FAIRY TALE PAINTINGS

Okka-Esther Hungerbühler

16 May / 27 June 2026

Fairy Tale Paintings are works that engage with (to me) familiar fairy tales. In painterly and sketchy manner, I have worked with sequences from fairy tales that have stayed with me. Often, these are existential narrative moments. With an understated brutality, they usher in a new phase of life, such as Snow White’s death or the Star Talers’ last shirt. My primary focus here is on the image in my mind, which has persisted for years.

The exhibition opens with Connection Paintings: fabric pieces that link two canvases with cable-like, hand-sewn, golden fabric strips. These connections extend across the entire space. This guides viewers to the paintings at the rear of the gallery, requiring them to navigate through a kind of golden tangle to enter the second section of the exhibition.

— Okka-Esther Hungerbühler

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Fairy Tale Paintings er værker, der tager udgangspunkt i (for mig) kendte eventyr. I en malerisk og skitseagtig stil har jeg arbejdet med scener fra eventyr, der har sat sig fast i min bevidsthed. Ofte drejer det sig om eksistentielle narrative øjeblikke. Med en underspillet brutalitet indleder de en ny livsfase, som f.eks. Snehvides død eller den sidste skjorte i Stjernedalerne. Mit primære fokus her er på det indre billede, som jeg har bevaret i årevis.

Udstillingen åbner med “Connection Paintings”: stofstykker, der forbinder to lærreder med kabelagtige, håndsyede, gyldne strimler. Disse strækker sig på tværs af hele rummet. Dette leder beskuerne hen mod malerierne bagerst i galleriet og kræver, at de bevæger sig gennem en slags gyldne knuder for at komme ind i udstillingens anden del.

— Okka-Esther Hungerbühler