
CAROLINE ACHAINTRE
Double
February 12, 2023 – June 11, 2023
Introduction: Dr. Simone Schimpf, Director Neues Museum,
State Museum for Art and Design Nuremberg
The German-French artist Caroline Achaintre was born in Toulouse in 1969 and grew up in Fürth in Germany. Before her studies, which she completed at Goldsmiths University of London in 2003, she had qualified as a blacksmith. Since 2018, she has been a professor of textile art at Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule in Halle. Today she lives and works in London.
Caroline Achaintre's many-faceted oeuvre is characterised by her use of a variety of materials and working techniques, some of which she combines conceptually. In addition to works on paper and in glazed ceramics, she mainly produces tapestries, which are outstanding for their sensual presence. For her large tapestries such as Mercury or Alberich, Caroline Achaintre uses the technique of tufting. In this procedure, separate wool threads are shot through the canvas from the rear by means of a pressure gun, so that the front side shows the subject. The process of creation is as mysterious as the resulting artwork, which is haptically fascinating and evokes associations with fluffy animal skins. The artist´s small ceramics, such as Dorrn, suggest cell formations or snake skins. The intimate watercolours, on the other hand, are reminiscent of puzzle pictures or the deep-psychological technique of the so-called Rorschach test. Mysterious mask forms, strange mythical figures, capricious heads or hybrid creatures become discernible in her work. Usually it is multi-layered characters or multiple identities that fascinate the artist and inspire her to create her works. Thus, Caroline Achaintre´s philosophical, psychological, motivical and thematic interest in the type of the Double in its ambiguity is also reflected in the title of this exhibition. For her work, the artist draws inspiration from both high and pop culture, from German Expressionism as well as folk art, but also from Central European carnival or animism all the way to horror, heavy metal and science fiction.
On the heels of her first solo museum exhibition in Germany, at the Kunstmuseum Ravensburg, the Museum Lothar Fischer is paying tribute to the internationally renowned artist with over thirty works in a retrospective exhibition.
Catalogue: Caroline Achaintre. Shiftings, ed. Kunstmuseum Ravensburg, Kunsthaus Centre d'art Pasq.uart, Biel, 2022 (German/English/French), 28 €.
In parallel, the Neues Museum Nürnberg presents a Caroline Achaintre room with recent works, including the large all-view textile work Roadrunner from 2022