Cornelia Baltes's (b. Mönchengladbach 1978 lives and works in Berlin) paintings and
installation straddle the divide between abstraction and figuration. Her pictures are inspired
by observations of mundane details-apparel body parts or facial expressions-that she pares
down to simple lines and shapes. Rendered in vibrant colors and gestural fields they hint at a
narrative in the pictorial space. Baltes works with steadily modulated color gradients on
which she places thick and assertive marks. She often interrogates the painted picture's
function by painting on the wall beyond the rectangle of the canvas by hanging a picture in
the middle of the room as an object in its own right or laying it out on the floor. Her works
blend Pop Art and minimalism with an intensity and dynamic energy-and sometimes unmistakable
flashes of humor-that cannot fail to captivate the beholder. This book is the first
comprehensive monograph on the artist's oeuvre. Cornelia Baltes studied at Bergische
Universität Wuppertal in 2000-2003 and at Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen in 2003-2006
before rounding out her education at the Slade School of Fine Art London in 2009-2011.
