Judith Grassl

Emerging Artist of the Week

From now on, Wertical is featuring young up-and-coming artists once a week in a column entitled Emerging Artist of the Week. For that, we have joined forces with UNAVAILABLE, a platform connecting the next generation of artists with art professionals and collectors. As you need to be a current or former student of an art school in order to sign with UNAVAILABLE, all our interviewees meet this criterion, too.

For this week’s feature, we sat down with Bavarian artist Judith Grassl and talked her studies, projects and future.

How do you describe your art to somebody who has never seen a work of you?
It’s difficult to describe a painting to someone who has never seen it, but I’d say that my work is basically a fusion between expressive and subtle elements that merge into one landscape consisting of various picture layers.

Where did you study?
At the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Axel Kasseböhmer and Anke Doberauer were my professors.

What did professors and the university give to you?
The proximity to other artists was an important factor in my opinion. It was not only the experience of my professors I benefited from. There was also a constant exchange between the students that proved to be really valuable for the development of my work. It was helpful to have fellow artists around who share the same motivation but also the same problems when trying to set foot into the world of arts.

What are you currently working on?
I finished my studies in February with an exhibition called Das Große Gehege. It was inspired by the works of Caspar David Friedrich. The ambiguity of his paintings fascinated me and I wanted to get more involved with his techniques. He connected sequences of landscapes with different light and weather conditions in such a way that you can’t see the inconsistencies at first glance. In the same time his paintings appear to be somewhat estranged. I started to create collages as sketches for my paintings. The whole picture is put together with various scraps of images such as pictures from magazines, postcards or prints of my own photographs. I mix the inner prospect with the outside perspective, as well as the old with the new. I’m currently working on such a series of collages.

What are your three artists to watch?
Caspar David Friedrich, Leigh Wells and Albert Oehlen.

What does your art career look like in five years?
At the moment I’m focused on my ongoing projects. I have ideas for the future but I don’t plan too much into detail for the time being. I hope it will work out!

Judith Grassl, DGG3 (170x150cm,2015,acrylic on canvas)

Judith Grassl, DGG3(170x150cm,2015,acrylic on canvas)

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Judith Grassl