Art | Additional Selections from the work of Berlin Artist Judith Hopf

MUNCHEN, Germany — Earlier this month we showcased the work of Berlin artist Judith Hopf. Hopf displayed a collection of brick sculptures in ! Hear Ring ! with the kaufmann repetto gallery in Milan.

Above image: Judith Hopf, Erschöpfte Vase, 2010, ceramic and paint. Photograph collected here.

We wanted to give our readers a taste of her work from different mediums. Many of these are pulled from her exhibition abc – art berlin contemporary at the Deborah Schamoni gallery (München, Germany, September 9 – September 21, 2014). In many of these we see objects set against the plain concrete floor of the gallery. It looks like a computer programmer’s error — the sculptures do not sit flush with the floor, they’re clipping through it. It creates the sensation of works either melting into the structure of the gallery or rising up into the gallery from some primordial art-ooze.

The feature image for this post comes to us from a different series, but we had to include it as part of the larger dialogue on CFile regarding vessels with faces. The simple, cartoonish elements makes the vase communicate humanity in a way that many similar vases don’t. We love that it’s turned upside down, too. That choice of Hopf’s couples well with the vase’s expression. It reads like the vase is uncomfortable with its appearance. Charlie Brown in contemporary ceramic art. I feel like I understand and identify with its story and I hope the lil’ guy gets some more confidence in the future.

Judith Hopf (b. 1969, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Her selected solo exhibitions include MORE, Neue Galerie, Kassel (2015); Untitled (1-4), Praxes, Berlin (2014); A Line May Lie, Kunsthalle Lingen Kunstverein, Lignen; Testing Time, Studio Voltaire, London; From Down, From Up & in Between, Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples (all 2013); Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden; Juidth Hopf: end rhymes and openings, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (both 2012); Nose up!, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2008); Türen (with Henrik Olesen), Portikus, Frankfurt/Main (2007); Secession, Vienna (2006); What do you look like, a crypto damonic mystery, Caso Institute for Art and Design, Utrecht (2006); Kunstwerke Berlin (2006). Judith Hopf has participated in group exhibitions such as the 8th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool; Puddle, pothole, portal, Sculpture Center, Long Island City (both 2014); Made in LA, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2013); Triennale for Video Art,  Mechelen; and dOCUMENTA13, Kassel (both 2012). In 2016 Judith Hopf will hold a solo exhibition at Museion, Bozen. She is currently teaching Fine Art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main.

Do you love or loathe these works of contemporary ceramic art? Let us know in the comments.