Bettina Sellmann @ Derek Eller Gallery, NY
Bettina Sellmann makes paintings that function as metaphors for contemporary feelings of imprisonment in social conventions and psychological isolation. Utilizing old master portraits as inspiration, she focuses on the late 18th century as a climactic period of elaborate external facades that were at once romantic and artificial. She creates “see-through versions” of these historic paintings using watercolor on canvas in thin veil-like layers of pigment. Sellmann transforms these mysterious portraits to resemble people she knows or deeply relates to. By visually fusing the past and the present, she reveals both a continuity and metamorphosis of societal restrictions through time. The resulting images expose an inner vulnerability in the master works and their subjects.
Born in Munich, Germany, Bettina Sellmann received a Master degree from Staedelschule Frankfurt am Main and an MFA from Hunter College in New York. She lives and works in Brooklyn. This will be her third solo show with the gallery.
Derek Eller Gallery is located at 615 West 27th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues. Hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 11am - 6pm. For further information or visuals, please contact the gallery at 212.206.6411 or visit www.derekeller.com.