East/West: And the Oracle of the South

Bettina Scholz paints pictures that are reminiscent of alchemical pours and drips of paint. Many viewers tend to see apocalyptic worlds in them, according to Max Dax, who invited the artist to the Deichtorhallen for HYPER in the summer of 2019. This notion is hardly surprising, given that her vibrantly luminous pictures, painted on and behind glass, are the result of an exploration of sacred church art, Gothic book illumination, and the visual and musical world of contemporary fantasy and science fiction formats. Though there are also quite specific references to films such as Ridley Scott's Blade Runner , the Dune films based on the epic novels by American writer Frank Herbert, Andrei Tarkovsky's films Solaris and Stalker with their film music by Edvard Artemiev, as well as to the sound of the techno label Underground Resistance. Bettina Scholz works on acrylic glass, as well as on wood or canvas, and her drawings, objects, and installations reflect not least the visual influences of her childhood former East-Germany (GDR).