Munich painter Helena Kaschurow rocks the Kempten gallery Kunstreich with emotional pictures. She plays with good and evil – and role models like Andy Warhol.
09.08.2022 | Status: 4:30 p.m
Clever, intelligent pop art is presented by Helena Kaschurow in the Kunstreich gallery in Kempten. Regardless of whether you are a connoisseur or “just” curious: these works are convincing. Pop as short form for popular, i.e. suitable for the masses. What music has already achieved, one also wishes for painting. Kaschurow’s works deserve it. She plays with good and evil with virtuosity under the title “The chaotic structure of colours”. It’s about chaos and order, the primal poles of life. Not only does Mona Lisa get company from threatening skulls and monster heads (“Mona and her best friends”), but also the disciples in Leonardo’s “Last Supper”. A smoke thrower also creates a mysterious atmosphere. Bringing the unforeseeable and surprises into a structure is creativity, said Kashurov at the opening of the exhibition.
Roy Lichtenstein, Rudolph Moshammer and Franz-Josef Strauss
In “The first and the last kiss” the famous role model of Roy Lichtenstein is mirrored in the second picture, now the woman is on top. How many kisses there were between the first and last, how much distance these two pictures actually deserve, is left to the viewer’s imagination, says the Munich native. She immortalized personalities from her city such as Rudolph Moshammer or FJS (Franz Josef Strauss) in the series “Munich Characters”.
Helena Kaschurow should not be without sex appeal
And of course sex appeal shouldn’t be missing, but also here with brains. “Passio” – this title alludes to how close desire and suffering are to each other. In her self-portrait, too, Kashurov is ambiguous: a terrifying head sits over the naked, enticing body. The man-eater? “It’s possible,” she says, laughing about this interpretation. Relationship, proximity or distance are central themes. In “relationship” two people reach for their hearts. “Next please” shows a couple, close but not connected. “It’s hopeless” offers melancholic loneliness.
A squiggle of lines and shapes like Keith Haring’s
Some works are given a smooth, reflective surface with synthetic resin. Reliefs are created with gauze bandages soaked in poisonous green or pink. “Wipe the slime of your face” is the name of one of these macabre works. A squiggle of lines and shapes like Keith Haring’s is connected by a red thread of life. Whether in love or hate, that’s up to you, says Helena Kaschurow.
“We wanted an exhibition that bangs, that rocks,” says Artig Chairman Stephan A. Schmidt. We succeeded: With urban street art, Kempten becomes a city.
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opening hours at Galerie Kunstreich in Kempten, Schützenstraße 7 (until September 4): Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be an artist talk at the finissage on Sunday, September 4, at 3 p.m.