ULRICH WULFF (*1975), well-versed in the highs and lows of the diverse Modernist strategies of artistic self-presentation, is a painter of mischievous austerity. And a marvelous one at that. In this regard, his paintings have a certain theatrical quality. As you can never be sure, if they are »seriously performing« or »performing seriousness«. Early on, he found the figure of the clown as his patron saint—being the »eternally underestimated one, as long as you mistake his appearance for his essence. What he actually demonstrates is the path to wisdom«. The clown, as Wulff recalls, is the »ideal counterpart« both to organize the canvas and to find humble images for a seemingly inhospitable and rampant present.
Editors Alexandra Tretter and Alexander Linn have made a daring choice and gathered 60 paintings from almost 20 years: Self-portraits as pizzas, vases and nuclear powerplants, warm-up exercises, women in front of kebabs, final paintings which in fact are new beginnings, peanuts, crossings and passages. An awkward »realism for beginners and the advanced«, in which witty humor and heart-breaking melancholy always are the one.