Pamela Rosenkranz

Pamela Rosenkranz is a conceptual artist who makes paintings and installations. She works with minimalist forms which she creates with the use of synthetics and everyday objects. Her works are a reflection on the place of the individual in a world dominated by technology and modern consumption. 

Rosenkranz examines how we experience and express ourselves with the aid of goods and technologies. The artist shows how the modern, chaotic search for one’s own place in the world and the fragmentary experience of identity impels the individual to perform constant emotional work for the sake of their image; a process comparable to that of building brand recognition.

The act of bringing market conditions into the private and personal realm is reflected in Rosenkranz’s work shown in the exhibition, which addresses themes like the cult of beauty and physical health. In her work, the body appears as a phantom reflection on a synthetic canvas – mutable, fluid and amorphous.

The series of acrylic paintings on spandex, an elastic fabric used in the production of form-fitting sports apparel, and the accompanying sculpture are part of a larger series concerning the visual identity of exclusive mineral water brands like FIJI, Smartwater and Evian. At first glance, Rosenkranz’s paintings resemble Yves Klein’s famous “Anthropometries” –  a series of body prints made by nude models covered in a special blue paint patented by the artist. In each case, the colour of Rosenkranz’s paintings corresponds to a colour found on the FIJI water bottle, which the artist filled with a flesh-coloured pigment used by theatre make-up artists.

Rosenkranz emphasises the commodification of symbols relating to life, fertility and cleansing, perfectly exemplified by a substance as “natural” as water. She poses questions not only on the “real nature” of human beings  but also on their place in a nature constantly modified by technological progress.