Kolb, Kristin

1962 Braunschweig – lives in Berlin

The pictorial worlds of Berlin-based artist Kristin Kolb are realistic and surreal at the same time. This makes them seem familiar on the one hand and strange on the other. The qualified pharmacist usually finds her motifs in the domestic and exotic animal world, which she studies meticulously. Kolb’s work is characterised by an unerring sense of measure and precision, which is not only captivating due to her old-masterly drawing technique, but also due to her use of art-historical traditions.

Kolb often uses antiquarian books as supports for her drawings, which are executed with coloured pencils, acrylic and ink. By using the book spines and endpapers, she achieves different effects, whereby the signs of age and use of the materials have a significant influence on the aesthetics of the respective work. The colouring, ornamentation and typography of the books are also an integral part of Kolb’s compositions. In addition, they provide clues to the underlying ideas of the works. The names of the authors and the titles of the books also play an important role by triggering associations and stimulating speculation about possible levels of meaning of the pictorial ideas.

Kolb’s works are immediately fascinating due to the liveliness of their depiction. While the artist always bases her anatomical depictions of the animals on real models, she sometimes alienates their behaviour in a surreal way. She often draws complex animal grotesques with sometimes narrative elements. Her sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes seriously dark humour can both evoke an intuitive smile and stimulate deeper reflection. In this way, Kolb’s fantastic visual worlds combine to create a multi-faceted reflection on the relationship between animals and humans, without the latter making a direct appearance.