Mirjam Blanka Inauen

Solo exhibition

A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me

3 February – 18 March 2023

We are very pleased to present the second exhibition of Mirjam Blanka Inauen at the gallery. After her career as a musician, she trained as a visual artist at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in Zurich.

Works

Mirjam Blanka Inauen's art possesses a startling directness. With the simplest means, multicolored color surfaces on paper and a vocabulary of forms that follows from the colors, she creates moods and feelings. Often her works unfold an almost synesthetic effect, which can only be described tentatively in words. A visit to her studio and the description of her approach can illuminate the immediate perception of her works on paper to a certain extent, but without revealing their almost alchemical magic.

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 11, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, steel tube, wire, 250 x 290 cm

 

Mirjam Blanka Inauen's artistic work begins with the determination of color. She uses the highquality pigments of the Kremer company from Aichstetten in Germany. (When looking at old art, it is easy to forget how elaborate the production of colors used to be. Often the colors possessed a level of meaning, for example, Mary, the Godmother, was always depicted in a blue cloak, the color of which was obtained from the most precious lapis lazuli, which further emphasized her significance). The pigments are held together with binder and water. The more binder is added to the water, the more luster the colors have. The material composition of the paint determines its surface effect. On the paper, on which later the color surfaces are transferred, she distributes samples, color samples applied next to each other, until finally a result corresponds to her ideas. Perhaps this procedure has a similarity with the work in a recording studio, whereby there the song is already present and the sound must be defined.

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 9, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 50 x 70 cm

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 2, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 158 x 117 cm

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 3, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 158 x 117 cm

In the samples the color tone is determined, which then, according to Mirjam Blanka Inauen, requires a certain form. Form is the servant of color. Then she joins the colors to each other and puts together neighborly relations. Only processed paper is visible, as the white areas on the papers are also painted. The paper surfaces joined together do not refer to an extra-pictorial reality, but possess a self-referential lightness that allows many associations and interpretations. Mirjam Blanka Inauen creates atmospheres with an economy of means that captivate the public.

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 5, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 70 x 50 cm

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 4, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 70 x 50 cm

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 1, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 180 x 140 cm

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 6, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 70 x 50 cm

Mirjam Blanka Inauen, A Beautiful Blue Substance Flows Into Me 7, 2023, Pigment, acrylic binder, paper, framed, 70 x 50 cm

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