"LW 50x70 #7" Print

MATERIAL AGENCY In her 'Lacquer Works' Anna Beller develops a form of painting in which color simultaneously becomes image carrier, material event, and atmospheric space. Her color paintings enter into a contemporary dialogue with positions of Abstract Expressionism, in particular with the pouring and staining techniques of Morris Louis (1912–1962) and Paul Jenkins (1923–2012), in whose work the physical autonomy of color is programmatically rendered visible. Beller’s practice is radically reduced: she dispenses with traditional tools and allows the paintings to emerge from a repeated ritual of pouring and directing viscous lacquer. Gravity, flow dynamics, and the viscosity of the paint become active co‑agents in the process of creation. The untouched white ground functions as a resonant space for these chromatic interventions. It maintains distance and creates an optical suspension in which emptiness and mass, surface and space, stillness and movement overlap. Since 2023 'Lacquer Works' have found their way into both local and international private and institutional collections.