Between Adaptation, Mimicry, and Mimesis - CAMOUFLAGE

About

In the natural world, we encounter fascinating mechanisms of adaptation, mimicry, and mimesis through which living organisms imitate their surroundings in order to protect themselves, to deceive, and ultimately to survive. These phenomena open up a broad field for artistic reflection, situated between illusion and revelation, concealment and exposure.

The exhibition brings together eight contemporary artistic positions that approach the multilayered nature of reality through diverse media and strategies.

What do we believe we see? Where do our perceptions deceive us—and why?

Curated by Dr. Barbara Aust-Wegemund, art historian and founder of AHC  PROJECTS HAMBURG, the exhibition continues her long-standing practice of presenting and fostering international artistic positions in dialogue.

PARTICIPAING ARTISTS: Irina Anis (painting), Robin Cruise (painting), Kyle Egret (painting, music), Dagmar Rauwald (installation), Arezoo Rezaei (painting), Susanne Scheffczyk (painting), Ole Terslose (digital art, sculpture), and Mia Wang (painting).

THE ARTISTIC POSITIONS

IRINA ANIS studied painting at the Stroganov University in Moscow and lives in Porto, Portugal. In her current Flower Series, the organisms appear as small spaces of retreat that simultaneously open and close, where beauty and fragility converge. Form, color, and light are employed in a way that guides the eye without ever fully arresting it. The blossoms function as metaphors of both concealment and revelation—directing the gaze while withholding complete disclosure.

ROBIN CRUISE develops his work at the intersection of close observation of nature, compositional structure, and symbolic narration. The Northern German artist is widely known for his animal depictions, created during extensive travels around the world. His pair of big cats in Camouflage Is Not Disappearance plays with the iconic presence of an animal that is itself a master of concealment. For Cruise, camouflage is not invisibility but a conscious control of perception. The animals exude strength; camouflage here is neither trick nor retreat, but an attitude.

KYLE EGRET is a painter, musician, and composer whose work unfolds at the intersection of sound and image. Born in Stade in 1992, he studied classical guitar at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre and painting at the HFBK Hamburg under Prof. Jorinde Voigt. In his current series—premiering in the exhibition CAMOUFLAGE, including works such as Silent Rehearsal and Polyphonic Silence in Red—the paintings emerge as visual scores. Dots and lines function as constellations, relationships, and distances between tones. Camouflage is experienced here as a psychological and acoustic state—as that which resonates but remains unspoken.

At the opening, Kyle Egret will perform an original composition on the classical guitar. The piece engages with tonal constellations and spatial relationships reflected in sonic patterns.

The conceptual painter DAGMAR RAUWALD works at the intersection of space, material, and perception. Born in Essen in 1965, she studied Fine Arts at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg under Prof. Bernd Koberling and Prof. Sigmar Polke, as well as philosophy (MA) at the University of Hamburg. During her artist-in-residence in Japan for the exhibition Conversations – about Feminism and Age, Rauwald collaborated with Japanese fashion designer Sumino Yoshi, who tailored a traditional samurai kimono from her paintings. The resulting installation on transparent foils subtly transforms the surrounding space. The familiar appears strange and newly perceptible. Camouflage here becomes a spatial experience—a play between presence, transcendence, and transformation.

In the work of Susanne Scheffczyk, non-verbal communication plays a central role. Painterly expression, intuitive drawing, and psychoanalytic reflection characterize the practice of the Hamburg-based painter and therapist. Her works—often infused with a trace of irony—emerge through a processual dialogue between inner imagery and outward form. Camouflage manifests as a psychological protective layer: the identities of figures and memories blur, landscapes dissolve into mist, and much remains vague and bizarre.

AREZOO REZAEI studied painting at Soore Art University in Tehran. The Iranian cheetah occupies a central role in her work. Endangered with extinction, the big cat appears not merely as an animal but as a multilayered symbol: of threatened beauty, of silenced voices within systems, and of the fragile balance between visibility and disappearance. Amid seated birds and tranquil landscapes, the cheetah evokes a tension between presence and erasure.

The Danish artist OLE TERSLOSE constructs surreal scenes in a hyperrealist, purist aesthetic. Born in Hørring in 1971, he studied Painting at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen before turning to computer-generated art in two- and three-dimensional formats. His works have received international attention, including at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA). Created entirely on the computer without photographic references, his digitally generated 3D sculptures from the series Mushroom Children confront viewers with hybrid mushroom-child beings. After being 3d-printed the sculptures are sanded and polished, then airbrushed, and finally they have a "Perlmutt" coating. So in certain light conditions  they look "wet" or even have a skin-like surface. Camouflage appears here as metamorphosis between  art , sciences, high technology and philosophy.

The paintings of MIA WANG lead the viewer into a jungle of layers, overpainting, fine lines, and deliberate blurring. Based in Hamburg, the artist works through multi-stage processes that are intuitive and spatially expansive. Her images resist unambiguous interpretation and demand a slowed-down gaze. Camouflage manifests as a painterly process in which meaning is not immediately revealed but gradually intimated through the interplay of illusion, line, surface, and rhythm.

Exhibition dates: 5–13 February 2026

Exhibition: CAMOUFLAGE
Opening hours: daily except Sunday, 11 am–6 pm
Opening reception: Thursday, February 5, 7 pm
Introduction: Dr. Barbara Aust-Wegemund, Art Curator
Concert: Kyle Egret, original composition for classical guitar

Venue: Galerie im Levantehaus, 1st floor
Mönckebergstraße 7, 20095 Hamburg, Germany

Art Production by AHC Projects Hamburg
https://www.ahc-projects.net