Artists

Raphaela Simon

Press release

Michael Werner Gallery, London is pleased to present Phantom, an exhibition of recent paintings and sculptures by Raphaela Simon (b. 1986, Villingen, Germany).

Throughout her career, Simon has sought to capture the ineffable on canvas. Even when painting a seemingly neutral subject, such as an abstract shape or an inanimate object, Simon is looking for the tension or “the hidden power beneath the surface.”

In her recent works, Simon has shifted to painting figures and heads that are subjected to a variety of situations and scenarios. The heads, with their fixed expressions and hollow appearance, are also masks. As a mask, they conceal shame, block madness, and protect the wearer from anger and horror. While they can appear outwardly melancholic, aggressive, or apathetic, they are intended to convey deep emotion. For Simon, they act as a vehicle to give voice to inexpressible needs and suffering.

Phantom, the painting for which the exhibition is named, most clearly illustrates Simon’s intention of making the unseen visible. The face of a spirit appears on the body of the painter and dominates her. Dots flow from the eyes, across the shoulders, and down the arms of the painter, as the painter then tries to capture the spirit on the canvas.