Biography

“Color is a power which directly influences the soul.”
Wassily Kandinsky
Short Biography
The love of art and the need to express myself through colours and compositions have always accompanied me. Photographs, nature drawings, nude and portrait painting developed while training as a textile and design engineer have helped me develop a handwriting that is as precise artistically as it is sound on an artisanal level. Like many artists of the 20th and 21st century, I have turned from figurative painting first to collage and then to abstraction.
I reduce to the essential: shapes and the substance of colours. My means of expression are surface structures and textures, strong contrasts, at times expressive colour choices and play with colour surfaces that partly conceal, partly reveal what lies beneath. In order for the complexity and optical depth of the paintings to become perceptible, parts of the canvas remain open. To apply layers, I use paintbrushes and palette knives, oil crayons, pencil and pigments.
Travelling is my source of inspiration: I am guided by memories of a place’s colours, its nature, particular patterns of light and shadow. My artistic practice is a painted response to the disrespect of the environment and the fast pace of the increasingly digitalized world; an expression of my desire that we develop respect for the surrounding world and that we recognize the urgency of a sustainable protection of nature. The paintings’ titles refer to those sources of inspiration, subject areas and concerns. More importantly, though, my colour worlds are meant to invite viewers to go on a sensuous journey of discovery and to inspire thoughts and ideas of their own.
Sonja Kalb, 2021
Current & Upcoming
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Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
25 years VdDK
Opening, 14 March, 6 - 10 pm
Speeches from 19:30
15 March - 25 May 2025
This exhibition is not a retrospective of 181 years of the association's history, but a survey of the current work of VdDK members. It shows their current work and looks ahead to future artistic endeavours. Positions from all artistic genres are presented: Painting, graphic art, sculpture, photography and media art.
Opening hours
Tue-Sun 11am-6pm
Public holidays 11am-6pm
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Grabbeplatz 4
40211 Düsseldorf
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Florence
Laurence Armstrong, William Braemer, Brett Cimino, Antonio Díaz Gracia, Jordan Donnelly, David Gildersleeve,
David Harry, Sonja Kalb, Sara Palleria, Etienne Pierart, Marco Aurèlio Rey, Linda Stella, Karl Stengel, Wayne Stoner
Opening on 15 April at 18:00h
- April - 9. May 2025
Palazzo Rosselli del Turco
Via dei Serragli 17
Florence
IT
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SPRING 25
Bardula, Joseph Beuys, Robbert de Goede, Bernd C. Dietrich, Rupprecht Geiger, Kurt Grimm, Sonja Kalb, Markus Lüpertz, Yoshiyuki Miura, Sascha Nordmeyer, Pablo Picasso, Otto Piene, Gerhard Richter, Bernd Schwarzer, Reiner Seliger, Günther Uecker, Victor Vasarely, Andy Warhol
March 21, 2025 - April 19, 2025
Spring Awakening at the Kellermann Gallery
Exhibition opening: Friday, 21 March from 11 am
We look forward to your visit.
Opening hours:
Tue - Fri 11-13 and 15-18:30, Sat 11-16
Galerie Kellermann
Cheruskerstr. 105
40545 Düsseldorf
DE
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HAPPY NEW YEAR
We cordially invite you to our New Year's exhibition with new works and highlights by
Joseph Beuys, Robbert de Goede, Bernd C. Dietrich, Irina and Marina Fabrizius, Sonja Kalb, Fabian Pfleger, Christoph Pöggeler, Reiner Seliger
10 - 31 January 2025
Opening: Friday, 10 January, 5 - 7 pm
Galerie Kellermann
Cheruskerstr. 105
40545 Düsseldorf