Christina Zimpel and Tina Berning never met. They have been washed ashore together in the floods of algorithms on social media. Silently observing each other‘s work over years, one in New York, one in Berlin, they noted a strong proximity in expression and artistic approach. Yet, on first glance, their formal language seems contradictory: bold and loud on one side, detailed and quiet on the other . Both artists examine the depiction of the (mostly female) human body and it‘s relation between conditioned aesthetics and supposed self- determination.
Isolated from their usual environment, the figures captured by the two artists become vehicles for both expresseion and reflection leaving enough space within, to invite the viewer to interpretate with his own background of life experiences.
Christina Zimpel and Tina Berning develop their drawings in a daily routine. Endless papers and canvasses are filled, filed and sorted, flooding the drawers, piling up, until a spark arises indicating the warmth under the surface. Small fires flare, the inner flame breaks through. The vehicle becomes a vessel for emotion, expression, intuition. This process doesn‘t happened in a controlled manner, it is a constant and intuitive search for a concentrated, accumulated and somewhat monumental verity, flaming up, every now and then.
It is these little fires, that let both artists‘ work merge in an astonishing way. They seem in total and obvious balance, supporting and enhancing each other, despite their contrasting ductus. Showing these artist‘s work together is a lesson on the relation of content and form and the universality of emotions.
Fire always starts with sparks.