Deborah Schamoni

Concurrent with the show NOW! PAINTING IN GERMANY TODAY the Deichtorhallen Hamburg are presenting the QUADRO project featuring works by Kerstin Brätsch, Kati Heck, Stefanie Heinze and Laura Link. 

This exhibition was arranged independently from Now! and may be read as a response to the previous THE EARLY YEARS OF THE OLD MASTERS show which featured works by Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. What the latter offered in terms of fundamentals of German painting is now transferred into the present. In an exemplary manner, the QUADRO exhibition answers the question what repertoire of expressions, formulas and symbols painting currently has created for itself in order to captivate us with figurative, neo-surrealist or experimental pictures.

The exhibition at the same time adheres to the guiding principle of the curatorial concept of the NOW! PAINTING IN GERMANY TODAY show to never regard the selection of artists as final. The QUADRO artists, including two – Kerstin Brätsch and Laura Link – with direct links to Hamburg, are among the German painters who receive much attention abroad. Therefore, we hope all the more that this exhibition will further spark debate about the topicality of painting. Both exhibitions feature high-quality, fascinating works whose effect doesn’t quickly fade, but instead will leave a lasting impression. The combination of the two exhibitions in Hamburg encourages us, after the previous venues in Wiesbaden, Bonn and Chemnitz, to once again reflect on painting in a stimulating discourse on thematic and formal qualities.

Curated by Dirk Luckow
Text: Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
Photos: Henning Rogge, Hamburg