Kim Bartelt: Poetics of Paper, Form, and Transience
Through the elusive simplicity of both form and colour, the work of Kim Bartelt meditates on the ephemerality of the world and the poetic contradictions at the heart of contemporary human experience. Her paintings and collages reveal a unique fusion of painting and sculpture, inviting viewers into contemplative spaces where tension between permanence and transience, visibility and silence, is gently unveiled.
Technique: Layering Paper into Canvas
Bartelt’s method is distinct: she carefully layers sheets of paper — often of different thicknesses and translucencies — onto canvas. The resulting works occupy a hybrid space between two‑ and three‑dimensional art, where the clarity of geometric forms contrasts with the intimate texture of paper. These compositions draw the viewer inward, revealing a pulsing internal landscape that conveys the fragile interplay between the seen and unseen.
Her raw linen and jute canvases, particularly in the series titled Raw, serve as backdrops for abstract explorations of shape. Here, found and residual tissue papers — remnants from quotidian encounters such as flower purchases or wrapping from shops in Paris — gain new life. Their delicate translucence and idiosyncrasies — creases, folds, and raw edges — speak to histories embedded in overlooked materials, and only up close does their layered fragility become fully apparent.
Visual Language and Abstraction
Drawing on the language of geometric abstraction, Bartelt’s visual vocabulary is deliberately restrained, anchored in squares and rectangles that harmonize complex emotional states into compositional balance. Her choice of colour is quiet yet radiant: neither wholly opaque nor aggressively vibrant, her canvases maintain a luminosity that feels substantial despite their lightness. This quality echoes the serene luminosity found in the works of early Renaissance painters such as Fra Angelico and Piero della Francesca, influences that resonate in her approach to tone and surface.
Bartelt’s decision to move away from traditional liquid paint toward collaged surfaces reflects a broader inquiry into painting as object. Her works incorporate elements over which she exerts limited control — the paper cuttings themselves are residues of everyday life. In this sense, her art embodies both intentional structure and ephemeral circumstance, foregrounding materials that are byproducts rather than overt artistic impositions.
Origins and Artistic Development
Born in Berlin, Germany, Bartelt initially intended to study architecture but redirected her path toward art history in Paris before completing a foundation year at Parsons Paris. She later moved to the United States, studying Fine Art at the Parsons School of Design in New York. While working on commercial set painting for large campaigns, she began collecting discarded paper sheets, gradually integrating them into her art practice. These early, minimal paper collages — weightless and translucent — seemed to transcend their materiality, setting the tone for her long‑term artistic exploration.
Since returning to Germany in 2003, Bartelt has continued to work with canvas and paper. More recently, her investigations into space and volume have expanded into large‑scale sculptural works — structures that possess a megalithic presence despite often being composed of deceptively fragile materials such as packing material and papier‑mâché.
Exhibitions and Recognition
Bartelt has presented numerous solo exhibitions internationally. Notable recent shows include:
- Cadogan Gallery, Milan (2023)
- Cadogan Gallery, London (2022)
Her work was featured in An Endless Curve – Art Perspectives III at the Circle Culture Gallery in Berlin, and in A Double Presentation, Wilhelm Hallen #2 in 2021. She has also exhibited in Mexico City, Ghent, London, and Berlin.
In 2019 Bartelt participated in artist residencies at Numeroventi in Florence, Italy and Joya AiR in Almeria, Spain.
Her work has appeared in publications including Repubblica (2023), Capital Magazine (2022), AD Germany (2020), and Wall Street Magazine (2020). Her pieces are held in private collections across Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, the UK, Israel, India, Brazil, and the USA.
Critical Reception
According to curator and writer Lorena Juan, Bartelt’s practice presents a “study of the poetics of the connective tissue of life,” revealing **the silent mind maps of the support infrastructures running in the backdrop of our existence.” Her art does not merely express inner states, but responds intuitively to the contemporary human condition — an age marked by global complexity and subtle detachment.
