FRIEDRICH KUNATH
Friedrich Kunath (b. 1974) creates works which converge the banal with the extraordinary, embracing counterpoints and uncovering universal emotional experiences such as loss, hope, fear, celebration and love. Often taking the form of idealised landscapes layered with poetic phrases, works by Kunath have been known to feature anything from a postcard to a perfume scent, pulling from a vortex of references.
Kunath’s oeuvre spans painting, drawing, installation, sculpture and video. Informed by the artist’s own personal history, but also music, German Romanticism and American pop culture, the works are imbued with both tradition and modernity. With an equally diverse subject matter, they illustrate themes of tragedy, comedy and romance, freely shifting between the three and occupying a unique space between irony and sincerity.
‘This sense of homesickness permeates my complete oeuvre – this aspect of the ambiguity of our existence. To paint or to make these works is to feel at home. To feel found, to feel understood.’
F. Kunath in conversation with K. Bech Dyg, ‘Friedrich Kunath – The Way I Work’, for the Louisiana Channel, 2021
Image: The Art Of Surviving November, 2023 , oil on canvas, 213.4 x 182.8 cm.; 84 x 72 in. Photo: Robert McKeever
Selected Works
Solo Exhibitions
Group Exhibitions
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
Biography
VITA
1974
Born in Chemnitz, Germany
2012
Sprengel Prize for Visual Arts of the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation
2006
Grant for Young Artists of the Federal State of North Rhine Westphalia
2005
Grant/scholarship of the Jürgen Ponto-Stiftung, Frankfurt
2001
Peter Mertes Stipendium, Bonner Kunstverein
Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Center for Early Education, Los Angeles
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Deji Art Museum, Nanjing
DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-On-Hudson
Kunstverein Reutlingen
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Oketa Collection, Tokyo
Pinault Collection, Paris
Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf
V-A-C Collection, Moscow
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Only Lovers Left (with Margarete Jakschic)
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
2023
The Art Of Surviving November
Galerie Max Hetzler, London
A Table For Two, For One
Travesia Cuatro, Madrid
Coming Home Was As Beautiful As Going Away
KINDL, Berlin
There Must Be a Spanish Word For This Feeling
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (CAC), Malaga
I Don’t Know The Place, But I Know How to Get There
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
2021
New Ballads
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
The Things I Notice Now
Traversía Cuatro, Mexico City
Life Is Short and Days Are Long
Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen
I’ll Try to Be More Romantic
Kunstsammlung Jena
2020
Sensitive Euro Man
König Galerie, Berlin
2019
Live Forever
Blum & Poe, Tokyo
All Year Fears Trapped Inside
JTT, New York
Songs Build Little Rooms In Time
Drag City/ Soccer Club Club, Chicago
2018
One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor
Blum & Poe, Tokyo
Where is the Madness that You Promised Me
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
2017
Frutti di Mare
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
2016
Self-Fiction
Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort
Juckreiz
Philara Collection, Düsseldorf
The World is a Beautiful Place (We’re Not Here for Long)
Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo
My Loneliness Shines
VNH Gallery, Paris
2015
Sentimental Air
BQ, Berlin
2014
Earth to Fuckface
White Cube, Hong Kong
If I Could Only Remember Your Name
Kunsthalle Bremerhaven
The Forest Smelled Like Bananas
CAPRI, Düsseldorf
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn
Grand Optimist
The Eastern Star Gallery, Los Angeles
The Temptation to Exist (May Contain Nuts)
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
A Plan to Follow Summer Around The World
Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry - le Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine
2013
I’m Running Out of World
White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London
Raymond Moody’s Blues
Modern Art Oxford
2012
Your Life is Not for You
Sprengel Museum, Hanover
Lacan’s Haircut
Blum & Poe, Tokyo
Things We Did When We Were Dead
BQ, Berlin
2011
Lonely are the Free
Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin
The Most Beautiful World in the World
White Cube, London
2010
Tropical Depression
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Oehman Collection, Kunstsaele Berlin
I used to be darker, but then I got lighter and then I got dark again
Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo
Hammer Projects: Friedrich Kunath
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
2009
Home wasn’t built in a day
Kunstverein Hannover, Hanover
Hello Walls
BQ, Berlin
7 x 14 '5. Tiel der Austellungsreihe' 7 x 14.
Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
2008
EMOH
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Rising vs. Setting
Aspen Art Museum
2007
Twilight
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Forderpreistrager 2006: Friedrich Kunath
Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster, Aachen
Warum
BQ, Cologne
2006
I have always been here before
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
2005
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
2004
We were the one thing in the galaxy God didn't have his eyes on
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Our Endless Numbered Days
BQ, Cologne
2003
We Are Not As Far West As We Suppose We Are
The Bakery/Anne Gelenk Gallery, Amsterdam
2002
Welcome Home Steve Curry
BQ, Cologne
Mise en Scene: Curieux VI - Friedrich Kunath: When was the First Time You Realised the Next Time Would be the Last Time
Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
2001
Peter Mertes Stipendium (with Thea Djordjadze)
Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
Videos
CHAUSSE 37, Berlin
2000
One Day It Will All Make Sense
The Modern Institute, Glasgow
1998
Why Are My Friends Such Finks
BQ, Cologne
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Au bout de mes rêves
Vanhaerents Art Collection, Tripostal, Lille
DIX AND THE PRESENT
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
das gelbe Licht 6 Uhr nachmittags
Remembering, envisioning, sensing landscape, curated by Christian Malycha
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Beach
Nino Mier Gallery, New York
Borrowed Landscapes
Blum & Poe, Tokyo
Transformations. Works from the Collection of La Mobilière
Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf
2022
Let's Go
Tim van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Stories We Live With: Selection from the Somlói-Spengler Collection
Q Contemporary, Budapest
Abrasive Paradise
Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort
2021
The Emerald Tablet
Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles
Shape of an Image
Woaw Gallery, Hong Kong
Parallel Worlds
Nassima Landau, Tel Aviv
Inaugural Exhibition
König Galerie, Seoul
2020
Enjoy and Take Care!
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
5,471 miles
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
36 Paintings
Harper’s Books, East Hampton
Friend of Ours
Rental Gallery, East Hampton
L.A.
MAKI Collection, Tennoz, Tokyo
2019
Live Forever
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
The Last Waltz (For Leon)
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Selections from the Marciano Collection
Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles
A New Age: Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Die Rückkehr des Pre Bell Man
Museum für Kommunikation, Frankfurt am Main
Golden Hour
MuMo, Paris
Some Trees
Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles,
Reflections
Gana Art, Seoul
2018
This is a Pipe: Realism and the Found Object in Contemporary Art
Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago
Cliché
Almine Rech Gallery, New York
LA Friends Part 1
Rental Gallery, East Hampton
FOUR ROOMS
Blum & Poe, New York
Under the Night Sky
Albertz Benda, New York
2017
Horror Vacui, or The Annihilation of Space
Misako & Rosen, Tokyo
Form and Volume
CFHILL, Stockholm
2016
Mount Analogue
Performance Ski, Aspen
Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Collection: From Shōhaku and Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer
Yokohama Art Museum
Tomorrow is a long time
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp
Group show
M+B, Los Angeles
Juxtapoz x Superflat
Pivot Art + Culture, Seattle, travelled to: Vancouver Art Gallery
Giles
Gagosian, Athens
Human Condition
Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center
L.A. Exuberance: New Gifts by Artists
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
2015
If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?
Hunter East Harlem Gallery, New York
My wife does the dishes, I do the revolution
Kimmerich, Berlin
Oh, of course, you were berry picking
Galerie Drei, Cologne
Second Chances
Aspen Art Museum
2014
FIRE!
Venus Over Manhattan, New York
New Image Painting
Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago
Lone Tree
Marlborough Chelsea, New York
2013
À triple tour: oeuvres de la collection Pinault
Centre des Monuments Nationaux, La Conciergerie, Paris
Set Pieces
Cardi Black Box, Milan
The Hope of Wrecks
Museum of St Albans
More Young Americans
L’Enclos des Bernardins, Hôtel de Miramion, Paris
Transforming the Known: Works from the Bert Kreuk Collection
Gemeente Museum Den Haag, The Hague
2012
Funny
FLAG Art Foundation, New York
Other Voices, Other Rooms
Wentrup Projects, Copenhagen
Schach Matt
Märkisches Museum Witten
The Residue of Memory
Aspen Art Museum
Death Can Dance
Townhouse, Zurich
Stiftung Schloss Dyck, Juechen
Wonderful – Humboldt, Krokodil & Polke, Die Olbricht Collection
me Collectors Room Berlin
You Should’ve Heard Just What I Seen
Riverview School, East Sandwich
2011
Always, Sometimes, Often, Never
Gagosian, Beverly Hills
Midnight Party
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Gesamtkunstwerk
Saatchi Gallery, London
Deserteure
Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck
MärklinWorld
Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort
The Second Strike
3rd Herzliya Biennial of Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
Il Mondo vi Appartiene (The World Belongs to You)
Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Dwelling
Marianne Boesky, New York
Captain Pamphile
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
Human Nature: Contemporary Art from the Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Painting... EXPANDED
Berezdivin Collection - Espacio 1414
MIAC III Away From the Horde
Miami-Dade Public Library System, Miami, USBS-VISITE, Rebenpark, Braunschweig
Watercolour
Tate Britain, London
2010
The Library of Babel / In and Out of Place
Projectspace 176, Zabludowicz Collection, London
Kurt
Seattle Art Museum
Kupferstichkabinett: Between Thought and Action
White Cube, London
Captain Pamphile
Städtische Galerie Waldkraiburg
Country Music
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Also on View
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Larger than Life—Stranger than Fiction
11th Triennale für Kleinplastik, Fellbach
Saw It, Loved It
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
2009
Play
Galeria Monica de Cardenas, Milan
Grin & Bear It: Cruel Humor in Art and Life
Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork
15th Anniversary Inaugural Group Exhibition
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
2008
The Eternal Flame
Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel
Life on Mars: the 55th Carnegie International
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Gravity in Art
Telic Arts Exchange, Los Angeles
Informed by Function
Lehman College Art Gallery, New York
The Leisure Suite
The LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York
Vertrautes Terrain. Aktuelle Kunst in/über Deutschland
ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
Journeys to Nowhere: Selections from the Collection
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
2007
Blind Date
Magazzino d’arte moderna, Rome
Dream and Trauma: Works from the Dakis Joannou Collection
Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Learn to Read
Tate Modern, London
Seb Koberstädt / Friedrich Kunath: Förderpreisträger 2006
Kunst aus Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Verwendungsnachweis
Museum fur Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt am Main
2006
Bonanza
Jack Tilton Gallery, New York
Nothing But Pleasure
BAWAG Foundation, Vienna
Spooky
Het Gebouw, Utrecht
Esquidor en el fondo de un pozo
Fundacción/ Colección Jumex, Mexico City
2005
Avalon Art Association
Revelin Castle, Dubrovnik
Exile: New York Is a Good Hotel
Broadway 1602, New York
Fabriques du Sublime
La Galerie, Centre d’art contemporain, Ville de Noisy-le-Sec
The Gravity in Art
De Appel, Amsterdam
Looking at Words: The Formal Presence of Text In Modern and Contemporary Works On Paper
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
Exile: New York is a good hotel
Broadway 1602, New York
2004
No One Else Can Make Me Feel the Colors That You Bring
Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
Rhinegold: Art from Cologne
Tate Gallery Liverpool
Rings of Saturn
Rockwell Gallery, London
Strawberry Fields
O.P.A. Guadalajara and Galeria CANAIA, Mexico City
2003
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
2002
On the Other Hand You Have Different Fingers
Galerie Gait Nourbakhsch, Berlin
Present
Hammer Sidi, London
Superschloss
Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
2001
Zero Gravity
Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf
1995-2001
BQ, Cologne
2000
Parking Meters, Cologne
Make My Paper Sound
Studiogalerie Kunstverein Braunschweig
1998
Junge Kunst im Zweiten
Staatstheater Braunschweig
Dirty Windows, Berlin
1995
VOXXX-Galerie, Chemnitz
Green Room, San Diego
1994
The Easiest Thing to Grow in a Garden is Tired
Galerie Peters-Barenbrock, Braunschweig
Videos
Publications
Friedrich Kunath: The Art Of Surviving November
Exhibition Poster
2023
€ 15.00
das gelbe Licht 6 Uhr nachmittags
Remembering, envisioning, sensing landscape
Exhibition Poster
2023
€ 15.00
Selected Press
art – Das Kunstmagazin July 2023
Contemporary Art Review March 2020
Ssense November 2016
Artforum December 2015
