Corinne von Lebusa

Painting

Text

What I see, the Other sees
by Rosa Loy

In her paintings, collages and drawings Corinne von Lebusa shows herself to be very broad minded. With her subjective mysticism she creates for us the wonderful world of a private universe. The lightness and ephemerality of seemingly banal thoughts adroitly conceal the fractures in the ensemble. The artist’s pictures assign to us the role of a voyeur, as if we are looking at something illicit. The question arises of whether it is shameful: Is this something I could look at with my children? The answer derives from the jovial innocence that emanates from the images.
The eye is enticed into letting its gaze roam over the beauty of her pleasingly composed arrangements and the attractive brightness of the pictures. It wanders here and there, delighting in the painter’s wonderfully light-hearted thoughts. The heart opens up in response to the evident joyfulness and the buoyant affirmation of eros and sensuality in dealing with the opposite sex, i.e. in relationships between men and women which have a naturalness that we probably all wish we could achieve. The tenderness and affection that we encounter in Corinne von Lebusa’s works encourage us to view all too human situations in a more light-hearted and convivial way.
As it slowly glides over the surface of the image, the eye suddenly comes to rest. In the corner of the eye a small ridge rises up and is painful. A missing nose, red tears, a face consisting only of eyes, black skin or a perfect breast half whitewashed over. Brightness, vibrancy and liveliness are counteracted by darknesses and confusions of form, lending the works of Corinne von Lebusa an astonishing profundity. Detached limbs and peculiar accidents baffle us; they make us search for a response to a message. Is it necessary to find an answer to everything, or shall we allow ourselves to become infected by the weightlessness of her pictures? The artist leaves it to us to decide.
We suddenly catch ourselves smiling, involuntarily finding amusement despite, or perhaps because of, the apparently tragic situations being presented to us in such a subtly packaged way. Corinne von Lebusa displays a wonderful sense of humour in her paintings. Her refined wit amuses without moralising and easily manages to elicit our smile of the day. It is the suave enigmatic feminine smile of a sphinx that is generated here. We resign ourselves to the impossibility of capturing it or of explaining, cataloguing or archiving it. There are no convenient pigeonholes or categories for the images and the humour in the work of Corinne von Lebusa. What a pleasure it is to see an obviously figural, i.e. real, world presented in such an unreal way. It is up to us to project our own being onto this unreality. Here the artist offers us a creative sphere in which philosophy, artificiality, reality, femininity and science are able to create something new through chymical union.
The artist’s expeditions enable her to access reproductions. With a strong sense of purpose, Corinne von Lebusa searches through old printed matter to find relevant illustrations. She then extracts images of famous and anonymous individuals, combines them in a new way in collages, creating compositions of forms and colours that offer something organically new.
The frequent central composition of her paintings places the figures at the focal point. In creating her oeuvre, the artist uses watercolour, oil paints, crayons, various inks and diverse varnishes. The collages are made using photographs and coloured papers as well as painting media. The support used by Corinne von Lebusa is cardboard, which partially absorbs the paint, resulting in a gentle and soft haptic impression. In more recent works, different supports have also been combined, thus creating new collages whose contents communicate with one another. These composed panels sometimes have the aura of a very personal chapel.
Corinne von Lebusa utilises not only universally recognised symbols and signs but also devices, characters, words and fragments of sentences that she has invented herself. Her own research demands that she use her own symbols and quotations. It is remarkable how she assembles them into abstract compositions and also allows them to influence her figural paintings. Increasingly, abstract works are to be found among the artist’s productions, and these are a logical continuation and complement to her work so far. It is very refreshing to see how each of her paintings clearly showcases her distinctive personal style.

Biography
  • 1978 born in Herzberg
    1998 Studies of fashion and graphic design at the Burg Giebichenstein Halle
    2001-2008 Studies of painting at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig in the class of Prof. Arno Rink and Prof. Neo Rauch
    2008 Diploma with Prof. Neo Rauch
    lives and works in Leipzig

Solo shows

  • 2022 Darling forever, Kunstverein Art Gluchowe, Glauchau
    2021     Dans mon lit (with Inga Kerber), Jarmuschek & Partner, Berlin
    All or You, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig 
    2018     Wer rein kommt ist drin, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
  • 2017 Herz frisst Liebe, Levy Galerie, Hamburg
  • 2016 You wear your hair like it was always, Ostdeutscher Sparkassenverband, Berlin
  • 2015 Was ich seh, sieht das Andere, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
  • 2013 Halt mich, oder halt nicht, Gallery Jette Rudolph, Berlin
    2011 Mein geliebter Knecht (My beloved Servant), Gallery Kleindienst, Leipzig
    2009 Ich geh mit dir wohin ich will, Stadtgalerie Schwaz (Austria)
    Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (Switzerland)
    2008 Schön ist die Jugend, Galerie Kleindienst
    Body Sweet, Helene Nyborg Contemporary, Valby (Denmark)

Group shows

  • 2023 No Dresscode, Rund 3, Kambs (Germany)
    J+1, Jarmuschek und Partner, Berlin
    You, Galerie Kleindienst Westside, Leipzig
    2022     Girl meets Girl, Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen (Norwegen)
    Stonewashed Fritters, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg
    Kick Line. MalerinnenNetzwerk Berlin-Leipzig, Thaler Originalgrafik, Leipzig
    Present Collective, Spinnerei, Leipzig
    Sterne sind nicht Schnuppe, Galerie Noah, Augsburg
    Breathing Water, Drinking Air, Philara Collection, Düsseldorf
    Mamma Mia Amore Mio, Museum Bensheim (Germany)
    2021     Behalt ihn er ist ein Unfall, Galerie Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg
    Killer Cute, De Beor Gallery, Los Angeles
    Grüße aus LE, Goldwerk Galerie, Rostock
    New, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
    2020     The Last Unicorn, Museum im Prediger, Schwäbisch Gmünd
    Aquarell, Neue Sächsische Galerie, Chemnitz
    Ansbach Contemporary 2020, Zitrushaus im Hofgarten und Kunsthaus R3, Ansbach
    2019 VOIX, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig
  • DOUBLES (Künstlerpaare), Kunsthalle der Sparkasse, Leipzig 
    Das Trifft Sich Gut, (mit Tilo Baumgärtel und Rosa Loy), Galerie Stoetzel-Tiedt (Stubengalerie), Goslar
    The Leipzig Connection, 5th Biennale of Painting, Zagreb, Croatia
    specialrooms, Salon für Kunst & Kultur, Berlin
    2018     Painting XXL. MalerinnenNetzWerk Berlin-Leipzig, Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt am Main
  • 30 ziehen durch die Stadt, Affenfaustgalerie Hamburg
  • The Leipzig Connection, Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU), Zagreb (Croatia)
  • 2017 doing identity. Collection Reydan Weiss, Kunstmuseum Bochum
  • Under Influence, Galerie Dukan, Leipzig
  • 2016 Vielleicht auch nur ein Nachhall dessen, was war, ist oder sein wird, Galerie Jens Goethel, Hamburg
  • Höhenrausch - Kunstresidenz Bad Gastein goes Berlin, Eigen+Art Lab, Berlin
  • Immer und Ewig. 23th Leipziger Jahresausstellung, Westwerk Leipzig
    2015 Beuys without hat. Artist photographs by Karin Szekessy, Museum Horst Janssen, Oldenburg
    Spinnerei Artists Show, Werkschauhalle, Leipzig
    MASH UP 2, Hardenbergstraße, Leipzig
    Gute Kunst? Wollen! SØR Rusche Collection Oelde/Berlin, Auf AEG, Nuremberg
    2014 BGL#1, Kesselhaus, Bergisch Gladbach / Cologne
    2013 Lokalkolorit: I should perish in longing, Kerry Inman Gallery, Houston (Texas)
    20. Annual exhibition Leipzig, WESTWERK, Leipzig
    Babylon (with Moritz Schleime), Wendt und Friedmann Galerie, Berlin
    Wonderful - Die Olbricht Collection, me-Collectors Room, Berlin
    You are my mirror; Part 1-Girls, Potembka Gallery, Leipzig
    2012 Eros und Thanatos (SØR Rusche Collection), Werkschauhalle Leipzig
    Location, Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York
    Hotel Desire, Meisterzimmer/Spinnerei, Leipzig
    Sommer.Frische.Kunst, Altes Kraftwerk, Bad Gastein (Austria)
    Salon de Beauté, Spring Group Show, Potemka Contemporary Art, Leipzig
    Singleclub, Baumwollspinnerei Halle 10, Leipzig
    2011 Porträt, Wendt und Friedmann Galerie, Berlin
    Group show, Silas Marder Gallery, New York
    Convoy Leipzig, Biksady Gallery, Budapest
    Die Ungestümten, New art association Pfaffenhofen (Germany)
    Exodus, 23.6. - 21.12.2012, eeg Leipzig
    2010 Women, Silas Marder Gallery, New York
    Passion fruits, Ollbricht Collection, Berlin
    Herzplosion, Spinnerei Leipzig
    Gold von den Sternen, art space Ortloff, Leipzig
    2009 Sex Rules, Apartment Draschan, Vienna
    Süsse Milch, Ecksteingalerie Leipzig
    Werkschau, anniversary of the Spinnerei, Leipzig
    Nietzsche macht Größe, Alter Schlachthof, Naumburg
    2008 Drawcula, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
    2007 Swing, Galerie Jens Goethel, Hamburg
    Mein gläubiges Herz, Galerie Post, Dresden
    2006 Junge Kunst, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
    2005 Im Osten was Neues, Villa Beethovenstraße, Leipzig
    2004 Juli quin-total cx, Villa on the Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse, Leipzig
    2003 The menstrulation & the womana lib, im schnucki kusch kusch, Leipzig

Grants

  • 2012 Working grant of Kunstresidenz Bad Gastein (Austria)
    2010 Working grant from the culture foundation of Saxony

Bibliography

  • 2015 Edit. Literaturzeitschrift, Literaturverein edit e.V. Leipzig, winter 2015/16
  • 2014 Corinne von Lebusa - Was ich seh sieht das andere (catalog), Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung, Berlin / Sandstein Verlag, Dresden
  • 2009 Corinne von Lebusa - Ich geh mit dir wohin ich will (catalog), Galerie Kleindienst / LUBOK Verlag, Leipzig
  • 2006 Corinne von Lebusa - lebusalong (catalog), Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
Exhibitions
Website