6 1/2 Weeks: Susanna Inglada – Ojos de Oro

From June 22 to August 6, 2017, Museum Folkwang is presenting new works by Susanna Inglada. Within our compact exhibition format 6 1/2 Weeks, the artist explores the discipline of drawing into the third dimension: with her figurative works, which are applied to large sheets of paper using China ink and charcoal, the Spanish artist moves away from the wall, positions the drawings standing upright like stage-sets in the centre of the room, bypasses angles and corners of the room and connects walls and floors. Not only her set-like presentation of the drawings that we can discern as reference to the theatre, but her focus on the expressions and gestures of the protagonists characterise her work. Faces and hands are shown in particular detail, sometimes presented on coloured paper, while the bodies of the figures remain black and white and sketch-like.

This has considerable influence on the legibility of the scenes: a glance at the faces reveals that the very normal men, who are entangled in remarkable actions, have a highly ambivalent relationship to one another. There is a lot of laughter, yet the mood could flip at any moment—from tussling to violence, from buddies to oppressor and oppressed. Susanna Inglada’s art is so special in the way it keeps such things undecided: “I create dark scenes, characters, symbols, which together make a work of associations, fragmented in the space. Violence and cruelty are topics that intrigue me.”

Born 1983 in Banyeres del Penedes, Spain, Susanna Inglada first studied Theatre Arts and later Liberal Arts in Rotterdam, Groningen and Maastricht. Following a residency in Los Angeles in 2016, since January 2017 she has been working on a postgraduate degree in Ghent at the Hoger Instituut Voor Schone Kunsten (HISK).

On Friday, June 23, at 6:30pm, an artist talk with the featured artist Susanna Inglada and curator Tobias Burg will be held to mark the exhibition 6 1/2 Weeks: Susanna Inglada – Ojos de Oro. The talk will be accompanied by a performance featuring Tashi Iwaoka (dance) and Pau Sola Masafrets (cello) and DJ Simon Hildebrandt. Admission is free.

Information
With its short turn-around times and quick planning, the new exhibition format 6 1/2 Weeks aims to present artwork to the public in a straightforward and comparatively spontaneous manner. The exhibition space set aside for 6 1/2 Weeks is located in the foyer of Museum Folkwang, and features the work of newly discovered artists or work relating to topical issues in six separate displays a year.

The exhibition format 6 1/2 Weeks is supported by Sparkasse Essen.

Press contact
Anna Littmann, anna.littmann@museum-folkwang.essen.de