Paperback, full colour, 172 pages, W225 x H254mm
This beautifully produced catalogue was produced to coincide with Grosse’s touring exhibition in 2002. The publication features a foreword, a transcribed conversation between Ikon Director Jonathan Watkins and the artist, essays by Marion Ackermann, Beate Ermacora and Roland Wäspe, full colour photographic documentation including installation shots from the Ikon exhibition, a bibliography and biography, with English and German translation.
The book illustrates Grosse's rejection of the traditional canvas as a foundation for her colourful, abstract paintings in favour of architectural form. The artist combines different varieties of paint and methods of application to cover the wall's surfaces with intense colour. The context of architecture is crucial for Grosse, particularly for an understanding of her most recent work. Painted or sprayed directly onto walls, it constitutes an acknowledgement of the formal qualities of its most immediate environment. It also embodies the traces of the artist's movements within the space in the process of painting. Architecture, informed by an architect's understanding of human behaviour, thus provides a cue for the artist's response. At once rigorous and informal, the finished work is compelling graffiti, beautiful evidence that 'she was here'.