Cornelia Baltes, Off the Wall, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Foreground
Synopsis
Bristol Cathedral Choir School is part of Bristol City Council’s Primary/Bristol series of artist commissions for primary schools commissioned as part of the Primary Capital Education Programme. As part of the development artist Cornelia Baltes has been commissioned by Foreground to develop a new permanent artwork for this school.
Baltes sees her paintings as protagonists, implicating the spectator and in turn shifting the gallery into a type of stage. Significantly, Baltes extends the parameters of painting, with content spilling over the frame and onto the surrounding architectural space.
The notion of the discrete object is resisted as canvases are moulded and shaped, surfaces cut and folded to amplify their physical properties. While Baltes’ work portrays a disparate iconography her work is marked by a playful economy and astute understanding of colour. In Baltes’ own words, “The general source of my work is the observation of daily life. I point out small things that touch me and create work that combines simplicity with a sense of humour.”
Commissioned by Foreground as part of Bristol City Council’s Primary Capital Programme of artist commissions for Primary schools, Cornelia Baltes will be making a series of new works for Cathedral Primary School in 2017.
Baltes’ work for Bristol Cathedral Primary will see her playful work infiltrate the whole environment of the school. Baltes’ will be exploring ideas as diverse as major wall paintings for the school’s new entrances, sculptural reading areas in classrooms and her images appearing on everything from windows to signage to the school’s newsletter.
This project has been commissioned and funded by Bristol City Council. The works will be permanently housed at Cathedral Primary School, Bristol.
This project has been made possible through funding from Bristol City Council as part of the Primary Capital Education Programme.
Baltes sees her paintings as protagonists, implicating the spectator and in turn shifting the gallery into a type of stage. Significantly, Baltes extends the parameters of painting, with content spilling over the frame and onto the surrounding wall. The notion of the discrete object is resisted as canvases are moulded and shaped, surfaces cut and folded to amplify their physical properties. While Baltes’ work portrays a disparate iconography her work is marked by a playful economy and astute understanding of colour.
Cornelia Baltes (B.1978, Moenchengladbach, DE) Baltes received an MFA in Fine Art from Slade School of Fine Art, London (2011). Recent solo exhibitions include DREI, Cologne and Limoncello, London (both 2013). Recent group exhibitions include Museum Folkwang, Essen (2013) and Kunsthalle Nurnberg (2014). Baltes is currently based between Germany and London and is represented by Limoncello, London and DREI, Cologne.
Based in Frome, Somerset, Foreground brings new art to new audiences across the South West of England. We deliver an ambitious program that spans commissioning new temporary and permanent artworks in the diverse social and physical structures of communities, consultancy and development projects that explore the connectivity between the critical, social and economic aspects of contemporary art.
BCCS is Bristol’s oldest school, tracing its origins back to the 12th century when monks at St Augustine’s Abbey provided an education for their choristers. After Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries, the Abbey Church became Bristol Cathedral and the school was re-established in the Abbey buildings as an Henrician Foundation in 1542. The School is a Church of England Academy with a distinctive Christian ethos.
