Michaela Kölmel (1956 - 2007) was a German artist and university professor from Karlsruhe.[1] Her artistic work included drawings, sculptures, site-specific installations, and interventions in public spaces.

Michaela Kölmel
Born1956
Died2007 (aged 51)
Resting placeKarlsruhe, Germany
NationalityWest German; German
EducationAcademy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

Life and work edit

From 1980 to 1986, she studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe under Prof. Hiromi Akiyama and Prof. David Lauer. She was awarded the Graduate Scholarship of the State of Baden-Württemberg and further scholarships took her to the Cité des Arts in Paris (1992). She also received a lectureship at the University of Pforzheim (1995/99) and Ahrenshoop (2000), funded by the Kunstfonds Berlin. In 2002, Kölmel became a professor at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, where she taught courses including Interior Design, Sculpture, Drawing, and Art History until her death in 2007.

Ministry of Science and Art of Baden-Württemberg style edit

Working in the tradition of minimalism prominent in the 1960s, Kölmel explored the complexity found in the simple and elemental. Her work examined the contrast between forms with a straightforward and unspectacular exterior and those with a mysterious, luminous interior, using such materials as highly polished copper tubes, stainless steel sheets, and mirror glass. Concept, process, and material determined her work.

Kölmel used these materials for wall- and floor-related works. She also used them in site-specific productions to connect spaces and generate unusual fields of perception (Installation MultiMediale 2 and ZKM 1992, Installation Orgelhalle 1994, Installation Galerie Rottloff, 2006). Using materials that reflect light, Kölmel created complex sensorial spaces of high intensity with simple means; she contained dense formal language that opened up difficult dialogues between the work, the viewer, and the room.

In her drawings, Kölmel preferred foil, graphite powder, and a cutting knife to conventional paper and pencil. She created arrangements of lines through cuts on the graphite surface, giving them a relief-like appearance.

Kölmel's work is part of public collections, including the Ministry of Science and Art of Baden-Württemberg, the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, and the Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe [de]. They are also in numerous private collections, such as the Museum für aktuelle Kunst - Sammlung Hurrle [de] and the collection of Reinhold Würth.

Gallery edit

Selected exhibitions edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Collection & Archives/ People/ Michaela Kölmel". ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. May 2019.
  2. ^ "LichtSchatten Vernissage Flyer" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  3. ^ "gestern - heute - morgen: Ausstellung und Kolloquium des Künstlerbundes Baden-Württemberg zum 60-jährigen Jubiläum des Landes Baden-Württemberg" [gestern - heute - morgen: Exhibition and colloquium of the artist association Baden-Württemberg on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the state of Baden-Württemberg]. Künstlerbund Baden-Württemberg [Baden-Württemberg Artists' Association]. 2012. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Spektral - Diametral in der Städtischen Galerie Karlsruhe". Kunstportal Baden-Württemberg [Art Portal Baden-Württemberg]. 2011. Archived from the original on September 10, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Ohne Titel - Michaela Kölmel" [Untitled - Michaela Kölmel]. Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. 1995. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  6. ^ "Künstlerinnen 1994 - 2010" [Artists 1994-2010]. Gabrielle Münter Preis [Gabriele Münter Prize]. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  7. ^ "Ohne Titel (Welle-Japan) - Michaela Kölmel (1999)" [Untitled (Wave-Japan)]. Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. 1999. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  8. ^ "Michaela Kölmel". Galerie Rottloff, Karlsruhe - Zeitgenössische Kunst [Rottloff Gallery, Karlsruhe - Contemporary Art]. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  9. ^ "ohne Titel - Kupferrohr, Spanplatte" [untitled - copper pipe, chipboard]. förderverein aktuelle kunst münster e.v. [Association for the Promotion of Contemporary Art Münster e.V.] 1997. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  10. ^ "Zeitgenössische Fotokunst aus den Niederlanden / Karlsruher Ateliers". Badischer Kunstverein [Baden Art Association]. 1996. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  11. ^ "Sculptura Ulm ´93 / Sculptura Ulm ´94" (PDF). pro arte ulmer kunststiftung. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  12. ^ "Michaela Kölmel | ZKM". zkm.de. Retrieved November 27, 2019.

External links edit

  Media related to Michaela Kölmel at Wikimedia Commons