Valérie FavreSelbstmord. Suicide.08.06. - 28.07.2013
n.B.K, Berlin

The exhibition Selbstmord. Suicide at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein presents two extensive groups of works by Valérie Favre. On show will be the Suicide cycle (2003-2013), consisting of 129 small format paintings, representing the self-chosen death, partly based on actual facts, partly fiction. The starting point of the works is the very moment of the radical decision to end one’s life, and the self-dramatization of the theatrical moment of death as well as the impact on the bereaved. In the classic 18 x 24 cm format, Favre outlines with reduced color shades different types of suicide. In her pictures, she refers to known suicide scenes from history, art and literature as well as from current newspaper reports.

The second group of works still/leben (de la fragilité des fleurs n°5) (2013), which was created especially for the exhibition, consists of large-format canvases as well as a collection of small format paintings and addresses the creative process of the artist. In preparation for her exhibition at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, for three months every day, Favre painted a new still life of a flower arrangement in her studio. She illustrates the dimension of time within the project in a diary-like style, with one brush stroke at a time on large format canvases. From the multitude of the small still lifes, one will be selected on every day of the exhibition and presented in the exhibition space.