Katharina Grosse has always been a darling of the art world. The Berlin-based artist who rose to prominence in the 1990s was instrumental in making spray paint sophisticated by bringing a messy, abstract edge to it long before it covered Miami’s Wynwood walls. Born in 1961, she has had numerous exhibitions in museums around the world—in fact, she has had one of the most enviable careers of any living professional female abstract painter.
Her work is currently the subject of a solo exhibition titled “Pie Sell, Lee Slip, Eel Lips” at Gagosian Park and 75 Space in New York City. The exhibition’s title is a form of poetry that breaks down text into meaningless puns. Perhaps ironic, considering that none of the works on display are titled. They also all feature Gross’s visual trademark: painted with an air compressor spray gun. At first, the app produced layered cloud-like shapes; now, as we see here, they are more gestural and calligraphic.
If anyone knows how to create a symphony of color, it’s Gross. But it’s hard to see her work not painted directly on the wall as usual. This may also be difficult for her, although perhaps this is a natural progression of her improvisational process. In a 2022 Instagram post, she explained why she started painting on the walls of the Kunsthalle in Bern as early as 1998: “Before making what many consider to be my first mural in the Kunsthalle in Bern… I Not happy with my brush stopping at the change in surface.
The painting here ends where the wall begins. The white box is a constraint for the artist rather than a space to roam freely. But murals and installations are difficult to sell to art collectors who don’t want to permanently alter their space. They wanted something that could be packed neatly in a box and shipped, then hung on whatever couch they were living on at the time or next to any bookcase.
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In other words, “Pie Sell, Lee Slip, Eel Lips” only reveals part of Gross’ abilities. The artist’s sinuous and rhythmic works are best viewed in installation form or, even better, in a museum (easier to find in Europe). Some of the most memorable moments in her career include a museum exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in 2005, in which she used large expanses of paint to paint walls, floors, sand piles and stairs. Or her 2020 exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin, where she covered iceberg-like white sculptures with paint.
Other highlights include her covering an empty warehouse with spray-painted fabric for the 2018 Sydney Arts Festival, and spray-painting an empty building in Rockaway Beach for MoMA PS1’s Rockaway series in 2016.
Spray-painting the floors and ceilings was Gross’s rebellion against the art world—or at least it felt that way. Just look at her 2023 solo show “Bedroom” at Max Hetzler Gallery, where she spray-painted a bed and blanket in the Paris gallery’s gallery. There is something inherently feminist about this work that echoes the work of Tracey Emin.
Gross’s work is part color theory (Johannes Itten), part dreamlike expression (Mark Rothko), and part color therapy. It’s also a way for artists to respond to music, dancing with airbrushes. As the artist once said: “At some point I realized that painting could bring everything together in a single moment.”
Katarina Gross,”Paimai, Li Hua, Eel Lipwill be on view at Gagosian Park and 75 Gallery through December 21.
