In her work, Janaina Tschäpe gives form to the relationship between the body and matter, in paintings, drawings, performances and photography. Currently the core of her research, the artist’s abstract canvases have a liquid appearance that recalls plant, animal or mineral contours in wild and underwater landscapes. The aquatic atmosphere also appears in photographic images. Portraying the sea, rivers and lakes, Tschäpe seeks to replicate processes of metamorphosis and mutation present in nature, just as many of her performances address physical transformation. Her repertoire of organic forms also composes the large surfaces of her paintings, animated by gestural movement: the quick lines that the artist traces with oil sticks overlap the fluidity of broader brushstrokes. The natural world is not faithfully represented in Tschäpe’s work, but its vital dynamics are translated into pictorial terms, involving the public in a restless ambiance.
Her recent exhibitions include Estrelas Conversando em Voz Alta, Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, BRasil (2023); Soy mi proprio paisaje, CAC Málaga, Málaga, Spain (2023); Restless Moraine, Sean Kelly, New York, USA (2023); FIRE just sparkles in the sky, Carpintaria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2022); Janaina Tschäpe and Ursula Reuter Christiansen: Das Unheimliche, Den Frie Center of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021) and Counterpoint 5, Musée de la Orangerie, Paris, France (2020). She has also taken part in the group shows Nunca só essa mente, nunca só esse mundo, Carpintaria, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (2023) The Big Picture, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2023); Earth Works, Hunt Gallery, Webster University, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (2021) and Abundant Futures, TBA21, Cordoba, Spain (2021).
The artist’s works have been included in important public collections, such as 21st Century Museum of Contemporary of Art, Kanazawa, Japan; Banco Espírito Santo, Lisbon, Portugal; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Clifford Chance Collection, New York, USA; Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris, France; Fondation Belgacom, Brussels, Belgium; FRAC Champagne-Ardennes, Reims, France; Harvard Art Museum, Boston, USA; Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brasil; Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil; Kandinsky Library Collection (Centre Pompidou), Paris, France; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Mudam Musée d’Art Moderne Grand Duc Jean, Luxembourg; MAM – Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; Museu Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; National Gallery of Art: Washington DC, USA; Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, USA; SMAK – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent, Belgium; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; Tokyo Roki Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan; TBA21 – Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria.
