythology may vie here with religious depictions, closely followed by dynastic representational depictions of the highborn hosts. Here she draws on the copious fund of art history, applied art and folklore. More than the pictures, the ceramics and their subjects take on a surreal life of their own.

On the whole, Beate Höing offers a merciless view of past experiences and past memories. She records everyday banalities in the form of snapshots and inflates them into personal, sensual picture worlds. Not as ends in themselves, but as reflections of the present. All of us are part and parcel of these, before the briefly experienced moment sinks again into history.

Dr. Martin Gesing (Stadtmuseum Beckum)

translated by Jeanne Haunschild