Stephanie Marie Roos
SEE. ME. NOW.
Ceramic images of humanity by Stephanie Marie Roos at the Municipal Gallery in Neunkirchen, Saarland
With a well-attended opening ceremony, the Städtische Galerie Neunkirchen recently opened a solo exhibition with works from the past ten years by ceramic artist Stephanie Marie Roos. The focus of her work is on people, their personal appearance, their identity and their role in society. In addition to contemporary people, Roos’ characters also reflect ideal role models: people who define themselves as a group through clothing, accessories and their attitude. But above all, existential human questions and emotions resonate behind the facade of clothing and accessories. In the Neun-kirchen presentation, the figures are placed in various thematic groups, from almost life-size to miniature figures. In addition to the early groups of works, Roos’ most recent works from 2023 can also be seen, which were created during a scholarship stay in Japan and show portraits of real people.
The topics are contemporary in the best sense, taken from world politics as well as everyday and pop culture. In addition to people from the artist’s real world, ideas often come from photos from the daily flood of images, primarily via digital media, which Roos reflects on in her works and appropriates artistically. It is no coincidence that works such as the Ukrainian mother holding out a cell phone with the picture of her soldier son in front of her, or the system-critical Russian performance artist who cut off her earlobe during a performance, or the climate activist glued to the ground, appear familiar to viewers.
(Liane Wilhelmus)