Karin Kneffel
Works of art as limited editions by one of Germany's best-known contemporary artists
Karin Kneffel (*1957) first studied German and philosophy at the universities of Münster and Duisburg-Essen and then painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf from 1981-87 under Norbert Tadeusz and became a master student of Gerhard Richter.
Since 2008, the internationally renowned painter has held a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Karin Kneffel lives and works in Düsseldorf.
Karin Kneffel's works have been presented in solo museum exhibitions since the 1990s, including at: Kunstmuseum Bonn, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Mönchehaus Museum Goslar, Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne, Kunsthalle Bremen, Museum Frieder Burda Baden-Baden, Max Ernst Museum Brühl, Museum Haus Esters Krefeld, Museum Küppersmühle Duisburg. The artist's work has been honored with various grants, prizes and awards, including the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship, Kunstfonds Bonn Scholarship, Lingen Art Prize, Villa Massimo Scholarship, Cologne Fine Art Prize.
Karin Kneffel's art and the motifs of her works
“[...] Karin Kneffel is one of the most important representatives of Neorealism. Her photorealistic paintings combine realism and surrealism.” - Ralph Goertz (Director IKS/ Institute for Art Documentation and Scenography)
Karin Kneffel repeatedly devotes herself to motifs and pictorial themes that originate from traditional genre painting: These can be interiors or landscapes, animal paintings or still lifes, for example. The core of Karin Kneffel's art is to create the everyday and seemingly familiar as if we were encountering it for the first time or seeing it from a new perspective.
The design and complexity of her pictures
Precision, obsession with detail and virtuoso illusionism - these are the characteristics of Karin Kneffel's works. The hyper-realistic effect of her paintings initially irritates the viewer, creating an enigmatic and exciting sense of ambiguity.
Among other things, Kneffel works with blurring and out-of-focus, reflections and pictorial superimpositions, intimate close-ups or even oversized scales in which the reality of the image exceeds the regular perception of objects or spaces.
Karin Kneffel's works contain a second level - nothing in them is as it seems at first. Kneffel alienates and expands reality, she challenges our perception, and that is precisely what makes her art extraordinary.
The limited editions by Karin Kneffel
In addition to her unique works, the paintings on canvas, Karin Kneffel has also created limited edition prints, but only in small numbers. These limited editions are therefore sought-after collector's items. We are pleased to be able to offer you original limited screen prints and etchings by Karin Kneffel!
Work group Animals
arin Kneffel was particularly preoccupied with animals in her early work. Her exploration of animals resulted in individual portraits of the kind we are familiar with from human portraits: Kneffel's pictures present the heads of animals in extreme close-up and usually have the animals looking directly and challengingly at the viewer - this creates an almost intimate dialog between human and animal.
► Work tip:
Karin Kneffel's small-format etchings from the early 2000s: "Tierköpfe – Schaf, braun", "Tierköpfe – Ziege, braun" and "Tierköpfe – Schaf, schwarz"
Work group Fruits
Her group of monumental fruit paintings, several meters in size, contributed significantly to Karin Kneffel's international fame.
Kneffel's pictures show ripe fruit, which is staged to fill the picture. The artist presents the fruits in an extremely oversized and close-up view, so that they seem close enough to touch. The backgrounds are also irritating. Unlike traditional still lifes, in which fruit is presented in bowls on tables, Kneffel places the fruit in abstract dark spaces or sets them in front of a sky or landscape, for example. These scenes have a surreal effect, as the fruit stands out almost luminously against the darkened backgrounds.
A seductive glow is cast over the fruit. Kneffel creates virtuoso lighting and shadow effects in the pictures. She works out even the smallest details of the fruit with precision. The plasticity of the fruit literally jumps out at us. The fruit looks extremely real, juicy and seductive. They look absolutely perfect - and that is precisely what is irritating: their unnatural flawlessness.
Karin Kneffel's fruit paintings give the impression of an exaggerated reality. The artist achieves an impressive illusionism and a supernatural appearance of beauty, opulence and perfection.
►Work tip:
Karin Kneffel's large-format screen prints "Kirschen vor Landschaft", "Pfirsiche vor Zweigen", "Trauben vor Himmel" and "Äpfel vor Landschaft" – they are not signed and have a higher edition, so they are particularly affordable for an original limited edition by the artist.
