The German artist’s new exhibition asks us to look beyond the cliches we take for granted.
With a simplified view of the world, promoted by the likes of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, apparently in the ascendancy, it would seem that many of us still haven’t grown out of children’s stories. There is a reason why Disney is so successful. The baddies are obvious. The goodies always win. And you can be sure there will be a satisfying resolution at the end.
Still, the real world – of course – isn’t it like this. It’s messy and complicated. Good people sometimes do wrong, while bad people might still do nice things for their children (or dog). But that’s not what some voters want to hear. So they make sure they don’t.
Anyone with this point of view might want to avoid Amelie von Wulffen’s (b. 1966) new exhibition at Studio Voltaire in Clapham, London. It’s a dark body of work that pulls in a multitude of references including cliched impasto street painting, Symbolist Alfred Kubin’s creepy images and tromp I’oeil. By carrying these references – even to the point of sticking them directly onto the canvas as ‘found’ objects – Amelie appears to be simultaneously trashing them. Or mocking them. The Disneyland goggles through which we like to see the world are exposed as just another is Snapchat filter of sorts.
In one painting ‘Ohne Titel’ (Untitled), 2016 (pictured), the cliched depiction of children as innocents is turned on its head. Instead, we get a feral bunch up to no good. Two are fighting each other. Another pair are perilously climbing out the window – drawn perhaps to an idyllic scene of a church spire, yet blind to the deadly fate that could await them once they reach the ledge. Moths to a flame: is this Amelie’s warning about the promise of religion? Or, more broadly, the establishment?
And what about the teacher – he appears oblivious to the mayhem, as do two of the seated classmates. Why do they not see what’s going on? Or are they just ignoring it?
But perhaps the biggest and most chilling question sits with us. The way Amelie has approached the scene suggests that we are looking down upon it as peeping Toms, perhaps through high window. In which case, by doing nothing ourselves, are we not complicit too?
The Misjudged Bimpfi by Amelie von Wulffen is at Studio Voltaire from 10 February – 2 April 2017
ZEFFADELICA 