Stanley Picker Public Lectures 2015 at ICA London: Sophie Von Hellermann

Born in 1975 in Munich, Sophie von Hellermann lives and works in London. She studied at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf and the Royal College of Art, London. Her subject matter ranges from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights to Einstein’s revolutionary physics to the life of Nico from The Velvet Underground.

She portrays these subjects with the same token lightness, blurring public fable with romantic vision. In von Hellermann’s works, personal narratives and fantasies are the product of desire and partial perceptions, bleeding into one another within a figuration characterised by ambiguous moments and abstract spaces.

Selected solo exhibitions include: Firstsite, Colchester (2013); Le Consortium, Dijon (with Josh Smith) (2009); Marc Foxx, Los Angeles (2009); Vilma Gold, London (2008); Greene Naftali, New York (2007); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2006); Neuer Aachen Kunstverein, Aachen (2006) and Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium (2006). Sophie von Hellermann is represented by Vilma Gold, London, Galerie Hussenot, Paris, Greene Naftali, New York, and Marc Foxx, Los Angeles.