Lifestyle against proof of God (2011), acrylic on canvas, 70cm*90cm, © by julja schneider
Photo: Thomas Dahl
February 5, 2024
Julja Schneider in the Maternushaus – art change 02/24
Now they’re shimmering – and they can’t help it. Julja Schneider’s 88 drawings in the Maternushaus in Cologne certainly meet the demands of a menu that no delivery service can provide. The doors to the exhibition are open every day, but the selection is, in a positive sense, unbearable. Schneider’s mythical creatures and reflective positions in the nowhere evade any access and subsequent classification into popular consumer categories. Rabbits, birds, pandas, sea urchins, (Beethoven’s) pianos and words sleepwalk through the room in nebulous hues in an unmapped landscape.
The signs point to confusion, only to suggest temporary support with provocative statements. The introductory portrait in the conference center of the Catholic Church on Kardinal-Frings-Straße offers a fair deal: “offer a change of life in exchange for proof of God,” it says in purple letters on a corpse-white background. Arranged on the floor in countless variations, the works perhaps revealed an atlas that leads the viewer to a center that houses crucial answers. First: God exists, but he or she knows nothing about it. Second: The best of all ideas is love. And thirdly: Order is an illusion dreamed up by humor. With the text-in-picture note, “please don’t leave sea urchins lying around on the street,” the exhibition also fulfills its educational mission. This altruistic attitude needs to be valued in an egomaniacal art scene. Seriously, Julja Schneider achieves a feat in the truest sense of the word with her works, because they convince the viewer to sacrifice time. Time for the fascination of crooked lines that the right-handed woman drew with her left, for pleasant colors that don’t blind, for amusement and horror in bizarre comic miniatures, for missing information about titles, materials used or formats that only distract, and finally for a fundamental philosophy that explains nothing but contains clear statements. For God’s sake, do this to yourself!
What the delivery service doesn’t deliver | until 21.2. | Artist’s presence: 18.1., 2., 9., 16.2. 4-6 p.m., January 26th 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. | Maternushaus, Cologne | 0221 163 10
Thomas Dahl
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2024-02-05 11:04:59
#Fascination #crooked #lines #choices
