Sophie von Hellermann’s paintings recall the look of fables, legends, and traditional stories that are imbued with the workings of her subconscious rather than the content of existing images. Her romantic, pastel-washed canvases are often installed to suggest complex narrative threads. Von Hellermann applies pure pigment directly onto unprimed canvas, her use of broad-brushed washes imbues a sense of weightlessness to her pictures. Von Hellermann’s paintings draw upon current affairs as often and as fluidly as they borrow from the imagery of classical mythology and literature to create expansive imaginary places. In subject matter and style, von Hellermann tests imagination against reality.
Sophie von Hellermann was born in 1975 in Munich, Germany. Von Hellermann received her BFA from Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf and an MFA from Royal College of Art, London. Selected solo exhibitions include: Sophie von Hellermann, Office Baroque, Brussels (2017); After a Fashion– A Play with Fire, Vilma Gold, London (2015); Novel Ways, Greene Naftali, New York (2013); Elephant in the Room, Firstsite, Colchester (2013); Crying for The Sunset, Vilma Gold, London (2011); Sophie von Hellermann & Josh Smith, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2010); Judgement Day, Chisenhale Gallery, London; and Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (2006). Selected group exhibitions include: Jahresgaben 2016, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2016); Call and Response, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York (2015); Jerwood Encounters: The Grantchester Pottery paints the stage, Jerwood Visual Arts, London (2015); Empathy and Abstraction: Modernist Women in Germany, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2015); I Cheer a Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill on Sea (2014); Out of the House, Cranford Collection, Fundacion Banco Santander, Madrid (2013); Folk Devil, David Zwirner, New York (2013); In the disappearing mist, the gift of whispers, Focal Point Gallery, Southend (2012); Watercolour, Tate Britain, London (2011); Sophie von Hellermann and Josh Smith, le Consortium, Dijon (2009); 100 Years, 100 Artists, 100 Works of Art, Art on the Underground, London (2008).
Sophie von Hellermann lives and works in London and Margate, United Kingdom.
Born 1975 in Munich, Germany
Lives and works in London and Margate, United Kingdom
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Stufen zur Kunst – Sophie von Hellermann, Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover – DE Sophie von Hellermann, Office Baroque, Brussels – BE
2015
After a Fashion – A Play with Fire, Vilma Gold, London – UK
2013
Novel Ways, Greene Naftali, New York – US
Elephant in the Room, Firstsite, Colchester – UK
2011
Crying for The Sunset, Vilma Gold, London – UK
The Lucky Hand, Greene Naftali, New York – US
2010
Who Shall Survive? Almine Rech, Brussels – BE
Sophie von Hellermann & Josh Smith, Museum Dhont-Dhaenens (curated by Anne Pontegnie), Deurle, Belgium – BE; LeConsortium, Dijon, France – FR
2009
Maximus, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
2008
Accidental Portraits, Vilma Gold, London – UK
Moonch, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
2007
Sophie von Hellermann, Greene Naftali, New York – US
2006
Judgement Day, Chisenhale Gallery, London – UK; Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen – DE
No Man Good Island (with Brian Griffiths), Vilma Gold Project, Berlin; Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium – BE
2005
Goddess in the Doorway, Greene Naftali, New York – NY
Neuveaux Commanditeurs, Nancy, France – FR
2004
Hot Fusion, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
On The Ground, Vilma Gold, London – UK
Ghislaine Hussenot Gallery, Paris – FR
Jablonka Luhn, Cologne, Germany – DE
Vacío 9 Galería de Arte, Madrid – ES
2003
On the Ground, Vilma Gold, London – UK
Wilkuren, Kunstverein Konstanz, Germany – DE
Jablonka Galerie Linn Luhn, Cologne, Germany – DE
2001
Vusering Hites, Vilma Gold, London – UK
Saatchi Gallery Presents Sophie von Hellermann, London – UK
Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
Fleming Faloon, Office Baroque, Brussels – BE
That Continuous Thing: Artists and the Ceramics Studio, 1920-today, Tate St Ives, St Ives – UK
2016
Jahresgaben 2016, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn – DE
2015
Works on Paper, Greene Naftali, New York – US
Call and Response, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York – US
Jerwood Encounters: The Grantchester Pottery paints the stage, Jerwood Visual Arts, London – UK
Empathy and Abstraction: Modernist Women in Germany, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany – DE
Katrin Plavcak and friends: History of Painting Revisited, Function Room (curated by Katrin Plavcak), London –UK
Drawing Biennial 2015, Drawing Room, London – UK
Present Conditional, Mier, California – US
2014
Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor, Gallery Met, Metropolitan Opera, New York – NY I Cheer a Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill on Sea – UK
Nuite Américaine, Office Baroque, Brussels – BE
2013
Gen X, La Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea della Repubblica di San Marino (curated by Maria Chiara Vlachs), San Marino – IT
Folk Devil, David Zwirner (curated by Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal), New York – NY
Out of the House, Cranford Collection, Fundacion Banco Santander, Madrid – ES
2012
Buy My Bananas, Kate Werble Gallery (curated by Julia Trotta), New York – NY
In the disappearing mist, the gift of whispers, Focal Point Gallery, Southend – UK
Howling at the Moon: The Artist and the Night Sky from Old Masters to Today, Dickinson Fine Art, New York – NY
2011
Party Animals, Royal/T (curated by Lindsay Scoggins), Los Angeles – US
Capitain Pamphile #3, Sammlung Falckenberg (curated by Gunter Reski and Marcus Weber), Hamburg – DE Watercolour, Tate Britain (curated by Alison Smith), London – UK
Der Menschen Klee, Kunst Im Tunnel (curated by Gertrud Peters and Cornelius Quabeck) Dusseldorf – DE Printemps de Septembre—à Toulouse, Toulouse (urated by Ann Pontegnie), France – FR
Outrageous Fortune: Artists Remake the Tarot, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea – UK
2010
TAG: From 3 to 45. New London Painting, Brown, London – UK
New Art for a New Century: Contemporary Acquisitions, 2000-2010, Orange County Museum of Art (curated by Karen Moss), Orange County, CA – US
Pamphile Show: A Pictorial novel in pieces, Jet (curated by Gunter Reski and Marcus Weber), Berlin – DE; Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg – DE
The Library of Babel/In and Out of Place, Projectspace 176 (curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers and 176 Zabludowicz Collection), London – UK
Don Juan in the Village, Lars Bohman Gallery (curated by Bjarne Melgaard), Stockholm – SE
2009
Sophie von Hellermann and Josh Smith, le Consortium, Dijon – FR
Museum Dhonts-Dhaenens (curated by Anne Pontégnie Deurle), Belgium – BE
2008
100 Years, 100 Artists, 100 Works of Art, Art on the Underground (curated by Seungduk Kim and Franck), London – UK
The Alliance, Do-Art Gallery, Beijing – CN; Seoul – KR
Works on Paper by Gallery Artists and Ricci Albenda, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York – NY Base-Progetti per l’Arte (curated by Franz West), Florence – IT
Painting Now and Forever, Part II, Greene Naftali and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York – NY
2007
Inky Toys Affinitas, Cerealart (curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers), Philadelphia – US Looking Up, Galeria Mario Sequiera, Lisbon – PT
Secret Flix, Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt, Germany – DE
Der Ficker, Fortescue Avenue/Jonathan Viner, London – UK
White Columns 2007 Benefit Auction and Exhibition, White Columns, New York – US
Art For Opera, Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery, Metropolitan Opera House, New York – US Looking Up, Galeria Mário Sequeira, Braga, Portugal – PT
2006
Out of Line: Drawings from the Collections of Sherry and Joel Mallin, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Cornell University, Ithaca, NY – US
Heroines, Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery, Metropolitan Opera House, New York – US
Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
Olympia (with hobbypopMUSEUM), Public, Paris – FR
2005
Sophie von Hellermann & Josh Smith: Collaborations, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York – US The Hardest Thing To Draw Is A Kiss, Wimbledon School of Art, London – UK
Engholm Engelhorn Galerie, Vienna – AT
POST-MoDERN, Greene Naftali, New York – NY
Clarke & McDevitt Present, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin – IR
Mystica, hobbypopMUSEUM, Deitch Projects, New York – US
2004
Die Graue Kammer: Pohl, Gursky, hobbypopMUSEUM, Engholm Engelhorn Galerie, Vienna – AT The Drawing Project, Vamiali’s, Athens – GR
Mothers, Oh! Art, London – UK
2003
Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
Art and Mountains, The Alpine Club, London – UK Hydrophobia, Henry Peacock Gallery, London – UK
2002
Cher Peintre, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France – FR De La Peintre!…, Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris – FR Immediate Gesture, Lombard Fried Fine Arts, New York – US Paintings, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
Artagents Gallery, Hamburg, Germany – DE
We all Love . . ., The Mission, London – UK
OBERWELTE, Stuttgart, Germany – DE
Mediated Cooperation, collaboration with Johannes Maier Electric Show, The Great Eastern Hotel, London – UK
2001
hobbypop MUSEUM, Düsseldorf – DE; London – UK
Abbey Road, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles – US
White Rabbit, New Langton Arts, San Francisco – US
Saatchi Gallery at Underwood Street, London – UK
Death to the Fascist Insect That Preys on the Life of the People, Anthony d’ Offay, London – UK
2000
Furore, Vilma Gold Gallery, London – UK
Timothy Taylor, London – UK
Angel Island, hobbypopMUSEUM at Nicc, Antwerp – BE
1999
What you buy is your problem, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam – NL
Trouble Spot Painting, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (organised by Luc Tuymans), Antwerp – BE
hobbypopMUSEUM, Düsseldorf – DE
Spiel des Lebens, Düsseldorf – DE
1998
hobbypop Terror, part of Glut exhibition at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf – DE Keep on riding, volstuemliche Malerei, Kunstforum, Rottweil, Germany – DE hobbypop publications, Niet die Kunstvlai, Amsterdam – NL
Die Serie, Galerie 102, Düsseldorf – DE
1997
Hello Down There, Cologne – DE
1996
Drive-in, Düsseldorf – DE
1995
Coole Bilder, Cologne – DE
EDUCATION
2001
MFA, Royal College of Art, London
1998
BFA, Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf
Founding member of hobbypopMUSEUM
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND RESIDENCIES
2007
Steep Rock Arts Association Resident, Washington, CT – US
SOPHIE VON HELLERMANN IN THAT CONTINUOUS THING: ARTISTS AND THE CERAMICS STUDIO, 1920 – TODAY
31 March – 3 September 2017 Tate St.Ives Porthmeor Beach St Ives Cornwall TR26 1TG This exhibition examines the changing nature of the ceramics studio across the 20th century and how a new generation of UK based artists are looking … More
SOPHIE VON HELLERMANN AT KUNSTVEREIN HANNOVER
31 August 2017 – August 2018 Stufen zur Kunst Kunstverein Hannover Sophienstraße 2 D-30159 Hannover Stairways to Art is a series of projects run by the Niedersachsen Foundation and the Kunstverein Hannover , which since 2010 has presented space-changing designs … More
Olivia Parkes, Deceptive whimsy paintings with a political stroke, Broadly, August 2016 (Download PDF)
Skye Sherwin, Artist of the week 158: Sophie von Hellermann, The Guardian, October 2011 (Download PDF)
Martin Herbert, Sophie von Hellermann, Frieze Magazine, September 2006 (Download PDF)
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