ANNA PELZ (Farbmilieu) – SUGAR SHOCK EXERCISE PARADISE – online solo exhibition – May 14, 2022

Anna Pelz has been studying in the TransArts class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna with Nita Tandon, Stephan Hilge, Roman Pfeffer and Painting with Henning Bohl since 2018.

Anna Pelz´ art is colourful, biomorphic and figurative. Often also physical and proliferating. She works with patterns and words. She starts with a theme and finishes drawings. She intuitively translates her associations into oil painting, acrylic and ink. Her images are balanced and pleasantly contrasted. She works in series. An example is the "Land of Cockaigne series” with a work called "Glaring Glow" with the theme "Sugar Shock Exercise Paradise" painted with sugar paints. This is about the idea of paradise, the meaning of which has changed over time. From a heavenly place to utopia in times of crisis or understood as a golden cage full of abundance. Her pictures are always multi-coded and easily sensually and haptically accessible.

Another series is the "Space Project" with the work "Happy Fomo". A figure that seems to dissolve on the outside, with confetti blurring around it. Translated, it means: "Fear of Missing Out", someone who is afraid of missing something. This leads us to the exaggerated self-image and notorious self-analysis of our time. We know that faces are considered important and are displayed more frequently on social media. This is an issue for artists. Do you want to show art or should you rather present your face from a thousand angles to boost the algorithm? What image do you build up as an artist? Do you belong to the It-scene and are you edgy? Anti-fashion, workwear and a neo-proletarian image as a coolness factor? Reception, assessment and acceptance.

The picture "Supernatural Feelings" shows the supernatural and witchcraft, the quest for miracles and the image of women per se. Magic and transformation. Here Anna Pelz draws parallels to the process of making art itself, because here a magic potion of the most diverse elements is mixed and feelings and impressions are transformed into power. Being good observers, witches take a look at society, digesting what they take in, manifesting it and breaking down boundaries. They are therefore deified or cursed, sexualized and infantilized.

Anna Pelz takes on important current issues of our time: gender, nature, naturalness, self-image and the female image. She strives for open and easy access to her work.

Text based on an interview with Anna Pelz and Andreas Schlichtner, February 23, 2022.