Melanie Bäreis

Melanie Bäreis is a 27-year-old German painter, whose artistic practice exist at the confluence of fine art and literature. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in English Literature at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. As part of her work as an author, she won first prize in the #SidebySide text competition in March 2023, which was initiated by the Chorakademie am Konzerthaus Dortmund e.V..

At the age of 25, the artist received a nomination for the Albertus Art Prize. This was followed by additional nominations, including the KiR Art Prize, the Werner Brand Art Foundation Art Prize, and the Hans-Jürgen Imiela Memorial Prize. That same year, the artist participated in notable exhibitions, such as the 5th KunstBiennale Isernhagen in Hanover during the summer and the vernissage at the Theater unterm Dach in Berlin.

In her paintings, she explores themes of randomness, velocity, and the resulting disorder in life. She examines the uncertainty surrounding the outcomes of various situations in life, contrasting the expectations of what should happen with the realities of what ultimately does happen. In this context, her artwork captures, in particular,  the feeling of falling and the closely linked search for one's identity, for one's essence. At the same time, this exploration encourages a significant shift in perspective: The potential to view the feeling of falling as an impetus, an opportunity to fly.

(Photo © the artist)