From the circle of nominated artists, the jury announced before the exhibition opening that the Schering Stiftung Art Award was presented to Cornelia Renz, born in Kaufbeuren in 1966. In its decision, the jury recognizes the young artist for the high quality of her work, her independent artistic position and her potential for further artistic development. The figurative works of the former master class student of Sighard Gille in Leipzig are populated by characters oscillating between absurdity and normalcy. Jury member Armin Zweite, director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, analyzes the suggestive nature of Cornelia Renz’ work with a great deal of attention to the depicted alliance between sentimentality and terror. Mostly girls or childlike women, portrayed with the “brittleness of internal pictorial logic and conscious deception of the viewer.”

Armin Zweite sees Cornelia Renz’ contribution to contemporary art as follows:
“In her works, [she] responds to a specific contemporary feeling at a time when opportunities for emancipation are scarce and our lives rest on fragile foundations. (…) The viewer has the impression that the social roles are no longer defined by the function, role or status of people, but by the encoding of their appareance, which is characterized by packaging and masquerade.”

More information to her life and work:

• Geboren 1966 in Kaufbeuren.
• 1993-1998 Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB), Leipzig, Diplom / Meisterschülerin bei Sighard Gille

• born in 1966 in Kaufbeuren
• 1993–1998 Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts (HGB), Diploma/Master Class Student of Sighard Gille

Stipends and Honors

• 1996   Schüngel Prize
• 1998   Travel Stipend of the Germination Foundation
• 1999   Stipend of the Free State of Saxony
• 2001   Marion Ermer Prize, Oktogon of the Academy of Fine Arts, Dresden

Solo and Group Exhibitions (Selection)

• 1996   100 Sächsische Grafiken, Neue Sächsische Galerie Chemnitz, Schüngel Prize
• 1997   Kunststudenten stellen aus, 13. Bundeswettbewerb, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BRD
• 1998   freibad, f-Raum e.V., Städtisches Kaufhaus, Leipzig – h-auswärts, f-Raum e.V., Haus Löhrstraße, Leipzig – baboons are dangerous, Diplomausstellung, Leipzig – Germinations X, The Factory, Athens
• 1999   100 Sächsische Grafiken, Dresdner Bank, Leipzig – Germinations X, het Elzenveld, Antwerp – von mir aus, Kunstverein Rüsselsheim
• 2000   Klasse Gille, Timm Gierig Gallery, Frankfurt/Main – Das große Glück, Sparkasse Leipzig (S)
• 2001   Meisterschüler 2001, Galerie der HGB Leipzig – Remember, Regierungspräsidium Leipzig (S) – Young Artists in Transition, He Xianing Gallery, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China
• 2002   Kostprobe, Hotel Leipziger Hof, Leipzig – Marion Ermer 2, Jenoptik Werke, Jena – Leipziger Jahresausstellung, Leipzig
• 2003   rekord, rekord Gallery, Berlin – Büro Spors, Berlin (S)
• 2004   Eden, rekord Gallery, Berlin (S) – rekord aus Berlin, Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lübeck – dancing lines, Christa Burger Gallery, Munich, together with Caro Suhrkämper