The immediate physical presence of color is central to

Katharina Grosses creative endeavor. Through an open-ended

process in which painting takes on the form of

a performance, color embodies movement, making its

sensory impact tangible. These issues not only drive her

dramatically large site-related works painted across various

surfaces in public places, they also inform her studio

paintings, which have played an equally central role in her

practice from the start. Bringing together 160 paintings,

this publication serves as the first in-depth reference book

on this important aspect of Grosses work.

Five essays and an insightful interview with the artist

explore how Grosse expands the concept of painting

not just in open space, but also on canvasthrough a

variety of ways, including her disregard of the traditional

frame and her use of stencils, cut canvases, and elemental

materials.



KATHARINA GROSSE (*1961, Freiburg i. Br.) is one of the most distinguished

contemporary painters working today. After studying

painting at the art academies in Munster and Dusseldorf (1982-

1990), it was in 1998 that she first used a spraying technique for

an installation at the Kunsthalle Bern. This became a decisive

moment in her work and was essential in her ongoing experiments

with the properties of paint and the status of painting

today. She lives in Berlin and New Zealand.