Galerie Michael Janssen

Galerie Michael Janssen and Marisa Newman Projects will jointly present works by Susana Wald. 

About the Gallery
Michael Janssen Gallery, founded in 1995 in Cologne constantly reinvents itself, always looking for new international opportunities and bringing fresh artists to unexplored markets. The gallery hosts a pioneering contemporary program featuring European, American, Asian, and lately African Diaspora artists. The initial location in Cologne operated for twelve years and held over eighty exhibitions.

Between 2002 and 2006 Michael Janssen, together with New York-based Leo Koenig Gallery, was running ‘The Happy Lion’ gallery in Chinatown LA. Young LA artists such as Elliott Hundley, and Matt Franks had their first shows. The gallery re-introduced works by mid-career artists doing solo exhibitions with Meg Cranston, Thaddeus Strode, Monique van Genderen, and Erik Parker.

In addition to the long time collaboration with artists such as Christoph Steinmeyer, Meg Cranston and Monique van Genderen, the gallery also strives to constantly introduce younger artists such as Stijn Ank, Jana Cordenier, Yafeng Duan, Gulnur Mukazhanova and Yonamine for the first time in Germany but has also focused on rediscovering older artists such as Lynda Benglis, Gianfranco Baruchello, Lili Dujourie, Pino Pascali and Margret Eicher.”

Between 2012 and 2015 Michael Janssen’s second branch operated at Gillman Barracks in Singapore with exhibitions and hosted public programs such as performances, talks and film screenings.

In 2021 the gallery moved to its new location in Berlin. In the span of the last two years, Michael Janssen Berlin has put an engaging group of artists, weaving together talents from diverse horizons. This artistic journey embraces emerging voices such as Gulnur Mukazhanova, a textile artist from Kazakhstan, who brings intricate cultural narratives to life. It also includes Yafeng Duan, a Chinese painter whose works resonate with the profound essence of Laozi’s Qi.; Alongside are mid-career creators like Louis Cameron, who presents works through the lens of the African American, and Yonamine, infusing the gallery with the creative essence of Angola, Africa. This creative blend enriches the gallery’s narrative with a spectrum of artistic expressions.

About the Presentation
Susana Wald’s feminist perspective on international Surrealism will be the focus of a joint presentation by Galerie Michael Janssen and Marisa Newman Projects. Wald later said that she began her 1980s series Mujeres de (The Wives of), depicting women in the guise of furniture inspired by the professions of their male partners, as a joke. Many of the early women Surrealists became involved with the movement through their personal relationships, and were historically overlooked as the muses of their male counterparts. This was also the case for Wald, whose life partner was the Chilean poet and artist Ludwig Zeller. Mixing humor with bodily transformation, her works provide a key example of the Surrealist imaginary of the female body from a feminist standpoint.