Janaina Tschäpe

Janaina Tschäpe was born in 1973 in Munich, Germany, and was raised in São Paulo, Brazil. She received her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Hochschule für Bildende Kueste, Hamburg in 1997 and her Master in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 1998. Tschäpe’s interdisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, photography, video and sculpture. Incorporating elements of aquatic, plant, and human life, Tschäpe’s universe of sublime forms shift between representation, fantasy and abstraction.

Her paintings exist in a state of their own becoming, linking the process of artistic practice to lifecycles found in nature. Each brushstroke partially occludes a previous mark; their physically sensuous surfaces give way to topologies of finely calibrated hues. In her performative photographic and video works, Tschäpe’s otherworldly creatures inhabit hybrid states of being. The female form is often pictured with ballooning appendages extending from the figure, sometimes overtaking her body to inhabit a fluid space between human and cellular organism. The artist explores different medias such as painting, drawing, photography, video and sculpture. The ocean, sea creatures, mermaids, half human creatures, are constantly being revisited by her imaginary, as well as invented landscapes. While in her earlier works Tschäpe often placed herself within the landscape, she now explores her memories, her inner-images, conjuring her travels and expeditions to a deeply-layered remembrance. Whether through her paintings and drawings, photography or films, Tschäpe reacts to her life experiences in an intense meditative contemplation of the landscape.

Janaina Tschäpe’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world, and is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria; Colecão Gilberto Chateaubriand MAM Museu de Art Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Collection Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sophia, Madrid, Spain. Recent projects include Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary; CCBB Rio de Janeiro; Jeu de Paume, Paris; University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa; The 59th Minute with Creative Time in Times Square, New York; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; and The Irish Museum of Modern Art.

The artist lives and works in New York since 1997.

In 2013, Tschäpe collaborated with Brazilian jeweller Ara Vartanian on a jewellery collection.

• 2017: O Amor no Éter, Xippas Punta del Leste, Uruguay
• 2017: Unterirdisch Auch Du, Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 2016: Iceberg, Nichido Contemporary Art, Tokyo Japan
• 2016: Pássaro Que Me Engoliu, Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil
• 2015: Fernweh, Carlier Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
• 2015: Until I Come, Gallerie Xippas, Paris, France
• 2014: Contemplating Landscape, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong, China
• 2014: Floating Worlds, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, Arizona
• 2014: The Ghost in Between, Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil
• 2014: Fern Weh, Xippas Montevideo, Uruguay
• 2013: The Forest, The Cloud and The Sea, Galerie Catherine Bastide, Brussels, Belgium
• 2013: The Ghost in Between, Tierney Gardarin Gallery, New York City
• 2012: Endless, Nichido Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
• 2012: Entschluptf, Xippas Art Contemporain, Geneve, Switzerland
• 2012: Flatland, Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil
• 2012: Shaping Fluid, Galleri Bo Bjerggard, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 2011: Entschluptf, Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
• 2011: Dream Particles, Carlie Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
• 2008: Quimera at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)
• Her work figures in important collections such as those of Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Inhotim Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; and Museu Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sophia, Madrid, Spain.[1]

• ARANTES, Priscila; BARROS, Lenora; LESCHER, Artur. Enciclopédia Temporada de Projetos: 1997–2009. São Paulo: Paço das Artes, 2010.
• Art Now! Vol. 4, Hans Werner Holzwarth (editor), Cologne: Taschen, 2013

Press:

2017

• BBC NEWS "Photographing the female body"
• WALLPAPER "The W photography desk's daily digest of visual inspiration" by Liberty Dye
• THE TELEGRAPH " The Whitechapel Gallery's all female exhibit is a quiet, intelligent protest" by Alastair Sooke
• ANOTHER "A Photographic Celebration of Women in Contemporary Art" by Gemma Padley
• ROYAL ACADEMY "Five Art Shows To See This Week" by Sofia Gallarate
• THE UPCOMING: "Terrains of The Body at Whitechapel" by Anna Souter
• ARTFUND: "Terrains of The Body"

2016

• SELECT: "Individual Pássaro Que Me Engoliu" by Paula Alzugaray
• ARTNET: "Pássaro Que Me Engoliu"
• ARTNET: "UBS Charts" by Katy Hamer
• ARTSY: "What Sold at The Armory Show" by Alexander Forbes
• OCULA: "Art Dubai continues its cultural journey" by Jyoti Kalsi
• Interview with Mayra Garcia for Nuevo New York
• Luste: "Mulheres na Arte" by Adriana Varejao

2015

• Elle Decor: "True Calling" by Julia Reed
• FFWMAG: "Fantastica, Mitologica, Ficcional: Janaina Tschape" by Marcos Guinoza
• The New York Times Style Magazine: " A Picture and A Poem" by Stephen Burt and Janaina Tschape

2014

• The Huffington Post: "10 Radical Women Video Artists You Should Know" by Priscilla Frank
• Interview with Arrive Smart Talk
• South China Morning Post: "Arts Preview: Contemplating Landscape melds colours and shapes" by Vanessa Yung
• Citizens of Humanity: "Janaina Tschape" by Caleb Neelon
• Pixel Bread: "Contemplating Landscape"
• Interview with Joe Fig
• Turn on Art: "Janaina Tschape: No Limits" by Ares Casado
• Select Magazine: "Imagens dos Seres Originais" by Guilherme Kujawski
• Forward: "The Wonder Women of Video" by Menachem Wecker

2013

• Bamboo: "Janaina Tschape: Atelie da Comida" by Luiza Costa
• O Globo: "O Lucrativo Negocio da Arte Brasileira" by Audrey Furlaneto
• Vogue Brasil: "Parceria Preciosa" by Silvia Rogar

2012

• Rubin Museum of Art: Janaina Tschape Artists on Art
• The Painting Imperative: "Brazil, Water, and Artists Who Do It All" by Erin Tracey
• Interview with Marc Pottier
• Registro Arte: "A Poetica dos Mares" by Jeff Ares

2011

• Annual Magazine: "Janaina Tschape" by Damien Sausset
• Coax Magazine: "Dream Particles"
• Select Magazine: "Janaina Tschape: Entre Mundos" by Paula Alzugaray
• USF News by Barbara Melendez
• The News Corral: "USF celebrates renowned artist's murals in new music building" by Evelynn Jimenez
• Antennae: "Why Look at Plants?"

2010

• Airborne for TAM: "Bela Sobre Tela" by Tania Menai
• Annual Magazine: "Janaina Tschape"

2009

• Manhattan Magazine: "When Fashion Imitates Art" by Rachel Wolff
• Art News: "Where Women Are The Majority" by Hilarie M. Sheets
• Das Arts: "Resenhas e Criticas Exposicoes"

2008

• The Dubliner: "Oddbod shows at IMMA shocker" by Anne Iremonger
• Excerpt from Photo Art in the 21st Century
• Excerpt from Art Now 3

2007

• Interview with Joanna Kim

2003

• Art News: "Putting Guts on the Outside" by Linda Yablonsky

• http://janainatschape.net/
• http://www.fortesvilaca.com.br/artistas/janaina-tschape
• Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong gallery representing Janaina Tschäpe