Katharina Wulff's paintings are as mysterious in their subject matter as they are in their varied influences. Her visual stories display mysterious characters and landscapes in broken perspectives and acid-washed colors, while her style simultaneously recalls classical landscapes, Surrealism and the drawings of a committed daydreamer.
Wulff continues in the tradition of whimsy employed by Odilon Redon, Paul Gauguin, Sylvia Fein and Dorothea Tanning with an additional rebellious edge that George Grosz would appreciate. Her work is full of contradictions: it is childlike and macabre, outside of contemporary trends yet seemingly beyond past movements as well. From the smallest details to the largest themes very little can be definitively claimed about Wulff's paintings because of the range of diverse influences at work, which makes it as delightful as it is frustrating.
Berlin-born Wulff now lives and works in Morocco, weaving the winding streets of Marrakech into her ghostly pieces. Her latest exhibition is included in SF MOMA's "New Work" series, which features the leading innovators of contemporary art.
"New Work: Katharina Wulff" will show until September 4 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
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