Joyce Pensato's Dark Cartoons Arrive at Sammlung Falckenberg in Hamburg
In Hamburg-Harburg, Sammlung Falckenberg hosts "Eyes for You," the first solo institutional exhibition in Europe since Joyce Pensato's passing in 2019. This showcase, organized in collaboration with ICA Miami and Frac des Pays de la Loire, highlights Pensato's work, which critiques the "American Dream" through iconic figures such as Mickey Mouse and Batman rendered in coal dust and enamel. Among the standout pieces are "Marge in Hell" (2008) and canvases inspired by South Park featuring oversized eyes. The exhibition charts her artistic journey from 1970s charcoal sketches to abstraction influenced by Joan Mitchell and Christopher Wool, incorporating films, photographs, and installations that connect her to the collection's focus on Counter-Culture art.
Key facts
- "Eyes for You" is Joyce Pensato's first institutional solo exhibition in Europe since her death in 2019
- The show occupies two floors of the Sammlung Falckenberg, the Deichtorhallen's Hamburg-Harburg venue in a former industrial building
- It was organized with the ICA Miami and the French art fund Frac des Pays de la Loire
- Pensato was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941
- "Marge in Hell" (2008) is a room-high charcoal portrait with blue watercolor accents and burn holes in the paper
- Pensato studied at the New York Studio School, where in 1976 she posed a life-size cardboard Batman as a "still life"
- Christopher Wool's black enamel word paintings inspired her adoption of fast-drying enamel paint
- The exhibition includes films of Pensato painting and dancing in her studio, photographs and studio installations
Entities
Artists
- Joyce Pensato
- Walt Disney
- Ub Iwerks
- Joan Mitchell
- Christopher Wool
Institutions
- Sammlung Falckenberg
- Deichtorhallen
- ICA Miami
- Frac des Pays de la Loire
- New York Studio School
- Monopol
Locations
- Hamburg
- Germany
- Hamburg-Harburg
- Brooklyn
- New York
- United States
- Miami
- France