Sophie von Hellermann
Sophie von Hellermann (b. 1975, Munich)
Sophie von Hellermann’s paintings recall the look of fables, legends, and traditional stories that are imbued with the workings of her subconscious rather than the content of existing images. Her romantic, pastel-washed canvases are often installed to suggest complex narrative threads. Von Hellermann applies pure pigment directly onto unprimed canvas, her use of broad-brushed washes imbues a sense of weightlessness to her pictures. Von Hellermann’s paintings draw upon current affairs as often and as fluidly as they borrow from the imagery of classical mythology and literature to create expansive imaginary places. In subject matter and style, von Hellermann tests imagination against reality.
Sophie von Hellermann (b. 1975, Munich) received her BFA from Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf and an MFA from Royal College of Art, London. Selected solo exhibitions include: Out of Time, Pilar Corrias, London (2022); Schloss Freienwalde, Bad Freienwalde, Germany (2022, commission); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pilar Corrias, London (2020); Judgement Day, Chisenhale Gallery, London; and Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (2006). Selected group exhibitions include: Let The Sunshine In, Pilar Corrias, London, UK (2023); Sirens: Sophie von Hellermann and Anne Ryan, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK (commission) (2021); Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2021); With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters, Elmhurst Art Museum, Berlin (2019); Jahresgaben 2016, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2016); Empathy and Abstraction: Modernist Women in Germany, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2015); I Cheer a Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea (2014); In the disappearing mist, the gift of whispers, Focal Point Gallery, Southend (2012); Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (2011); Sophie von Hellermann and Josh Smith, le Consortium, Dijon (2009), Dear Painter, paint me…, Pompidou Centre, Paris (2002), and Trouble Spot Painting, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp (1999).
Sophie von Hellermann lives and works in London and Margate, United Kingdom.