Cathrin Hoffmann
(b. 1984, Germany) lives and works in Hamburg, Germany.
In her work, Hoffmann reimagines the body to explore and question what it means to be human in the post-digital age. The anthropomorphic figures that dominate her paintings appear like contortionists, twisted and strained they grapple with the cornerstones of our earthly existence - life and death, pain and pleasure, love and loss, and isolation and connection. In Hoffmann's words: "I create a new virtual body, with its weaknesses and idiosyncrasies, to probe what our present time with modern technology, digitization, and hyper capitalism has made us become?
How do we exist and behave? What is human, what remains?"
Hoffmann's deeply personal visions are realised through a paradoxical engagement with and rejection of digital painting. She begins by mapping out a composition digitally using a graphic tablet, before exchanging the seamless result for an analogue translation where the physical traces of the artist are present. Says Hoffmann, "I am attracted by the ambivalence between perfection and imperfection. My digital work is bright polished and perfect, as soon as I try to reproduce this, I realise it is impossible. It is this area in between that interests me, the perfectly imperfect."
Joining an intimate process of self-reflection with a collective anxiety about the present moment, Hoffmann visualises and critiques our odourless existence within an increasingly online world - a virtual environment which impacts the way we see and are seen, or not seen at all.
(Text by Harry Dougall)
2020
EIN MUSEUM AUF PROBE, Villa Merkel, Esslingen, DE
IT STILL SMELLS OF NOTHING, Public Gallery, London, GB
TRANSATLANTICO, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey, USA
LAYERS AND TRACKS, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
EVERYDAY IS SUNDAY, UTA Artist Space, online exhibition
Enter Art Fair, The Hole NYC, Copenhagen, DK
SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN, Duve Berlin, Berlin, DE
DECADE, Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam, NL
SECOND SMILE, The Hole NYC, New York City, USA
Art Rotterdam Fair, Marian Cramer Projects, Rotterdam, NL
Forthcoming:
tba
Exhibitions
2019
JUXTAPOZ AT 25: IN BLACK AND WHITE, The Hotel of South Beach, ArtBasel Miami, USA
TOO MANY I IN DIGITAL, Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam, NL
Art Berlin Fair, Setareh Gallery, Berlin, DE
VIRGULA DIVINA, Setareh Gallery, Düsseldorf, DE
End of Residency Show, PLOP, London, GB
POST DIGITAL POP, The Garage Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
POST ANALOG STUDIO, The Hole NYC, New York City, USA
2018
Affordable Art Fair, Millerntor Gallery, Hamburg, DE
MS Artville 2019, MS Artville, Hamburg, DE
ART CREATES WATER, Millerntor Gallery, Hamburg, DE
Farbflut, Farbflut Festival, Lemwerder, DE
New Wall, New Wall Gallery, Hamburg, DE
HUMAN CONDITION, Bunkerhill Gallery, Hamburg, DE
2017
POST G20, Galerie Speckstraße, Hamburg, DE
Residency
2020 Forthcoming, Palazzo Monti, Brescia, IT
2019 PLOP (run by Oli Epp and Aindrea Emelife), London, GB
Press
Hypebeast Art
https://hypebeast.com/2020/10/cathrin-hoffmann-it-smells-of-nothing-public-gallery
This is Tomorrow
http://thisistomorrow.info/articles/cathrin-hoffman
Juxtapoz Magazine
Metal Magazine
Monopol Magazine
https://www.monopol-magazin.de/insta-watchlist-cathrin-hoffmann
Floorr Magazine
https://www.floorrmagazine.com/issue-25/cathrin-hoffmann
Juxtapoz Magazine
https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/installation/somewhere-in-between-cathrin-hoffmann-and-liam-fallon-duve-gallery-berlin/
Schön! Magazine
https://schonmagazine.com/cathrin-hoffmann-liam-fallon-duve-berlin/
Juxtapoz Magazine
https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/painting/if-you-hang-it-we-will-virtually-see-it-second-smile-the-hole-nyc/
Juxtapoz Magazine
https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/news/art-in-uncertain-times-a-look-across-the-globe-at-artist-responses-to-a-pandemic/
Der Freitag
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/stefan-bock/berlin-art-week
SkillShare
https://www.skillshare.com/blog/learn/8-artists-on-overcoming-self-doubt
SkillShare
https://www.skillshare.com/blog/freelance/5-artists-on-what-it-takes-to-make-it
Juxtapoz Magazine
https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/installation/recap-art-rotterdam-2020-the-van-nelle-factory/
Westdeutsche Zeitung
Juxtapoz Magazine
Hi-Fructose Magazine
https://hifructose.com/2019/05/03/the-oil-and-acrylic-paintings-of-cathrin-hoffmann/
Design Boom
https://www.designboom.com/art/the-hole-nyc-post-analog-studio-exhibition-04-27-2019/
Juxtapoz Magazine
The Why Not Magazine
http://thewhynot.de/artist-we-love-cathrin-hoffmann-kuenstlerin-aus-hamburg/