Charlotte Schleiffert

Charlotte Schleiffert is displaying several of her larger drawings and paintings at her third solo exhibition in Galerie Akinci. As we have come to expect of Schleiffert, she dares to take on heavy themes, yet often in a very elegant manner. This is certainly the case with her sparsely painted works set on white backgrounds in which she deals with such subjects as prostitution, power and subjection in an almost humoristic fashion. In contrast, her larger drawings have the opposite visual impact. These are thickly layered and daubed with pastels and acrylics. In her drawings, Schleiffert comments on images that she encounters in the media. Her figures also take on an androgynous form. Women presenting themselves provocatively to the onlooker have characteristics reminiscent of pin-ups or models, yet surprisingly are portrayed with men's faces, or muscled legs and arms. Hybrids interest Schleiffert in general. Oriental and western ideals of beauty are blended within the same drawing creating fascinating and striking images. Schleiffert's social engagement is not patronizing, but it is very direct. She observes and portrays problematic male-female relationships and poverty with no holds barred, but not without a certain pathos and emotion, as in a series of her drawings dealing with honour killing (Large Parts of the World are in Darkness, 2005) on display until 16 September 2007 at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam as part of the Drawing Typologies exhibition. Charlotte Schleiffert (born in Tilburg in 1967) trained at Ateliers ’63 in Haarlem (1990-1992). In 2004, she presented the successful exhibition, Feel No Shame, at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam. She had solo shows at Kunstverein Glückstadt in Germany (2006), Galerie Barbara Gross in Munich and Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen in China. She participated in groupshows at Kunsthaus Dresden (Getting Rid of Madonna,2004), the Biennale Europea Arti Visive La Spezia in Italy and Drawing Typologies in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (till September 16). Her work was awarded the Prix de Rome for painting in 1999.

Charlotte Schleiffert
Never let me down