Archive2014

Judith Hopf

Formal questions often translate into political and social ones. A tree branch growing out of an abandoned building’s window is a fleeting moment of grace amidst desolation. When cast in bronze, its fragility can exert a subtle authority, and can perhaps stand in the way of those who might want to replace an empty old building with a fancy new one. Consider it Judith Hopf’s quiet act of protest. Silence and stillness can also contain brute force. Judith’s concrete sheep, cast from standard moving boxes, get their strength from how little they move and how little they seem to tolerate movement.

Judith Hopf’s (b. 1969, Germany) lives in Berlin. Her selected solo exhibitions include O.T., Praxes Berlin; Cracking Nuts, Kaufmann repetto, New York, both 2014; Judith Hopf, Galerie Deborah Schamoni, Munich; A Line May Lie, Kunsthalle Lingen Kunstverein, Lignen; Testing Time, Studio Voltaire, London; From Down, From Up & in Between, Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples, all 2013; Sudden Walk, kaufmann repetto, Milan, 2012, among others. Hopf has participated in group exhibitions such as Triennale for Video Art, Mechelen and dOCUMENTA13, Kassel, both 2012. She is currently teaching Fine Art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. As well as presenting work in galleries and museums, she has shown work in theatres, cinemas and bookshops.