Wiebke Mertens — Main Character: Exhibition Tour with Art Talk

Wiebke Mertens – Main Character: Exhibition Tour with Art Talk
with the artist Wiebke Mertens, Dr. Henrike Hans, curator Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, and Eugenia Kriwoscheja, belladonna

The tour through the exhibition Main Character opens up a shared access to Wiebke Mertens' works. In the subsequent discussion between the artist, the curator, and belladonna, the backgrounds, working methods, and thematic lines of the exhibited works will be explored in more detail. In her painting, Wiebke Mertens deals with the human body as a carrier of meaning. Her images revolve around questions of visibility and observation, of proximity and distance, as well as of exposure and protection. The figures depicted often appear as fragments or snapshots. They are detached from each other and at the same time placed in a silent tension. Gestures take on the role of a non-verbal language within the pictorial space.
The focus is on the need for encounter and understanding. At the same time, however, the fragility of this concern within social structures becomes clear. Delicate, restrained pictorial moments stand alongside clear, sometimes striking compositions.
The exhibition Wiebke Mertens – Main Character will be shown from June 13 to September 13, 2026 at the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum. Wiebke Mertens received the Karin Hollweg Prize in 2024.

Wiebke Mertens - (born