Our Eyes Felt Like Canyons: Lea von Wintzingerode
Past exhibition
Overview
my deep listening fantasy I(red), 2024, Oil on Canvas, 120 x 180 cm, Photo by Xiaojian. Courtesy of the artist and Hua International.
Hua International is honored to present the first solo exhibition of German artist Lea von Wintzingerode (b. 1990) in China, titled “Our Eyes Felt Like Canyons”. The exhibition will feature her latest paintings and sound installation, where visual and auditory awareness will connect; in this synesthetic experience, the internal world of humans and the external social and natural environments will intertwine, reflecting and influencing each other.
"Our Eyes Felt Like Canyons” centers around a sound installation bearing the same name as the exhibition, surrounded by paintings, declaring two of von Wintzingerode’s most important identities: sound artist and painter. The site-specific sound installation blends synthesized and field-recorded sounds, juxtaposing electronic and natural sounds that permeate the surrounding space. The paintings, some depicting live music scenes (especially “my deep listening fantasy I, red”), place the viewers alongside the figures in the artworks as participants of the exhibition. Here, our ears become their ears, and our eyes become their eyes. The crossing of mediums bridges auditory and visual awareness.
As a painter, von Wintzingerode presents her signature portraiture, paying tribute to three remarkable female artists and thinkers: musician Pauline Oliveros, choreographer Trisha Brown, and philosopher Luce Irigaray. These three women, during the rise of feminism in the post-war Western world, set benchmarks in art and thought, such as Oliveros' emphasis on sonic awareness, Brown's challenge to modern dance, and Irigaray's exploration of feminist theory. Oliveros holds particular significance for von Wintzingerode. A certain social turn in Oliveros' late musical practice also manifests in von Wintzingerode’s work: she vividly reimagines Oliveros' live performances, where the stage is gone, replaced by public spaces, freely open to the public. Oliveros' practice, and von Wintzingerode’s interpretation of it, extends artistic awareness beyond the confines of the art system into broader social contexts. Undoubtedly, this shared social awareness is something von Wintzingerode seeks to present in this exhibition.
As a sound artist, von Wintzingerode created a new sound installation for this exhibition, positioned at the center of the space. The sound has no fixed trajectory, instead embodying elements of chance and improvisation, woven together into a long-duration sonic experience. This installation subtly reflects Oliveros' influence, and its spontaneous qualities echo the postmodern dance of Trisha Brown.
In fact, the labels "painter" and "sound artist" alone cannot encapsulate Lea von Wintzingerode as an artist. While honing her technical skills across mediums, she incorporates them into a unified creative path through her personal qualities and intellectual concerns. As a painter, she has developed a unique language, using swift brushstrokes, flowing paint, and peeled-away textures. As a sound artist, she draws from experimental to electronic music, from composition to improvisation. Overall, as an artist, she guides these mediums with her individual perception and thought, rather than being consumed by any particular technique. The exhibition "Our Eyes Felt Like Canyons” offers a sensory experience, where the artist seeks to elevate visual and auditory perception into a form of social awareness, attempting to evoke a shared experience that transcends cultural boundaries.
Installation Views
Installation view, 2024, Lea von Wintzingerode, “Our Eyes Felt Like Canyons” at Hua International Beijing, photo by Hao Yang, courtesy of the artist and Hua International.
