Jutta Koether (born 1958) is a German artist, musician and critic based in New York City and Berlin

Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen movie theater, cinema, a printmaking, print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar. The cur ...

, Dundee. since the early 1990s.

Early life and education

Koether was born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and studied art and philosophy at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

. She relocated to New York City in 1991. Roberta Smith (June 4, 1993)
Art Review: Jutta Koether
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Career

Koether's paintings are exercises in color, line, form and pattern and often feature text. Her style has precedent in the work of Sigmar Polke and Kenny Scharf. She is also inspired by artists and intellectuals who have created an alternative to mainstream culture, including underground filmmaker

Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927 – May 11, 2023) was an American Underground film, underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and writer. Working exclusively in short films, he produced almost 40 works beginning i ...

and musician

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

. She has collaborated with

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

’s

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

on a number of projects, for example ''Her Noise'' at

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

in 2005. Koether's work is also affiliated with Martin Kippenberger. Their relationship began in Cologne when she interviewed him for Spex magazine. Although her work is not as grandiose as Kippenberger, both their works engage with the dense history of European, and more specifically, German painting. For much of the 1990s, she mixed graffiti-inspired brushwork, fluorescent colors (especially bright pink), fragmented images and assorted quotations on surfaces that had a vibrant, all-over undergrowth. Her solo show at Pat Hearn Gallery, New York, in 1997 featured a soundtrack by the artist, accompanied by

Tom Verlaine Thomas Joseph Miller (December 13, 1949 – January 28, 2023), known professionally as Tom Verlaine, was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television. Biography Verlaine was ...

. Her visionary work, according to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' art critic Roberta Smith, sees painting as multipurpose. Koether’s 2009 show entitled ''Lux Exterior'' at Reena Spaulings further explored a common thematic in her work, the relation of painting with other aspects of theoretical and counter culture. Koether’s 2009 show was discussed in David Joselit’s essay entitled ''Painting Beside Itself''. The exhibition, which included a painting entitled ''Hot Rod (after Poussin) (2009)'' along with sculptural found objects and a series of three performances, was noted by Joselit as a “sophisticated response to the question which I began his essay How does a painting belong to a network?” In spring 2012, Koether took part in the three-month exposition of

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

. Around that time, she conceived two large series of works that respond directly to the French artist

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...

, a reinterpretation of his '' The Seven Sacraments'' reimagined as a series of installations, and ''Seasons'' (2012), a response to Poussin’s '' The Four Seasons''. Since 1985, Koether has also worked as a reviewer and editor for many magazines and journals such as ''Spex'', '' Texte zur Kunst'', ''

Flash Art ''Flash Art'' is a contemporary art magazine, and an Italian and international publishing house. Originally published bilingually, both in Italian and in English, since 1978 is published in two separate editions, Flash Art Italia (Italian) and ...

'' and '' Artscribe''. Koether has taught at many institutions, including

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

. From 2010 until 2024 she was a professor at the

Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg The , also known as HFBK Hamburg, is an arts university in Hamburg, in northern Germany. It dates to 1767, when it was called the ; later it became known as . The main building, in the Uhlenhorst quarter of Hamburg-Nord borough, was designed by ...

Selected exhibitions

2024 *
1982,1983,1984
'' Galerie Buchholz, New York 2022 * ''Black Place'', Artium Museoa, Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country, Spain 2014 * ''Maquis,'' Galerie Francesca Pia, Zürich * ''A Moveable Feast - Part XV,'
Campoli Presti
Paris * ''Champrovement,'' Reena Spaulings, New York 2013 * ''Un établissement aux Folies-Koethère'', Établissement d'en face projects, Brussels * ''Cycle 1. Jutta Koether. Viktoria, Luise, Isabelle'', Praxes, Berlin * ''The Double Session'', Campoli Presti, London * ''Seasons and Sacraments'', Arnolfini, Bristol, United Kingdom * ''Seasons and Sacraments'',

, Dundee, United Kingdom 2012 * ''The Fifth Season'', Bortolami Gallery, New York 2011 * ''Mad Garland'', Campoli Presti, Paris * ''The Thirst'', Moderna Museet, Stockholm * ''Berliner Schlussel'', Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Berlin 2009 * Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven * ''Lux Interior'', Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York * ''Sovereign Women in Painting'', Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles 2008 * ''New Yorker Fenster'', Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln * ''No.5'', Kunsthall Landmark, Bergen * ''JXXXA LEIBHAFTIGE MALEREI'', Sutton Lane, Paris * ''Touch and Resist'', Song Song, Wien * Galerie Francesca Pia, Zürich 2007 * ''Anderungen aller Art'', Kunsthalle Bern, Bern 2006 * ''Love In a Void'',

Akademie der Bildenden Künste The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. In the second half of the 19th centur ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

* ''Metalist Moment'', Performance, Herald St,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

2005 * ''Very Lost Highway'', Simultanhalle, Köln * ''extreme harsh'', Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Tübingen * ''I Is Had Gone'', Thomas Erben Gallery, New York * ''Her Noise'', South London Gallery, London * ''Blankness is not a Void'', Standard Oslo, Oslo * ''Kim Gordon and Jutta Koether'', Talk and Performance at

, London 2004 * ''Curious Crystals of Unusual Purity'', P.S.1 Institute for Contemporary Art,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

* ''Fresh Aufhebung - Künstlerisches Interesse am philosophische verneinten Wunderglauben'', Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln * Galerie Meerrettich, Berlin * ''Fresh Aufhebung'', 271 Grand Street, New York 2003 * ''Desire Is War'', Galerie Meerrettich,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

* ''The Club in the Shadow'', in collaboration with

, Kenny Schachter conTEMPorary, New York 2002 * ''Black Bonds'', Jutta Koether and Steven Parrino, Swiss Institute, New York * Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln 2000 * Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln * ''zur grünen schenke-fünf uhr nachmittags. die geheimen Bilder'', Galerie Freund, Wien 1999 1998 ''Brushholder Value'', Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster 1994 ''Dysfunction USA'', Arthur Rogers Gallery, New Orleans 1993 ''Parralax View: Cologne-New York'', P.S. 1 Institute for Contemporary Art, New York 1987 ''Werkschau Jutta Koether'', Kunstraum Stuttgart, Stuttgart

References

External links

*Jutta Koether o
ArtFacts.Net
*Images, biography and texts from th

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Jutta Koether Biographie, Pressemitteilungen und Arbeiten
General information on Jutta Koether *Martin Pesch
Jutta Koether at Galerie Daniel Bucholz
(Review)
Jutta Koether at Campoli Presti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koether, Jutta Living people 1958 births Artists from Cologne German women in electronic music German contemporary artists University of Cologne alumni Academic staff of the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg