Charline von Heyl
24 February – 27 May 2012

Members' Preview Evening
Thursday 23 February, 18.00 - 20.30

Discover the work of acclaimed contemporary artist Charline von Heyl in this brand new exhibition. Distinctive, imaginative and always surprising, Charline von Heyl’s work offers a fresh and exciting approach to the world of abstract art. Von Heyl is at the forefront of a new generation of abstract painters who have rejected late modernism’s emphasis on a singular signature style. Charline von Heyl at Tate Liverpool will be the first major exhibition of the artist’s work in the UK. Featuring forty two of her large canvasses and a number of unique works on paper, the exhibition explores von Heyl’s work from 1990-2011.

Born in Germany in 1960, von Heyl studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with Jörg Immendorf and Fritz Schwegler. She witnessed first hand painting’s resurgence in the 1980s through the vibrant Köln-based art scene, where radical and experimental approaches to painting by artists such as Martin Kippenberger and Albert Oehlen began a dramatic expansion of the field.

Taking a broadly chronological approach, Charline von Heyl will demonstrate von Heyl’s diverse approach to painting. Often employing unconventional painting methods and actively resisting a single style or vision, she has constantly reinvented the art form.

Charline von Heyl, Woman #2 (detail) 2009 © Charline von Heylnnelies Štrba, Nyima 438 © Courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London