Tina Oelker

Expect fulfillment – fulfill expectation

Tina Oelker combines opposites and uses duality as fuel for her shape and colour compositions. They have this earthy lightness and somehow seem familiar. Each stroke recalls an origin that is far removed from two-dimensional ways of thinking and living. Tina Oelker is avant-garde in the classical sense. Her lyrical texts and poems speak the same language as her paintings. Her personal stories are Tina´s teacher and one thing becomes clear, her hard school began "early enough". It is a question of timelessness, of the will to break away from a linear idea of success in order to create something new. The fact of 1000 Hares, the mastery, the passion to switch from one discipline to the next provides Tina Oelker with an infinite wealth of what she has already created and also of possibilities.

Jean-Luc Cujaux, 2019


Born in Hamm-Westphalia in 1973, Tina Oelker lives and works in Hamburg since 1995. From the age of 15 to 20 she takes lessons in modern painting, form and colour theory and studies 94’and 95’in NYC. She graduates from the HAW in 2004 with the motif of the field hare and openes her first producer gallery with the Schützenfest in Hamburg’s Milchstrasse. 2010 – 2014 she regularly curates exhibitions with a total of over 200 artists and concludes the project 1000 Hasen and the HAFENTOR7 at Hamburg’s Landungsbrücken with the Schützenfest-Reloaded. Since 2021 Tina is performing and improvising also on larger stages. Her poetry and prose complement her work in an abstract way without explaining it itself. She publishes „Hares and Gods“, a summary of her complex work, followed by „Arbeitsnotizen einer Malerin“ in 2023.

1973 in Hamm-Westfalen geboren, lebt und arbeitet Tina Oelker seit 1995 in Hamburg. In ihrer Jugend lernte sie Aktzeichnen und Moderne Malerei, in ihren 20ern studierte sie in New York City an der SVA und Art Students League. Ihr Studium schloss sie 2004 an der HAW in Hamburg mit dem Motiv des Feldhasen ab.

Mit „25 Farben Stockholm“ und „12,5 Farben Florenz“, ist Tina Oelker wieder in der Abstraktion angekommen. Bekannt wurde sie mit ihrem Gesamtwerk „1000 Hasen“, was bis heute in seiner Gänze noch unter Verschluss steht. Im Frühjahr 2021 erschien ihr erster Bildband, „Von Hasen und Göttern, N° 1“, darin verdichtet Oelker 20 Jahre ihres Schaffens. Prosa, wie die „1000 Thesen“ und lyrische Texte aus ihrem „Leporello“ ergänzen ihr Werk auf abstrakte Weise, ohne es selbst zu erklären, und sind seit 2016 Hauptbestandteil ihrer Performances und Gesellschaftsabende. 2021 installiert sie zwei temporäre Räume und ist 2022 Mitbegründerin der Künstlergruppe „Die Kryptiker“.

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 paints, balsamic turpentine, cotton fabric, linen, several brushes, rags and the use of hand cream has probably increased immensely in the last 20 years.

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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