Heidrun Rathgeb
My Yellow Room
March 23 - April 29, 2023
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 23, 6 - 8 PM.
Artist in attendance
Chelsea, New York: 532 Gallery is pleased to present Heidrun Rathgeb in her U.S. premiere, “My Yellow Room”.
The title of this exhibition (My Yellow Room) refers to one of Heidrun Rathgeb’s diminutive but captivating paintings in tempera on panel, around three dozen of which are included in show, along with a handful of similar works in etching on paper. The painting in turn owes its existence to a small guest room where she once stayed during an extended hike in the Alps, the luminousness of which inspired it and several other pieces as well.
Although they vary in their exact dimensions, most of her works are not much larger than a post card, requiring the viewer to get very close in order to fully experience the subtlety of their texture and brushwork. Her paintings present a seemingly encyclopedic record of casual moments in Rathgeb’s daily life: views of rooms in her home, her children at work and at play, and the land and water around her home in southern Germany. Throughout all of these images, there is a simple but powerful matter-of-factness that makes each scene a testament to the profound beauty of life lived simply in tranquil surroundings.