In the project space, Jutta Koether presents excerpts from an ongoing series of paintings entitled “Hysterics (Male)”. These modestly scaled paintings, begun in 2001, feature portraits of men such as Diedrich Diederichsen, Klaus Kinski, Neil Young, Francis Picabia, Rainer W. Fassbinder, Friedrich Petzel, Karl Lagerfeld, Subcommandante Marcos…

Using the term “hysteria” as an entry to allow liberation, inspiration, and creative energy, Koether depicts her subjects in a removed state of consciousness, as portraits between ecstasy and nightmare, as tender effigies echoing a traumatic impact. They reflect Koether’s commitment to painting as improvised moment, as a refusal to acknowledge reality, as an ephemeral tool to echo imagination.

Jutta Koether’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, and she Pat Hearn Gallery, New York, Bruno Brunnet Gallery, Berlin, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, and at the Generali Foundation, Vienna. Her work was included in “The Big Nothing” at the ICA Philadelphia; in “Deutsche Malerei 2003” at the Kunstverein Frankfurt; in “Lordship and Bondage at Columbia University; in “Der Horror in der Kunst” at the Kunstverein Graz, Austria; in “In Parralax View: Cologne-New York” at P.S. 1 Institute for Contemporary Art, NY; in “Painting the Extended Field” at Magasin 3, Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö; and in “In Reflex: Die Neunziger” at the Wiener Secession, Vienna. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Künstlerhaus Wien, the Swiss Institute NY, Daniel Reich Gallery, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Bard College, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, Galerie Christian Nagel, and the Institute for Contemporary Art, New York. This is Jutta Koether’s first exhibition at the gallery.