Sabine Moritz

Biography

Sabine Moritz’s paintings and drawings centre around themes of memory both personal and collective. The passage of time is palpable across her oeuvre through recurrent motifs drawn from memories of her surroundings as well as documentary images. Moritz’s works reveal a finely tuned approach to observing supposedly everyday, personal scenes from life and capturing them in such a way that a transcending moment seems to be inherent in them. The artist’s recurring motifs are war, nature and still life, suburban settlements and figure, whereby the immediate surroundings serve as the most important source of her works, intertwining inner and outer perception. 

Moritz’s early works in particular show references to her life experience in a specific place at a specific time. While studying at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Moritz produced a cycle of over 100 charcoal and coloured pencil drawings based on her memories of the prefabricated housing estate in the satellite town of Lobeda near Jena in the former GDR, where her family lived from 1973 to 1985. The pictures had almost been forgotten until they were rediscovered by Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Walther König during a visit to Moritz’s studio in 2009. The scenes reconstruct a personal past, but also imply a more general, collective history. Later works carry less specific temporal and geographical connotations, such as Moritz’s ongoing series of works on paper in oil and oil pastels, Hütte (2015-present), variations on a solitary structure in the Bavarian Alps. Since 2015, the artist’s practice has also explored abstract painting in a rich colour spectrum revealing energy, movement and rhythm.

“First see, then believe” is the artist’s maxim for her work, for her œuvre, for the evaluation of her own paintings in their process of creation and for her understanding of the world. She describes her working method as “looking, correcting until it has the density and intensity that captivates you.” (Robert Fleck)

Sabine Moritz was born in Quedlinburg in 1969 and emigrated from the German Democratic Republic to West Germany in 1985. She studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach and the Kunstakademie Duesseldorf. The artist lives and works in Cologne. Moritz’s work has been exhibited in European institutions including De 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium, Kunsthalle Rostock, Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Von der Heydt Kunsthalle, Wuppertal, Germany.

Sabine Moritz was born in Quedlinburg in 1969 and emigrated from the German Democratic Republic to West Germany in 1985. She studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The artist lives and works in Cologne. Moritz’s drawings and paintings centre around themes of memory both personal and collective. The passage of time is palpable across her oeuvre through recurrent motifs drawn from memories of her surroundings as well as documentary images. 

Moritz’s work has been exhibited in European institutions Kunsthalle Rostock, Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Germany, Von der Heydt Kunsthalle, Wuppertal, Germany, and Foundation de 11 Lignen, Oudenburg, Belgium.

BIOGRAPHY

Born 1969 in Quedlinburg, Germany.

Lives and works in Cologne, Germany.

EDUCATION

1989 – 1991

Hochschule für Gestaltung, Offenbach, Germany

1991 – 1994

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Sabine Moritz. Frost, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, USA
2023
Sabine Moritz. August, Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy

2022

Lobeda oder die Rekonstruktion einer Welt, Lyonel-Feiniger-Galerie, Quedlinburg, Germany

2020

Robert Adams I Sabine Moritz. Passages, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany

2019 – 2020

Sabine Moritz. Sterne und Granit, Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany

2019

Deeply Unaware, Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, France

Sabine Moritz. Deeply Unaware, Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, France

2018

Sabine Moritz. Paintings and Drawings, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Eden, Galerie Johann König, Berlin, Germany

2017

Sabine Moritz. Neuland, Kunsthalle, Bremerhaven, Germany

2016

Sabine Moritz. Dawn, Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, France

2015

Sabine Moritz. Blumen, Masken, Schädel, Galerie Haas AG, Zurich, Switzerland

Sabine Moritz. Harvest, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Paintings and Drawings, Felix Ringel Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany

Sabine Moritz. Book launch: Helicopter and Sea King, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Book launch: Sea King, HENI Publishing, London, Uk

2014

Sabine Moritz. Home, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Paintings and Drawings 1991-2013, Von der Heydt Kunsthalle, Wuppertal-Barmen, Germany

2013

Sabine Moritz. Limbo, Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, France

Sabine Moritz. Concrete and Dust, Foundation de 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium

2012

Sabine Moritz. Paintings, Felix Ringel Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany

Sabine Moritz. Jena Düsseldorf, art@goldensquare, London, UK

2011

Sabine Moritz. Book launch: Jena – Düsseldorf, Buchhandlung Walther König, Düsseldorf, Germany

Sabine Moritz. Lobeda, Kunsthaus sans titre, Potsdam, Germany

Sabine Moritz. Lillies and Objects, art@goldensquare, London, UK

2010

Sabine Moritz. Book launch: Lobeda, Buchhandlung Walther König, Berlin and Cologne, Germany

2006

Sabine Moritz: Limbo – Paintings from 2005, Andrew Mummery Gallery, London, UK

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

Nature Painting Nature, Pilar Corrias Gallery (Conduit St), London, UK

The Principal Cause of Serial Monogamy, Tara Downs, New York, NY, USA

2023-2024

Dialogues: A Convergence of Color and Form, Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York, USA

2023

Summer Selections, Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York, USA

K 21 Collection, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany

2021

Essentials, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany

2018

Lichtung – Leiko Ikemura, Katharina Jahnke, Sabine Moritz, Galerie Martina Kaiser, Cologne, Germany

Radziwill und die Gegenwart – Landschaft, Technik, Medien Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany

2017

Age of Terror: Art Since 9/11, Imperial War Museum, London, UK

2013

It’s a Women’s World, Galerie Martina Kaiser, Cologne, Germany

Open View: Adam Jankowski and artists of his class for painting at the Offenbach University of Art and Design 1987-2013, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany

2012

Faber Castell International Drawing Award 2012, Neues Museum – Staatl. Museum für Kunst und Design, Nuremberg, Germany

2010

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Cultuurcentrum Mechelen, Mechelen, Belgium

Awakenings, Felix Ringel Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany

2009

Transvisions, bkSM, Strombeek/Brussels, Belgium

2005

Zementa, Felix Ringel Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2019

Sabine Moritz. Deeply Unaware, Marian Goodman Galerie, Paris, France I Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany

2017

Sabine Moritz. Neuland, Kunsthalle, Bremerhaven, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany

2016

Sabine Moritz. Dawn / Storm, Marian Goodman Galerie, Paris, France I Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany

Vitamin P3: New Perspectives in Painting, Phaidon, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Erinnerungen / Memoirs, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany

Sabine Moritz. Blumen, Masken, Schädel, Galerie Haas AG, Zurich, Switzerland

2015

Internationaler Faber-Castell-Preis für Zeichnung 2015, Neues Museum, Nuremberg, Germany

Karen Wright: Sabine Moritz, The Independent, November 2015

Sabine Moritz. Schiffe und Wasser, Felix Ringel Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany

Sabine Moritz. Sea King, Heni Publishing, London, UK

2014

Sabine Moritz. Helicopter, Heni Publishing, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Lobeda-Ost 1981 (Edition of 100), Nieves, Zurich, Switzerland

Sabine Moritz. Bilder und Zeichnungen 1991–2013, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany

Concrete and Dust, Foundation de 11 Lijnen, Oudenberg, Belgium

2013

Christine Mehring, Sabine Moritz—Limbo, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, USA I Paris, France

2012

Faber Castell International Drawing Award 2012, Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nuremberg, Germany

2011

Sabine Moritz. Lilies and Objects, HENI Publishing, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Jena Düsseldorf. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany

2010

Sabine Moritz. Roses, HENI Publishing, London, UK

Sabine Moritz. Lobeda. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany

2006

Roses, Heni Publishing, London, UK

2009

Transvisions, With an introduction by Koen Leemans and Luk Lambrecht and an essay on Sabine Moritz by Luk Lambrecht, bkSM beeldende kunst Strombeek

2006

Sabine Moritz. Limbo: Paintings from 2005, Andrew Mummery Gallery, London, UK

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