SUGAR IN YOUR EYES
solo show by Nina Bachmann
22.10.21 - 20.11.21
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Where is the borderline between boundless enjoyment and letting oneself be carried away by la dolce vita? Or the line between the danger of falling into excess, into what poisons and threatens to harm? How to decrypt the facial expressions of revelry and delight, and contrarily, those of torment?
The people who live in Nina Bachmann's paintings move in these terrains of blurred, half-drawn lines. The temptation of excess and the fascination for enjoyment veer towards the unhealthy and the intoxicating. In the artist's words, Sugar in the eyes alludes to la dolce vita, to what is loved, to happiness, to hyperactivity, also in macroeconomics, to overproduction and over productivity. More sugar for more energy, for more pleasure.
Spoiler! There is a B side: sugar is also a powerful, addictive, harmful drug. In our society, this relates to the constant search of the next excess, the next intoxication, the delight and euphoria of magnification. More champagne, more profit and faster, more sugar overflow. It's the "wet your lips" that adults say when inviting you to take the first sip when you're little. "Just wet your lips" they would say, as if there was no turning back when you took the step to take a sip. The first contacts with the temptation of excess also appear with sugar. Sweetness feels good, it boosts morale on a difficult day. Afterwards, uncertainty appears, the glucose rush subsides and in its place remains restlessness and questioning.
Could it be possible that a happy life is a fragile illusion? Could it be that the yellow people in Nina's paintings, who enjoy themselves to the point of exaggeration, are in reality victims of themselves? Join the party, or help? Too much sugar ruins the dessert.
Text by Manuela Medina - Director
ABOUT NINA BACHMANN
Nina Bachmann (1990, Munich), lives and works in Munich, Germany. After finishing her design studies at the University of Applied Sciences, she worked at a graphic agency until she decided to concentrate on painting.
Nina’s works blur the contours of conventional identity while playfully mocking what she calls “the absurdities of high society.” The subjects in Nina’s works are euphoric, intoxicating and jubilant. They are kinky and in a state of arousal. They are even genderless, but their anxieties grimace betrayal and their insecurities and lingering awareness that all this excess cannot last. And it is this duality that Nina aims to convey to her viewers, who, perhaps seeing themselves reflected on the canvas, are meant to receive a “tenuous pleasure” from her works. Using bright and garish colors, Nina gives her viewers a visual feast which to gorge upon as they reflect their own place in the scenes they see before them.
Nina usually works with acrylics on canvas, but she also creates sculptures with modeling clay and shapes her figures into 3d objects. Nina is also part of the Munich brewery “Isarkindl” where she mainly designs beer labels.
