We are delighted to show Ulrike Schulze in her first solo exhibition at VAN HORN.

Is this work inhabited?
Is there a portrait as a house and what does his brother look like?

The poetic and spatial installations by Ulrike Schulze consist of minimalist and puristic works which derive from the tradition of formal minimalism at first sight, while at second glance outgrow the concept by an idiosyncratic and very personal approach to material and space. It is the artist’s intention to sense the presence of the objects without becoming loud or theatrical.

The observer comes across raw unglazed ceramics. There are severed fragments and chipboards, which she assembles into sculptural objects. Her abstract and corporal works seem to come from an enigmatically shifted world and at the same time they appear as reference models that relate to the figurative or architectural. Amorphous structures, which elude a distinct shape and subjectively occupy the space. Small indented or incised spots which overtly expose reactions of the material and let the unobtrusive turn into importance. Simultaneously the delicate and nonchalant use of color gives the surfaces a painterly quality.

The intuitive autonomy and manner of emancipation within space are crucial for the artist.Through their incidental and silent presence, the works themselves seem to belong to the room and shift into a temporary co-architecture. Conversely, the existing space opens up anew. Ulrike Schulze is interested in architecture in the sense of its suggestive effect on humans. A non-verbal medium that reflects and shapes social relationships. She transfers this view into her artistic work and describes it herself as ‘speechless self-evidence’.Thus her works become subtle monumental buildings or cautious settings, which are home to their own ways of life displayed in the built material. A balancing act between grace, aggression, fragility and rudeness.

Ulrike Schulze, born 1985 in Dormagen, lives and works in Cologne.
She studied as a master student with Prof. Dr. med. Grünfeld and Prof. Rebecca Warren at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. She graduated in 2016 with the Diploma Akademiebrief. She is the first award winner of the Ehrenhof Preis, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
Solo- and group exhibitions include Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf; Kunstmuseum Bochum, Kunstmuseum Solingen; Collection Peters-Messer, Viersen; Bruch & Dallas, Cologne; Kunst im Hafen e.V., Dusseldorf; Jagla showroom, Cologne; VAN HORN, Düsseldorf