Since the early Renaissance a painterly exaggeration of reality has existed in the image in order to demonstrate wealth, splendor, and relevance on the one hand, and to enable the viewers a new immediacy in the access of what is shown by means of realism on the other. One of the most famous examples of this is the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck. Given her marked preference for reflective surfaces, games with light, and reflections, which have appeared in her complex layers of space and time since the early 2000s, Karin Kneffel draws to some extent from this tradition and transforms the canvas into a type of mirror of the world, but one that changes and distorts it, and only appears to reproduce it. With her characteristic and incom- parable mixture of reality and surreality, she colorfully paints found images, mostly based on black and white photography, and resultantly alienates the familiar in a subtle way. In her work, Kneffel deals with nothing less than the fundamental questions of painting, which revolve around the perception and construction of images and highlight complex connections to the history of art, architecture, and film.
So schön frei, Moritz von Uslar, Zeit Online, 18.03.2020Vita
1957
Karin Kneffel is born in Marl
(lives and works in Düsseldorf)
1977—1981
Studies German philology and philosophy at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster,
and at the Gesamthochschule, Duisburg
1981—1987
Student of Johannes Brus, Norbert Tadeusz, and Gerhard Richter at the Staatliche Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf;
attends a master class led by Gerhard Richter
1984—1985
Grant for a six-month stay at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
1991
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Grant
1992
Grant from the Kunstfonds Bonn
1994
Art Prize, Lingen, Germany
1996
Grant from the Villa Massimo, Rome
1998
Visiting professor at the Hochschule für Künste, Bremen
2000
Visiting professor at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavík
2000—2008
Professor at the Hochschule für Künste, Bremen
2008
Since 2008 Professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich
2011
Helmut-Kraft-Stiftung Prize
2016
Cologne-Fine-Art-Prize
Selected Solo Shows
2024
Face of a woman, head of a child – Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf
2023
Karin Kneffel – Face of a Woman, Head of a Child, Museum Kurhaus Kleve
2022
Karin Kneffel – Im Bild (In the picture), Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See
Karin Kneffel – Malerei (Painting), Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst eV, Schloß Detmold, Detmold
Karin Kneffel – Im Augenblick (At the moment), Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR, Brühl
2020
Haymatlos – Dirimart, Istanbul
2019
Karin Kneffel, Still – Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen and Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
2017
Bild im Bild – Kunstmuseum Bonn
Bild im Bild – Kinderakadmie Fulda, Fulda, in Kooperation mit dem Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
2016
Karin Kneffel. New Works – Gallery Gagosian, Los Angeles
Karin Kneffel – Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
Cologne fine art prize, Cologne
2015
Fallstudien, Arbeiten auf Papier – Käthe Kollwitz Museum, Cologne; Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven
Karin Kneffel. Links – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin
2014
La ventana y el espejo / Window and Mirror – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Gas Natural Fenosa, La Coruña
Pavilion Series – Galeria Senda, Barcelona
Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona
2013
Butter never grossed my mind – Galerie Schönewald und Beuse, Düsseldorf
Karin Kneffel – Galerie Dirimart, Istanbul
2012
Karin Kneffel – Gagosian Gallery, New York
Ich muss eine Wand hinter mir haben. Bilder und Aquarelle – Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
2010
Karin Kneffel. 1990–2010 – Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen
2009
Haus am Stadtrand / House on the edge of Town – Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld
2008
Looking Glass – Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Stuttgart; Städtische Galerie, Offenburg
Karin Kneffel. Recent Works – Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York
Karin Kneffel. Feuer – Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Cologne
2007
Arbeiten auf Papier / Prints – Edition Staeck, Heidelberg
Karin Kneffel – Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York
2006
Verführung und Distanz / Seduction and Distance – Ulmer Museum, Ulm; Sinclair-Haus Altana Kulturforum, Bad Homburg; Mönchehaus-Museum, Goslar
Christine König Galerie, Vienna
2005
Galerie manus presse, Stuttgart
Galería Vanguardia, Bilbao
2004
Galeria Senda, Barcelona
Karin Kneffel. Recent Paintings – Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York
2002
Früchte und Ornamente. Neue Malerei – Galerie Christine König, Vienna
Galerie Schönewald und Beuse, Xanten
2001
Le Case d’Arte, Galerie Pasquale Leccese, Milan
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich
Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden
1999
Museum Jean de La Fontaine, Chateau-Thierry
Castello di Rivara, Turin
1998
Galerie Jouse Seguin, Paris
Galerie Johnen und Schöttle, Munich
1997
Accademia Tedesca Villa Massimo, Rome
Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich
1996
Forum Kunst Rottweil, Rottweil
Le Case d’Arte, Galerie Pasquale Leccese, Milan
1995
The Corridor, H, Th. Fridjonsson, Reykjavik
Galerie Schönewald und Beuse, Krefeld
1994
Karin Kneffel. Malerei – Kunstverein Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven
Galerie Wanda Reiff, Amsterdam
Kunstverein Heilbronn, Heilbronn
Galerie Jousse Seguin, Paris
Kunstverein Lingen, Lingen
Het Kruithuis, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
1993
Galerie Senda, Barcelona
Art Cologne, Einzelkoje bei Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne
1992
Galerie Schütz, Frankfurt am MainGalerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Paris
Galerie Tabea Langenkamp, Düsseldorf
Art Cologne, Förderkoje der Galerie Schütz, Frankfurt am Main
1991
Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne
Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
1990
Galerie Schütz, Frankfurt am Main
Dr.A.H. Murken, Gütersloh
1989
Galerie Tabea Langenkamp, Düsseldorf
Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne
1988
Raum 404, Heidelberg
1984
Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
