Stefanie Busch

www.stefaniebusch.com

In her pictorial documentation »The Good Times Are Killing Me« Stefanie Busch has processed impressions of her stay in America in 2009. As always when she is travelling, she eagerly collected images. In the USA she travelled through the Mid West and found traces of economical decline in many places. Shrinking Cities, abandoned industrial plants, depopulated and run-down residential areas – places of the shady side of the American Way of Life, where not much is happening and where only empty factory buildings and unused bill boards, abandoned to decline and vandalism stand as witnesses of the former prosperity of the middle class. Often, orphaned properties are marked with sighs as vacant. It is either the vague hope that the momentary situation is only temporarily or a sign saying For Sale would be too early or it is a given fact that demolition is following. The notion of emptiness is taking a concrete form here. If the cities lose money also cultural activities are not spared. The maybe most outrageous motif for the European bourgeoisie was found by the artist in the city of Detroit, formerly known for car production where an opera is now used as a car park. 

The photographic documentation was completed by Stefanie Busch with news paper articles, maps and research which replenished the experiences there with background information. Later screen prints and ink drawings originated from this material, whereas all picked main motifs – for example a huge billboard, the car park in the opera, the vacant sign – were usually presented as individual images but next beside them frequently appear other motifs in basic or multiple cross-fading. The moment of overlay is pointing towards the desolation of these places in their momentary state, a state which might lead to other, new and maybe also promising developments after some time. In her finished works two images adverse each other, also some of her own photographs. Similar to our memory where images are layered on top of one another, new and old images mix and through permanent adjustment of the unknown and the known, experience and cognition become possible instances – hence Stefanie Busch has placed her sequence of images from America in a steady alternation of proximity and distance. Not by coincidence the viewing of her works is similar to reading a paper, in which one can turn the pages back and forth according to a personal rhythm.

Mathias Wagner · 2011

 

 Solo Exhibitions (selection) 

2012

»Überkehr«, galerie baer, Dresden, Germany
»Outbound Passage«, Galerie Ilka Bree, Bordeaux, France 

2011

»so oder so«, Store, Dresden, Germany
»Erstmal für immer«, Neue Sächsische Galerie, Chemnitz, Germany

 Participations (selection) 

2013

»jetzt hier«, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Lipsiusbau, Dresden

2012

»Versteckte Öffentlichkeiten«, Motorenhalle Dresden, Germany
»foreign affairs II«, Urban Arts Space, Ohio State University, Columbus/Ohio, USA
»Land(schafft)kunst IV«, Biennale, Neuwerder, Germany
»GLÜCKWUNSCH!«, Kulturrathaus Dresden, Germany
»public lighting«, 421 W. State Street, Columbus Ohio, USA  
»Hidden Publics«, Galerie Emila Filly, Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic 

2011

»Für die mit der Sehnsucht«, Kunstraum Peripherie, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Coburg, Germany
»St. Petersburg Biennale for Contemporary Art«, Manege, St. Petersburg, Russia
»Positionen sächsischer Gegenwartskunst«, Villa Eschenbach, Dresden
»The darkest corner oft he withest cube«, Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany 

2010

»Unter Oberflächen«, Delikatessenhaus, Leipzig, Germany
»love speech«, Westgermany, Berlin, Germany
»fOrmat«, Kunstverein Oschatz, Germany
»houseparty II – come as you are«, galerie baer, Dresden, Germany
»houseWARNING«, Hopkins Hall Gallery, Columbus/Ohio, USA
»Die perfekte Gastgeberin«, Kotti-Shop, Berlin, Germany
Howson Gallery, Judson Park and Manor, Cleveland/Ohio, USA
Kendal at Oberlin, Oberlin/Ohio, USA 
Cuyahoga County Library, Bay Village Branch Gallery, Ohio, USA

 

 

Vita

1977

born in Dresden, Germany

1998-2003

study of painting, graphic arts and new media at the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden, Germany 

2003-2005

master studies with Prof. Lutz Dammbeck at the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden, Germany 

lives and works in Dresden, Gemany 

Prizes/Grants 

2009

Columbus/Ohio fellowship by Freistaates Sachsen 

2008 

Art in architecture project, with Robert Thiele, University Leipzig 

2007

Sachsen_Art – Prize for Young Printed Art, founded by Dresdner Bank and Neuer Sächsischer Kunstverein 

2006

prize of the city Dresden for the artist platform „7th floor“, Dresden

2005

grant by Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen 

2004

Hegenbarth-Fellowship

Awarded 1st prize at the Kunst-am-Bau-Competition held by the German embassy in Kiev, Ukraine

 

2002

special prize at Pentapark Photo Prize 

Downloads

CV English

Text

»The Good Times Are Killing Me« · Mathias Wagner · 2011

»This could be heaven or this could be Hell...« · Petra Lewey · 2009

»Sugar-coated Memory« · Mathias Wagner · 2006


 

 

 

 


Stefanie Busch · »Verträge« · 27 1/4 x 34 2/3 in (69 x 88 cm) · silkscreen on paper · 2012

Stefanie Busch · »Ungesichtetes Archiv« · 39 1/3 x 27 1/2 in (100 x 70 cm) · silkscreen on paper · 2012

Stefanie Busch · »auch weit« · 12 3/4 x 16 3/4 in (32,5 x 42,5 cm) · silkscreen on paper · 2012

Stefanie Busch · »Cover« · 39 1/3 x 27 1/2 in (100 x 70 cm) · silkscreen on paper · 2012

Stefanie Busch · »Korridor X« · 43 1/3 x 29 1/2 in (110 x 75 cm) · silkscreen on paper · 2012

Stefanie Busch · »Überkehr« · 65 x 50 3/4 in (165 x 129 cm) · silkscreen on paper · 2012

Stefanie Busch · »Langer Traum« · 25 2/3 x 19 2/3 in (65 x 50 cm) · ink on paper, processed · 2011

Stefanie Busch · »Schatten« · 25 2/3 x 19 2/3 in (65 x 50 cm) · ink on paper · 2011

Stefanie Busch · »Front« · 11 3/4 x 8 2/3 in (30 x 22 cm) · in on paper · 2010

Stefanie Busch · »Layer« · 25 2/3 x 19 2/3 in (65 x 50 cm) · ink on paper · 2010

Stefanie Busch · »Puzzle« · 11 3/4 x 8 2/3 in (30 x 22 cm) · silkscreen on paper · 2010

Stefanie Busch · »Koma« · 25 2/3 x 19 2/3 in (65 x 50 cm) · ink on paper · 2010

Stefanie Busch · »The Good Times Are Killing Me« · 35 3/4 x 47 2/3 in (91 x 121 cm) · mixed media · 2009

Stefanie Busch · »warm welcome« · 80 x 60 cm · ink on paper · 2013