Vivian Greven / a m o r e
September 28 – 10 November, 2018
Aurel Scheibler
Schöneberger Ufer 71
10785 Berlin, Germany
Photo credit: Roman März [install pictures] and Ivo Faber [single pictures]
Images courtesy of the artist and Aurel Scheibler
For Vivian Greven, the story of Amor and Psyche is the starting
point of her new works. It is the ancient tale about a unity
destroyed by Psyche‘s desire to recognize the real figure
of her lover: her mind demands to see the nature of Amor,
for what we see is easier to comprehend. Knowledge and
visualization are central themes in the art of Vivian Greven.
As an artist of a generation that grew up with the Internet,
she transfers the mechanisms of media image production
to the construction of her artworks.
point of her new works. It is the ancient tale about a unity
destroyed by Psyche‘s desire to recognize the real figure
of her lover: her mind demands to see the nature of Amor,
for what we see is easier to comprehend. Knowledge and
visualization are central themes in the art of Vivian Greven.
As an artist of a generation that grew up with the Internet,
she transfers the mechanisms of media image production
to the construction of her artworks.
The digital distribution of idealized images is now permeating
all areas of life. Characteristic is their seamless surface,
which usually presents nothing else but itself. Immaculacy
and smoothness are attributes that promise success, and the pursuit of it explains the ubiquitous urge for selfoptimization
and the excess of design. Vivian Greven paints
such surfaces. Finely elaborated flesh colors collide with
monochrome tones, volume with incorporeal surface. The
hybrid is symptomatic of our era. And equally typical is a
flood of media images in which a focused view isolates fragments
from their context and claims their significance. Vivian
Greven isolates such elements from her paintings and
gives them independence. A tear turns into a hole, a hole
becomes a comma and the gap becomes meaningful. She
also focuses on Psyche‘s hands, albeit without showing the
butterfly, whose wings were plucked by Psyche, and which,
without its wings, becomes a soulless body. The gap in the
picture symbolizes the barely tangible and incomprehensible.
all areas of life. Characteristic is their seamless surface,
which usually presents nothing else but itself. Immaculacy
and smoothness are attributes that promise success, and the pursuit of it explains the ubiquitous urge for selfoptimization
and the excess of design. Vivian Greven paints
such surfaces. Finely elaborated flesh colors collide with
monochrome tones, volume with incorporeal surface. The
hybrid is symptomatic of our era. And equally typical is a
flood of media images in which a focused view isolates fragments
from their context and claims their significance. Vivian
Greven isolates such elements from her paintings and
gives them independence. A tear turns into a hole, a hole
becomes a comma and the gap becomes meaningful. She
also focuses on Psyche‘s hands, albeit without showing the
butterfly, whose wings were plucked by Psyche, and which,
without its wings, becomes a soulless body. The gap in the
picture symbolizes the barely tangible and incomprehensible.
By exploring the limits of natural and artificial, animated and
inanimate, Vivian Greven´s art simultaneously becomes a
reflection of a postmodern subject-perception in the digital
age. Art no longer mimics life but life mimics artificiality.
The smooth surface is a facade and the substantial human
behind it barely noticeable. Amor only visited Psyche under
the cover of darkness to hide his divine entity from her. The
human stain in Psyche was her unrestrained longing to recognize
the true nature of her lover. With the light of an oil
lamp she wanted to see his face, but a drop of hot oil hurt
him, and disappointed in her breach of trust, Amor turned
away from her, leaving Psyche in despair and deep sorrow.
Injuries show up in wounds. The painted surface in Vivian
Greven’s works is immaculate only at first glance. It shows
fine scars and cracks and in a relief even knife-like cuts.
Looking at a surface always raises the question of what
lies beneath it. This is exactly the question Vivian Greven
addresses.
inanimate, Vivian Greven´s art simultaneously becomes a
reflection of a postmodern subject-perception in the digital
age. Art no longer mimics life but life mimics artificiality.
The smooth surface is a facade and the substantial human
behind it barely noticeable. Amor only visited Psyche under
the cover of darkness to hide his divine entity from her. The
human stain in Psyche was her unrestrained longing to recognize
the true nature of her lover. With the light of an oil
lamp she wanted to see his face, but a drop of hot oil hurt
him, and disappointed in her breach of trust, Amor turned
away from her, leaving Psyche in despair and deep sorrow.
Injuries show up in wounds. The painted surface in Vivian
Greven’s works is immaculate only at first glance. It shows
fine scars and cracks and in a relief even knife-like cuts.
Looking at a surface always raises the question of what
lies beneath it. This is exactly the question Vivian Greven
addresses.
Vivian Greven, born in 1985 in Bonn, lives and works in Dusseldorf.
She studied English language and literature and
painting at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. There she was
a master student of Prof. Siegfried Anzinger. In 2016 she
received the Strabag Artaward. In August 2018, she received
the Providence College Galleries scholarship in Rhode
Island, USA, including participation in the exhibition Classic
Beauty: 21st Century Artists on Ancient Form (until November
17, 2018). Her works are part of the exhibition Ekstase
at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (from September 29, 2018 until
February 24, 2019).
She studied English language and literature and
painting at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. There she was
a master student of Prof. Siegfried Anzinger. In 2016 she
received the Strabag Artaward. In August 2018, she received
the Providence College Galleries scholarship in Rhode
Island, USA, including participation in the exhibition Classic
Beauty: 21st Century Artists on Ancient Form (until November
17, 2018). Her works are part of the exhibition Ekstase
at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (from September 29, 2018 until
February 24, 2019).