“My first thoughts were centered on defining whether these works could be called paintings or prints, along with broader reflections on the value and meaning of the real. What defines a ‘real’ picture, and why do we all have a need for authentic images?” — Tatjana Danneberg

Tatjana Danneberg’s preoccupation with the nature of images and the possibilities that unfold through their manipulation and deconstruction commences with photography — low-fi images taken with simple automatic cameras that depict her immediate surroundings, friends, and acquaintances in a familiar, often intimate manner. After developing the images, she prints them on specific foils using an inkjet printer, then paints on them with gesso in broad strokes. Finally she glues the works — each one a symbiosis of printed image and primer — to canvas. Loosely cropped, showing bodily details or contortions, the images have an eventful feeling, depicting moments of action — or a lack of it. Their presence is almost brutal, and yet they are dominated by an atmosphere of intimacy. “They show fragile arrays,” writes Vanessa Joan Müller, “ephemeral constellations or moments that seem unimportant when experienced but significant when remembered.”

The book, featuring three newly commissioned essays along with extensive color illustrations, is published on the occasion of Danneberg’s first solo presentation at a public institution, Wait a Minute, at Salzburger Kunstverein. Relating to youth culture movements, the new large-scale paintings and site-specific floor poster installation revolve around the states of bewilderment, uncertainty, and alienation, as well as enthusiasm and hope, that accompany the process of growing up.