Description
Bettina Gelhard – Reeh: * 1956, Wiesbaden
Execution: oil on canvas
Date: 2003
Dimensions: 50 x 70 cm
Signed: signed u.r. and on the reverse
Provenance: original work from artist’s studio
1975-79 Bettina Gelhard-Reeh makes her studies as a goldsmith and gemmologist at the Hanau State Academy of Drawing, then working as a goldsmith in Wiesbaden until 1985.
Gelhard-Reeh spends the next five years as a freelance artist in Santa Cruz, CA, USA. In 1990, the artist returned to Germany and has been working as a freelance painter ever since. Since 1995 Bettina Gelhard-Reeh is a member of the “Gruppe 50”.
Bettina Gelhard-Reeh takes her starting point in the art of classical modernism and devotes herself primarily to representational painting. The still life finds an aesthetic appreciation in Gelhard-Reeh’s work and forms the main focus in her art. In contrast to traditional still life paintings, Gelhard-Reeh is not concerned with the naturalistic rendering of the object. Rather, the artist concentrates on the particular color tone – starting with the juicy fruit, the haptic surface structure and ending with the soft luminous silhouettes. In doing so, Gelhard-Reeh pursues the intention of reducing the material form and representing it in a harmonious abundance of color.
Her areas of work include oil painting and chalk drawings. Bettina Gelhard-Reeh’s work is presented in numerous solo as well as group exhibitions in Germany and abroad. The artist lives and works in Wiesbaden.
