Stefan Kürten: Stefan Kürten
In his sixth solo exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery, Dusseldorf-based painter Stefan Kurten fills the entire gallery with new paintings on linen or paper depicting the environments we create in our tenacious attempt to make our lives perfect.
Chic mid-century homes, picturesque bungalows, meticulously manicured landscapes and resort architecture evidence the dazzling promise of economic prosperity in the post-World War II West. These are bright, clean, thoughtfully-designed places. Safe places. Happy places. The imagery is fabricated from Kurten’s own snapshots of California and Northern Europe or from ubiquitous shelter porn. The scenes seem to glow with a soft, golden, interior light – an effect achieved through the use of metallic gold pigment in the foundational layers of the paintings – that adds to their sense of harmony and richness.
Kurten’s is a perfect world. Well, almost. Beautiful as these images are, they’re unsettling – often for no reason you can quite name. Idyllic scenes are rendered uncanny by indeterminate sources of light that cast improbable shadows. Strangely-colored skies threaten an oncoming thunderstorm or recall a light-damaged image from the early days of color photography. Trash collects in the bottom of an empty swimming pool. Walls are defaced with graffiti. Decay, it seems, lies just beneath the surface.
Stefan Kurten studied with Michael Buthe at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf and later at the Art Institute of San Francisco. Recent solo museum exhibitions include Kunstlerverein Malkasten, Dusseldorf; Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin; and Museum im Kulturspeicher, Wurzburg, Germany. Several of his paintings were included in ‘Gesamtkunstwerk, New Art From Germany’ at the Saatchi Gallery, London in the spring of 2012. His work is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Saatchi Gallery, London; and many others. The artist lives and works in Dusseldorf.
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Stefan KürtenAshes Everywhere, 2013acrylic and ink on linen59 1/8 x 47 1/4 in
150.2 x 120 cm -
Stefan KürtenRainbows in the Dark, 2013ink and acrylic on linen59 1/8 x 47 1/4 inches/150.2 x 120 cm
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Stefan KürtenNirgendwo, Nowhere, 2013ink and acrylic on linen59 1/8 x 47 1/4 in
150 x 120 cm -
Stefan KürtenWe Are All Made of Stars, 2013ink and acrylic on linen59 1/8 x 47 1/4 in
150 x 120 cm -
Stefan KürtenThe Light that Will Cease to Fail, 2008oil on linen59 1/8 x 47 1/4 in
150 x 120 cm -
Stefan KürtenSite (spellbound), 2013ink and acrylic on linen59 1/8 x 47 1/4 in
150 x 120 cm -
Stefan KürtenBlaue Wand, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenSpiral, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches/29.8 x 21 cm
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Stefan KürtenClearance, 2012ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenGalaxy, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches/29.8 x 21 cm
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Stefan KürtenRed Light, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenProjection, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenSlide, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenDomaine, 2012ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenIrradience, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches/29.8 x 21 cm
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Stefan KürtenRock Face, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenVacant, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenMiddle Class, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenClearing, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenFailing, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches/29.7 x 21 cm
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Stefan KürtenSunup, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenIllumination, 2012acrylics and ink on paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches/29.8 x 21 cm
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Stefan KürtenDerangement, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenBookshelves, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenLeere, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenErscheinung, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches/29.8 x 21 cm
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Stefan KürtenNirgendwo, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenSilence, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenFall, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenAbyss, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenSeparation, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenMarx, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenForgotten, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches/29.8 x 21 cm
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Stefan KürtenBlank, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenBalconies, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenBonsai, 2012ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenDeep Hollow, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenBlue Reversed, 2013ink and acrylic on linen59 1/8 x 47 1/4 inches/150.2 x 120 cm
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Stefan KürtenSunbed, 2012ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches
framed: 16 x 13 in -
Stefan KürtenLobby, 2013ink and acrylic on primed paper11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
29.7 x 21 cm
framed: 16 x 13 in