Tina Oelker

"The world is a pineapple and a hare lives in it."

Tina Oelker was born on 7 December 1973 in Hamm-Westphalia and has lived in Hamburg since 1995.
At the age of 15, she took lessons in modern painting with Eckard Wendler in her hometown and studied with the Italian avant-garde artist Federico Schiaffino in Portofino from 1990. In 1994/95 she studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts and painting at the Art Student’s League in New York City. During her studies in Hamburg she opens her first producer gallery „Durchgang/Milchstrasse". In 2004 she completes her diploma at the University of Applied Sciences with the motif of the hare. With „1000 Hasen – limited edition“, the hare becomes her oeuvre once again from 2007 and publicly accessible in the „Hasenmanufaktur Hamburg“ at Hamburg harbour. The „Hafentor7“ is her second producer gallery, which comes to a close in 2015 with „Schützenfest-Reloaded“. Since the end of 2017, Oelker has regularly invited people to the „Society Evenings“, published her lyrical texts and started her abstract work, „25 Colours Stockholm“. „Of Hares and Gods“ was published in 2021 and summarises 20 years of her work. Further exhibitions, installations and conceptual spatial designs follow.

What is it about your studio space that inspires you?

The old, tactile materials of the studio, the freedom and the time I can live in the middle of the city.

What sounds, scents and sights do you encounter while in your studio?

The smell of fresh oil color with hints of turpentine and fresh espresso

What is your favourite material to work with? How has your use of it evolved throughout your practice?

I use oil paint, and in the last 20 years I have been able to intensify the variations, expression and compositions of colors in my painting.

What themes do you pursue?

I use the theme of hunting in its ambiguity, the natural interplay of male and female, returned to Greek mythology via the hare, and again intend to let painting itself become the subject.

What advice has had the biggest impact on your career?

create yourself

If you could install your art absolutely anywhere, where would that be?

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

Lass mal den Affen, der geht!

If you weren´t an artist, what would you be doing?

Psychology and farming

What are your favourite places besides your studio?

Wherever I can ride my racing bike

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