“I want my work to open up new spaces, rather than to dominate the room.

A new space in the life of everyone looking at it, a sense of possibilities.

 Even that which weighs heavily can unfold its own beauty, if it is given this wide space.”

Petra Gimmi

 

 

 

As a geographer, and with nature being her main inspiration, Petra Gimmi often works on her paintings like the elements of nature do on a landscape: Her paintings experience flood and drought, new material is accumulated and shifted, layers of paint are eroded like layers of rock, she looks for transparency as if looking deep into a body of water, she makes the colours fan out like in a prism or in a raindrop in the atmosphere.

She moves in between the abstract and the figurative - what you see might remind you of the physical world, but her intent is not to mirror nature, but to work in the living, like nature.

Petra Gimmi grew up in the south of Germany, in the rough, remote and beautiful landscape called “Schwäbische Alb”, full of rocks, beech forests and juniper heath. She has always had a deep connection to nature, and at the same time an urge to get even closer to it. For her, the artistic process is one of the ways she follows that desire.

She first studied geography and got to know the elements of nature and the interconnection between rock, soil, landscape, atmosphere, climate, water, plants, animals and humans. While she appreciated this knowledge (and the perfect reason for extensive travels her studies gave her), the realisation that just knowing and seeing were not enough, but left the actual secret untouched, lead her to study art.

So in her artwork, Petra Gimmis focus is to get closer to that secret, to examine the living, all of live, and our place in the ever changing world. She aims to “enter into the thick of things”, to use Paul Auster’s words, and also to bring the freshness and wideness of that encounter to the viewers of her works.

 

 

 

 

C V

 

Born in 1972, grown up in Schwäbische Alb in the south of Germany. 2 children.

Lives and works at Lake Constance/ Bodenseekreis.

 

1993-1999                        Geography studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München/ Diplom

2000-2003                        Visual Art studies with Denis Emmelin, Freie Hochschule Efringen-Kirchen/ Diplom

Since 2003                        Artistic work

Since 2016                        Lecturer for art courses, Bodenseekreis

2018-2019                        Master in Art Education, Freie Hochschule Stuttgart

 

                      

                        Selected exhibitions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2024                           Galerie Kunsthaus Caserne, "Zwischenwelten" double show, Friedrichshafen, Germany

 

 

2019                           „Wege in die Abstraktion”, solo show, Freie Hochschule Stgt

 

 

2018                           Galerie Julia Blickle, solo show, Nussdorf, Germany

 

 

2012                           Double show, Städtische Galerie Owingen, Germany

 

 

2009                           Galerie AllerArt, solo exhibition, Heiligenberg, Germany

 

 

2008                           Group Show Artweek, Sennhof, Heiligenberg, Germany

 

 

2007                           Group Show Gröbming, curated by Maja Pogacnik, Austria

 

 

2006                           Group Show Landratsamt Marktoberdorf, Germany

 

                                     Gallery Siopa Cill Rialaig, group show, Ballinskelligs, Ireland

 

                                    „Kunstkraftwerk“, group show, Kunsthallen am Lech, Füssen, Germany

 

 

2005                           Group show of award winners „Art Cards“ Galerie Etage 2, Rottweil, Germany

 

                                    Spring exhibition, Kunsthalle Kleinschönach, Germany

 

 

2004                           Autumn exhibition, group show, Kunsthalle Kleinschönach, Germany

 

                                    „Ring twice in urgent cases – paintings and patience in Iceland", solo show,

 

                                    Galerie Skriduklaustur, Iceland

 

 

 


 

           

 

                                            

 

Competitions/ grants/ publications

 

2003                                   Artist in Residence in Vallanes, Iceland

2004                                   Artist in Residence Kunsthalle Kleinschönach, Germany

                                             Artistic work in Iceland, California and New Mexico

                                             Studio grant Kunsthalle Kleinschönach

2005                                   Winner of the competition "Art Cards 05", Rottweil,

                                             Germany

2006                                   Artist in Residence at the artists‘ village Cill Rialaig Project,

                                             Kerry, Ireland

2014                                   Publication in “Alexandria Quarterly, a curated

                                             portfolio of art and literature”, USA, by Tamra Vassallo

                                             Carraher