‘There Is No Subject-Object Relationship Anymore’: Watch Katharina Grosse Explain Her Dynamic Painting Process

The Berlin-based artist Katharina Grosse does not take the conventional
approach to painting.

If you’re imagining someone standing, pensively, in front of a
blank canvas with a paintbrush and palette at hand—think again.
Grosse is just as likely be found elbows-deep in raw pigments and
strange three-dimensional materials, or armed with a spray-gun used
to apply her fluorescent, otherworldly colors onto large-scale
installations and paintings.

In an exclusive interview filmed at her Berlin-based studio
for Art21, Grosse explains her relationship to
color and form. Citing the standards of the 17th century art
academy, where color was considered “the female, less stable, less
clear, element of painting” and line was considered “the more male
and progressive part of the work,” Grosse laughs.

It’s fitting then, that she was recently tapped by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to create a work
that would be erected alongside and in dialogue with the almost
20-foot Mural (1943) by none other than Jackson
Pollock, considered to be his greatest creation.

Grosse is never one to make concessions to the bounds of
tradition. “I see very clearly that color is actually taking away
the boundary of the object,” she declares. “There is no
subject-object relationship anymore. I think maybe that’s what
color has the potential to make us think.”

Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of
Art21’s Art in the Twenty-First Century series, below. “Mural: Jackson Pollock | Katharina Grosse” is
on view at the MFA Boston through February 23, 2020. 

This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration
between artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking
artists. A new series of the nonprofit Art21’s flagship series Art
in the Twenty-First Century is available now on PBS. Catch all
episodes of other series like New York Close Up and Extended Play
and learn about the organization’s educational programs
at Art21.org.

The post ‘There Is No Subject-Object Relationship Anymore’:
Watch Katharina Grosse Explain Her Dynamic Painting Process
appeared first on artnet News.