Werden & Vergehen
The series #bewareofbutterflies shaped Denise Schellmann’s creative years from 2020 to 2024. The butterflies are to be understood as a synthesis of the drawn structures and motifs of earlier creative periods: as a consummated metamorphosis that creates something colourful and new. No two butterflies are the same. And in each, the artist’s personality matures one step further.
A body of work of its own carries the transformation into space. Sewn and stuffed in grey linen, the 3x7 Butterflies become twenty-one bodies between the states.
Contradictions remain: fragility and strength, tenderness and wildness, statics and dynamics. Always the both, and the and.
Denise Schellmann, Diptych “Metamorphose I Werden & Vergehen”, 2024. Graphite and coloured pencil on handmade paper, each 80 × 60 cm.
In the diptych "Metamorphose I, Werden & Vergehen" (2024), the drawing process mutates from a free idea to an analytical concept. Form undergoes
a first deconstruction.
A paper sheet splinters into individually drawn elements. Multiple, unexpected readings emerge: to the left, from the right.
Upwards, from below. Diagonally. Continuously or erratically.
Metamorphose I | Werden
2024
Stop Motion Animation, 00:50 min
Metamorphose I | Vergehen
2024
Stop Motion Animation, 00:50 min
Soft Sculptures
3x7 Butterflies | 21 softsculptures
2021
textile, filling materials, thread, 7-18 cm (H)
The installation "3 x 7 Butterflies" is the result of a meticulously playful, transformative method. Starting from what began as two-dimensional
drawings, a metamorphosis initially via the hand-sewing of individual patterns gives way to organic-amorphous fabric sculptures and finally a video
animation.
3x7 Butterflies
multimedia installation, 21 soft sculptures, 21 clips, 21 frames per clip 2021
(You) made my day, collaborative exhibition with Rafael
Lippuner, contemporary 12–14
Denise Schellmann, “#bewareofbutterflies XXVI”, 2023. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 25.9 × 42 cm.
Denise Schellmann, Diptych “Schmetterlinge erzählen Geschichten?“, 2022. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 42 × 26 cm.
Denise Schellmann, “#bewareofbutterflies XXIII”, 2021. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 21 × 29.7 cm.
Denise Schellmann, “Fly, butterfly! Fly! II”, 2021. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 21 × 29.7 cm.
Denise Schellmann, Diptych “entpuppt“, 2020. Graphite, coloured pencil and rollerball pen on paper, 59.4 × 84 cm.
Private collection, not available.
Denise Schellmann, „Butterflycollection III“, 2020. Graphit und Farbstift auf Papier, Stecknadeln, Insektenschaukasten, 40 × 50 cm.
Denise Schellmann, “Handle with care! I”, 2020. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 100 × 70 cm.
Denise Schellmann, “Handle with care! IV”, 2020. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 100 × 70 cm.
Denise Schellmann, “#bewareofbutterflies XX”, 2020. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 61.25 × 98 cm.
Private collection, not available.
Denise Schellmann, “#bewareofbutterflies II”, 2020. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 42 × 59.4 cm.
Private collection, not available.
Denise Schellmann, “#bewareofbutterflies XI”, 2020. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 21 × 29.7 cm.
Private collection, not available.
Denise Schellmann, “#bewareofbutterflies V”, 2020. Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 150 × 106.1 cm.