Michael Stalherm. Pen in Space

About

The exhibition PEN IN SPACE consists of more than 30 works on paper and gives an insight into the versatility of Stalherm’s pencil techniques and his surreal imagination over the last six years.

Regarding his pencil techniques the artists describes: „In my childhood I sew doll clothes, at first by hand. Later in the tailor studio where my mother worked and ran a fashion business – I learned how to use a sewing machine. I especially was fascinated by the technique of stitching watching thread to thread at a high speed. Some drawing processes are alike, especially hatching. A carefully pointed long pencil lead makes me remember a needle. Through the process of drawing, the fictional thread becomes gradually reeled off. It first becomes a stroke, after that a line. Drawings can be seen as stitched thoughts and quilted intuitions from an intermediate world.”

After his studies of art, design and art history at the University of Basel. In 1971 he received a scholarship from the City of Basel, and an additional grant for the Cité Internationale des Artes in Paris in 1978 and 1980, supported by the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1989 he has been living and working in Berlin.
Michael Stalherm’s works were shown in numerous international exhibitions in Switzerland, America, Germany, Italy, France and Monaco. His works are included in private collections worldwide.