Toulu Hassani. Fall Back Into Place

In the organizer's words:

Over the last 15 years, Toulu Hassani has created a painterly oeuvre that uses lines, strokes, geometric shapes and mathematical structures to form a network of images that create order. In these pictorial worlds, she succeeds in creating an identity-forming moment that places people as individuals in a direct relationship to the overarching, universal forces that operate beyond our imagination. The artist uses scientific references from astrophysics as analogies in her pictorial invention. In Toulu Hassani's fourth solo exhibition at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, entitled "Fall Back Into Place", the familiar gridded oil paintings meet large-format constellations and small-format airbrush works. These three groups of works depict the complexity between order and disorder, system and randomness within their painterly cosmos. On the picture support, the material has to assert itself against the intuitive. As a result, geometric patterns or ornamental lines are repeatedly found in close succession on the works, the logic of which collapses after prolonged contemplation, leaving the search for a solution behind the system without an answer due to sudden changes of direction. The exhibition title "Fall Back Into Place" describes a situation in which order returns after a chaotic state. It is inspired by the chorus of the space song by the US-French band Beach House. In the constellations from the "above horizon" group of works with the time indicated, on the other hand, you find yourself in front of a section of the starry night sky and encounter the humble feeling of the relationship between man and nature. In an interview with Sophie Azzilonna in 2024 for the Stadler Collection, Toulu Hassani explained: "The title indicates the time at which her photographic model was taken. Of course, to be precise, the location and date of the photograph are missing. However, I am not interested in the most precise representation possible. The description of position 'above horizon' comes from astronomy and, for me, illustrates in an exciting way that we can only describe everything we observe, no matter how large or small, from our perspective. The starry sky is mapped and we know what can be seen around us, but our own planet is in the way. I associate the starry sky itself with many things. At night, everything disappears into the darkness around us and the seemingly tiny stars in the distance magically attract my gaze. Thoughts seem freer and clearer at night than during the day and, at the same time, I'm sure everyone knows the thoughts of how small and insignificant we appear as humans in the dimensions of the universe. At the same time, there is a great fascination for unsolved mysteries. Things and dimensions that surpass our imagination. The star paintings are perhaps an attempt to consciously evoke such a moment."

Toulu Hassani (*1984 in Ahwaz, Iran) lives and works in Cologne. Her paintings are among the most important emerging positions in contemporary German art. Since 2012, she has received numerous prizes and scholarships, combined with solo and group exhibitions, for example at MKK Ingolstadt, Sauerland-Museum Arnsberg, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Von der Heydt Museum Wuppertal; a solo exhibition at Sprengelmuseum Hannover will follow in 2027. Her works are part of the collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen, ERES Foundation Munich, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and the Collection of Contemporary Art of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, among others.