DORIS ERNST
Born 1966 in Steinfurt, Germany, Lives and works in
London, Berlin and Shanghai.
Doris is a self-taught artist. Her intuition and
creativity are an expression of her living, traveling and working in various
cities around the world like New York, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Addis Abeba, New
Delhi, Shanghai and Japan. These different cultures, people, societies, and their art
forms have influenced her as well as the friendship with many artists in these
countries. She has participated in a several gallery as well as museum
exhibitions in Shanghai where she lived for 5 years before just moving to London in
August 2020.
Doris´ work has been influenced very strongly by her
experiences living in mega cities with the density,
noise and speed in contrast to nature, calmness and heritage. Her path towards
making her own art started with the strong desire to finding herself again
after long years of being a full time working mother of 3 children-working in
the clearly
structured field of international law, government and
in humanitarian assistance which
included visiting Haiti after the earthquake as well as refugee camps in Africa
and Syria. She was also looking for a way to cope with the experience of joy
and disappointment in her personal life as well as sorrow over the death of
loved ones. All of this combined with global politics, deteriorating
environmental problems, divisions in societies as well as the speed of
developments in the age of internet and artificial intelligence brought her to
the point where she needed a means of expression to get the constantly spinning
thoughts out of her head - finding a blance between chaos and order.
Her artistic work is dominated by
the motto “Trying to make sense”. Which includes the wish for finding
hope and claritiy in a complex world.
Doris loves to work with spatulas instead of brushes.
Applying paint in this manner always includes an element of randomness and
surprise which again is a similarity to life where perfection can hardly ever
be achieved or planned. The apparent order of the stripes and the grids in her works
is however not regular. The stripe as a symbol of routine are never the same
and in this representing individuality. Overlaying layers show the multitude of
different influences we face in our life.
Her work also includes a series of works on paper
called “fading”. Which deals with the issue of not losing yourself, your
integrity, your values and personality under the constant outside
pressure.
Another
series of works including a collection of found objects and markings on
crushed/crumbled paper as well as a series of prints made with broken pieces of tiles from
demolished Chinese Shikumen houses that deals with the question of transience and
vulnerability.
Doris believes that the current situation /crisis
clearly shows that rationality is (at least not alone/ by itself) the
solution. Humanness, emotions, caring for each other,
empathy, tolerance, compassion and love are needed as well. Struggling and
standing together while sharing our concerns and thoughts will give us the hope
we need to find a brighter tomorrow in the chaos of our time.
For Doris, sharing her thoughts through art became her
way of dialogue.
Solo / Two-person Exhibitions
2020 CHAOS, Dialogue Exhibition with Sun
Yao, COSPACE Gallery M50, Shanghai/China
2020 Lost and Found, Solo
exhibition, Leo Gallery, Shanghai/China
2019 Look and See, Dialogue exhibition with Songwen Sun-von
Berg, Space Gallery,
Shanghai/ China
Group Exhibition
2020
Many a little-makes a mickle, Tour exhibition u.a. Art Collection Museum,
Shanghai/China
2020
Path to enchanting Seclusion, Group exhibition, Xinjiao Art Museum,
Shanghai/China
2019 The Multi-Imagination of Light, Group exhibition, SoArt GalleryM50, Shanghai/China
2018 Hidden Secrets, Group exhibition, Poppy Gallery,
Shanghai/China
