Meet the Artists in our popular Artist Section

As a fixture of the Discovery Art Fair Frankfurt, the carefully curated Artist Section enjoys great popularity among an engaged, art-loving audience. Selected artists without gallery representation present their current work in a refreshingly casual way. Visitors can therefore experience many smaller single exhibitions with the special bonus of getting to meet the artists at their booths and talk with them about their work. Just as the artworks, fields, and techniques are diverse, so are the artistic personalities varied and exciting. Let’s look forward to…

Edith Urban (Booth A14)

On the thresholds of painting, literature, and rhythm, Rome-based artist Edith Urban composes a series of nearly monochromatic pictures from decontextualized fragments of text. This is an artistic approach she developed during her time at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, where she studied under Hermann Nitsch while he was the professor for interdisciplinary art. Text fragments are repeated and written in several layers in wet paint, thereby becoming highly aesthetic graphic elements within her works.

Rainer Jacob (Booth A03)

The multi-media works by Leipzig-based sculptor Rainer Jacob create quite a stir. The artist speaks of “three-dimensional street art” in reference to the works he places in public space, for example a gradually melting radiator made of ice. Visitors will also surely marvel at and ponder his wooden barbed wire, cut from old needleless Christmas trees, which won him this year’s art-figura award.

Laura Piantoni (Booth A09)

Munich-based artist Laura Piantoni works primarily in the fields of photography and screen-printing, which she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and the Zurich University of the Arts. She combines large-format, neon-colored hand-pulled screen-prints in the tradition of pop art collage. Fragments from Hollywood, mass media and social media and sampled and arranged in a new context.

Brigitte Yoshiko Pruchnow (Booth A09)

German-Japanese artist Brigitte Yoshiko Pruchnow is showing figurative paintings that are at once starkly reduced while also appearing photorealistic. Whether it is the back view of women or their floating in the pool – painted precisely and meticulously placed – she paints with light and shadow on many materials and surfaces, using a perspective that will fascinate viewers.

Claudia Söding (Booth A12)

The art of Claudia Söding deals with natural forms in an abstracted way. She works with subtle materials like marble dust and fresco chalk, which as putty form the basis of each work. The delicate stress cracks formed during the drying process are important stylistic devices. The painting carries forward the sensuality of the pictures’ haptic structure.

Eva Leitschuh (Booth A05)

The current works from the series “Urban Nature” by Darmstadt-based artist Eva Leitschuh offer a different look at New York City. City views are artfully integrated as collages into her poetic oil paintings or familiar subjects are interwoven with mysterious natural scenes like trees, bushes, and leaves.

Jörg Strobel (Booth A06)

Painter, graphic artist, and photographer Jörg Strobel from Kelkheim deals intensively with social structures of the current era. The artist stages individual people in dialogue with food in his whimsical pictorial worlds. The human body and its meal, whether animal, animal product, or vegetable, are united in the picture to reveal similarities and contrasts.

Nina Urlichs (Booth A16)

The paintings and installations by Paris-based artist Nina Urlichs often deal with human emotions like strife and helplessness. Current topics like environmental protection or violence in our society are stylistically processed in her work – nearly imperceptibly at first glance. Next to modern materials like transparent fabrics, PVC, and paper, she often integrates light, video, and audio recordings into her work.

Daniel Engelberg (Booth A13)

Concrete, polystyrene, wood, and expanding foam –referred to as “material painting,” the works by Munich-based artist Daniel Engelberg display a highly unusual materiality. The artist takes advantage of the qualities of everyday construction materials. Polystyrene thus forms the basis for the architectural forms and velvety dark background is made from poured concrete. What appears painterly at the first moment soon proves to be sculpture.

Kaja el Attar (Booth A01)

The energetic, delicate drawings by Berlin-based artist Kaja el Attar show abstract worlds that give free run to personal associations. The artistic process is characterized by a direct and intuitive layout of lines, in which the artist – like in a meditative state – relinquishes control to the pen. Fantasy is immersed in a world of poetics.

Cover image: Atelier Anna Vonnemann. All images courtesy of artists.