Rebekka Brunke

Lives and works in Mannheim, Germany

Artist statement

The collage serves as my conceptual and formal starting point. From elements that do not naturally belong together, a new whole emerges that follows a thematic or formal principle. In my drawings, new faces emerge from fragments of various origins; these fragments comment on their own era, transform themselves, and are transposed into different contexts. The development of the image unfolds as a interplay between chance and planning, narrative and an unresolved state of limbo. First, I create small-format (glued) collages that serve as “models” for me, which I then draw with charcoal on paper of various sizes. In this process, the character of the original image fragment disappears: whether it is a glossy magazine or a crumpled found object—through the act of drawing, all image fragments become similar and merge in the black-and-white of the depiction. The ephemeral nature of the charcoal is shaped into precise forms within the fragments; traces and the dust of transience are erased, resulting in straight edges and sharp contours. The collage-like assembly of image fragments serves, on the one hand, as a practical tool for image creation and, at the same time, as a conceptual approach to the works, in which questions about the origin and context of the images are raised. How do an image’s message and meaning change when they are removed from their original context and sometimes “torn” in the truest sense of the word? In the series KÖPFE (“Heads”), fragments of faces...

Artwork