Schönewald Fine Arts shows Katharina Fritsch with the “Red Shell”

At Art Cologne, Schönewald Fine Arts from Düsseldorf is presenting a work that is as clear as it is enigmatic in its reduction: Katharina Fritsch's Red Shell. The sculptor is one of the most important artists of her generation – internationally represented, formally radical, iconic in her use of color. Her sculptures combine perfection and irritation, closeness and distance.

Schönewald Fine Arts and Katharina Fritsch – a collaboration since 1992

Schönewald Fine Arts has been accompanying the work of Katharina Fritsch for over three decades. The Düsseldorf gallery shows works that rethink perception and material. Fritsch gained international attention in 1987 with her bright yellow Madonna at the Münster Sculpture Project – a replica of a small Lourdes figure, monumentally enlarged and placed in the middle of the city. This work marked her breakthrough. Today, her sculptures are represented in major museums and collections worldwide, including the Schaulager Basel with works from the collection of Maja Oeri.

Katharina Fritsch – Precision, Color, and Abstraction

Fritsch's sculptures are characterized by their immaculate, monochrome surfaces, which alienate familiar forms. This tension between proximity and distance creates an almost hypnotic effect. Through precise reduction, Fritsch condenses her motifs to the limits of recognizability—symbols that become anchored in the collective memory.

The “Red Shell” as a vanitas motif

The focus of the presentation at Art Cologne is Fritsch's Red Shell, part of a group of works that take up the vanitas motif. The shell, traditionally a symbol of life and birth, becomes here a symbol of vulnerability and transience. Using a specially developed car paint, Fritsch gives it a surface of industrial precision and seductive softness. The iridescent red fascinates between hardness and seduction, beauty and threat.

Sculpture for tactile attraction and new viewing habits

Fritsch's sculptures appeal to the sense of touch as well as the eye. The flawless surface of the Red Shell provokes the urge to touch it. But the distance remains—the object refuses closeness, even though it demands it. This opens up a new approach to sculpture for a younger generation of art viewers. Fritsch's art does not work with narrative, but with presence.

Sculpture between material and meaning – a timeless position

The Red Shell is exemplary of Katharina Fritsch's work: precise in its material, open in its interpretation, consistent in its form. Between industrial surface and symbolic depth, a field of tension arises that eludes quick interpretation. With this presentation, Schönewald Fine Arts sends a clear signal about the power of sculpture in the 21st century.