Selina Trepp

Selina Trepp's work "I'm Speaking" combines an edition of 17 woodcuts with watercolors and a film into a multi-layered, colorful and complex piece. In keeping with her usual practice, the artist has used a combination of different media in her print. The geometric motifs in the background, which are inspired among other things by Graubünden sgraffito façade decorations, were printed using the classic woodcut method with oil paint. The colorful, watery shapes of the figure, on the other hand, result from the traditional Japanese mokuhanga woodblock print, in which watercolors are applied by hand to the wood panel. These forms loosen the austerity of the classical woodblock print through their painterly flow.

The motif of "I'm Speaking" is related to Selina Trepp's "Dirty Drawings", in which the artist reuses old drawings, first exposing them to her footsteps and dust on the studio floor and then reworking them by hand. Often these drawings depict women whose social or ethnic affiliation is not clear and who are emancipated from clichéd attributes and poses. Here, too, we are confronted with a strong woman - the figure is in fact inspired by the new US Vice President Kamala Harris. The title of the work refers to an appearance by Harris during the last US election campaign, when she countered then Vice President Mike Pence with confidence and authority.

As an integral part of the edition, there is also a video animation. Selina Trepp designed the individual prints so that the mouth of the figure visually reproduces the different syllables of the sentence "I'm speaking". The photographed sheets create the still images that, strung together, produce the animation. The use of stop-motion to breathe life into her works is characteristic of Selina Trepp's oeuvre. In addition to the transformation of the prints into a moving image, we also observe the transformation of the depicted figure from the passive object of our contemplation to the active protagonist who addresses us directly.

Selina Trepp uses mixed-media, working with painting, sculpture, installations and performance. Her animations, photographs and drawings have been shown mainly in Swiss and American institutions. Trepp is currently exhibiting at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and is working on a monographic publication that will be published this year by Nieves Verlag. In summer 2021, her site-specific animation "Woven" will be projected on the façade of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.