The immediate physical presence of color is central to Katharina Grosse’s creative endeavor. Through an open-ended process in which painting takes on the form of a performance, color embodies movement, making its sensory impact tangible. These issues not only drive her dramatically large site-related works painted across various surfaces in public places, they also inform her studio paintings, which have played an equally central role in her practice from the start. Bringing together 160 paintings, this publication serves as the first in-depth reference book on this important aspect of Grosse’s work. Five essays and an insightful interview with the artist explore how Grosse expands the concept of painting― not just in open space, but also on canvas―through a variety of ways, including her disregard of the traditional frame and her use of stencils, cut canvases, and elemental materials.

KATHARINA GROSSE (*1961, Freiburg i. Br.) is one of the most distinguished contemporary painters working today. After studying painting at the art academies in Münster and Düsseldorf (1982– 1990), it was in 1998 that she first used a spraying technique for an installation at the Kunsthalle Bern. This became a decisive moment in her work and was essential in her ongoing experiments with the properties of paint and the status of painting today. She lives in Berlin and New Zealand.