Maximum Normal

*Maximum Normal* is part of my series *Encapsulated Happiness*. I investigate the mechanisms of self-optimisation, control, and the restless pursuit of perfection.

I am engaged in a critical dialog in an era where these aspirations are increasingly instrumentalized by patriarchal and capitalist structures. I question a society that views the individual as a permanent construction site—always optimisable, always capable of enhancement.

Whether through dietary supplements, hormones, or performance enhancers: the market for the „better self“ is booming. With a projected market volume exceeding 2 billion euros by 2028, it is not only revenue that is growing, but also the illusion that happiness and meaning can be dosed in milligrams.

In my work I dissect and preserve the physical aesthetics of these consumer goods. My art shatters the glossy façade of perfection and exposes the longing for authentic identity behind “encapsulated happiness.“

It is my goal to transform pharmaceuticals and their packaging into oversized symbols of self-optimisation, control, and the relentless pursuit of perfection. These motifs become proxies for the human need to shaped the body and identity according to external ideals—a visual analysis of our dependence on artificial flawlessness.

Presented as charcoal drawings on raw canvas and corrugated cardboard or on small wooden cubes, the objects appear frozen in time. Especially the smaller works beneath thick layers of clear resin, they seem to linger in a state of suspension between lightness and captivity. In this artificial silence, the works oscillate between weightlessness and standstill. They challenge the viewer, blurring the line between the object of desire and utter indifference.