Christina Niederberger

I am interested in the language of painting and how this language has been framed by its cultural conditions, historical tradition and gender politics. My studio practice examines how a renewed consideration of these contextual elements offers possibilities for a contemporary painting practice. These interests are grounded in my research for a practice-led PhD in which I explored the notion of cultural recycling (abstract). In my studio practice I approach this notion of ‘recycling’ with paintings that deal with mimetic assimilations and re-interpretations of Modernism’s formal vocabulary and stylistic devices, re-presenting them in a manner that deliberately goes against the prevalent ideology of their time. Since 2016 I have been focussing mainly on Abstract Expressionism and its legacy, ‘translating’ (masculine) expressionistic brush-strokes into an illusionistic mark making which mimics embroidery/textiles and as such alludes to feminine materials and craft. Borrowing from both the vocabulary of Modernism and of textile art, my painterly translations from one visual language to another can be read as hybrid texts engaged in a process of interpretation between languages and cultures, Modernism and contemporary art, between painting and textile as well as between a culture dominated by masculinity and a feminist perspective.