Franziska Stolzenau

born in Weimar, Germany
lives and works in Berlin and Zurich ___


I explore the movement of drawing. By repeating lines, numbers and phrases the concrete form assumes an abstract shape.

In my work I deconstruct the process of becoming art and the creative act itself. By repeating seemingly trivial basic elements (point, line) and using standard everyday materials, the process in its reduced, repetitive form itself becomes an artistic work.

The systematic, constant drawing of lines – as such writing numbers and words is also drawing - becomes a contemplative act. The process itself thus becomes a question of what is art? How is art created? What distinguishes me as an artist? This mantra-like questioning in the drawing results in an irresistible mental focus.

In some way I make sure of myself over and over again, as if every line was a continuous confirmation of my artistic activity. The drawing becomes an expression of my physical and mental engagement with the creation of a work of art. Physical and intellectual movement merge in every line.
This process of repetition endows me with a sense of identity. Every next line within the previously defined system contains all previous lines and still remains individual.
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B.A. History of Arts, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany and Università degli Studi di Napoli 'L`Orientale', Italy
Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts Dresden, Germany

Franziska Stolzenau has participated in various exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Her works were presented at the Zurich Art Fair (Switzerland), during the Spinnerei Gallery Tour Leipzig (Germany), at the Kunsthaus Dahlem in Berlin (Germany), the Motorenhalle Zentrum für Zeitgenössische Kunst and at the C. Rockefeller Center for the Contemporary Arts in Dresden (Germany).

Her work has been supported by the Artist in Residence Program 'Put the Artist In Residence' (Denmark), the Artist in Residence Program 'Conquering Places' in Germany and the Artist in Residence Program of the At Home Gallery (Slovakia).

Furthermore, she contributed to the art festival Begehungen # 9 in Chemnitz (Germany).

Franziska Stolzenaus work has been published in several books, such as volume one of the 'Edition Rohmaterial Sonderausgabe' together with works by Gerhard Richter, Wilhelm Mundt and Monika Brandmeier. Her drawings were also published in the Wiener Journal of Edition Pächterhaus as well as in an edited volume 'Drawings 2011-2016'.