Hadassah Emmerich (1974 Heerlen, The Netherlands) lives and works in Berlin since she was selected for a 1-year residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien (2007/2008).
Her work is basically focused on drawing and painting, often as part of her murals and installations, with a strongly ornamental character. Sinuous, vine-like vegetation, texts, flowers and more evocative shapes populate the paintings, which radiate a surrealist quality.
For her show at Invaliden1 Emmerich creates a new mural and show recent work paper.The ornament in the ceiling of the gallery is repeated and used as a frame for the wallpainting. Against a dark background various shapes such as garlands and flowers become visible. But rather than focusing on the decorative aspects of ornament, Emmerich is interested to show its ambiguity. The represented figures in Ornamentalia contain an eroticised intention; some flowers or fruits might well be dripping ice creams, heads of hair, breast or genitals. This built up to a visual experience based on the creation of an environment that surrounds the viewer with something that could best be described as abstract exoticism.
