Sonja Kalb

Biography

“A painting should resonate and be imbued with an inner glow.”

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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Sonja Kalb: Traumland
8–18 September 2022

Opening on Thursday, 8 September 2022, 18:30
With an introduction by Frank Schablewski
Finissage on Sunday, 18. September 2022, 15:30
With a poetic finale by Joachim Poet Harms

Ross31
Roßstraße 31
40476 Düsseldorf
DE

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OpenArtCode Tokyo
9. September – 17. September 2022

Opening on 9 September 2022

Metropolitan Art Museum
8-36 Uenokoen,Taito City
Tokyo 110-0007
JP

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FORGOTTEN REALITIES
Agnes Toth, Alexandra Westermark, Arjeta Mala, Belinha Silva, Cathy Ghyoot, Conie Senac, Dan Harnett, Darko Lesjak, Garrick Arnold, Jonathan Le Roux, Karen Chappelow, Kari Veastad, Kathrin Broden, Mara Torres León, Michael Mihangel, Miu Shinoda, Nicola Heim, Paulie X, Sandrine Langlade, Sonja Kalb, Susana Casillas, Veronica Villareal Sada
27. Mai 2022 – 27. Juni 2022

Vernissage Freitag, 27. Mai 2022, 18:00
Monat Gallery

Calle de Estudios 7
28012 Madrid
SP

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Abstract Landscape
Bernd C. Dietrich, Stephi Friedrich , Angela Glajcar, Sonja Kalb, Jérémy Lenoir, Alberto Saka, Sascha Nordmeyer, Reiner Seliger, David Speybrouk
4. March 2022 – 10. April 2022

Opening on Friday, 4 March 202, 18:00

Galerie Kellermann
Heinrich-Heine-Allee 12
40212 Düsseldorf
DE

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OpenArtCode Paris
15–20 February 2022

Opening on 15 Februar 2022

Grand Palais Ephémère
Avenue Pierre Loti
Champ-de-Mars
75007 Paris
FR

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Transparenz. Das kleine Format
7 December 2021 – 18 January 2022

Künstlerverein Malkasten
Jacobistraße 6a
40211 Düsseldorf
DE

Works

Key Works

Polyptychs

Editions

Curriculum Vitae

Awards

2022	Voices of Tomorrow Art Award
2020	WAA Woman Art Award, Musa International Art Space in cooperation with UNESCO
2019	Special Mention for Excellence, London Art Biennial
2018	Best Abstract Artwork, Biennial Chianciano

Selected Exhibitions

2022	Sonja Kalb: Traumland, Ross31, Düsseldorf, DE
2021	We Contemporary Art Show, Raum Salmgasse, Vienna, AT
2020	Winterausstellung, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, DE
2020	Art of Remediation, Haegeumgang Theme Museum, Geoje, KR
2020	Woman's Essence, Palazzo Velli, Rome, IT
2020	Sommer 20 – 20 Künstler, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, DE
2020	Sonja Kalb, Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, DE
2019	We Contemporary Art Show, Topič Salon, Prague, CZ
2019	Künstler der Galerie, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2019	Kunstverein Duisburg zu Gast im Kunstverein Landshut, Kunstverein Landshut, Landshut, DE
2019	London Art Biennial, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London, UK
2019	Strukturen, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, DE
2018	International Biennial of Flanders, Site Oud Sint-Jan Museum, Bruges, BE
2018	Chianciano Biennial, Gagliardi Gallery, London, UK
2018	Expo Autumn, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2018	Sonja Kalb, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2018	Chianciano Biennial, Museo d'Arte di Chianciano, Chianciano Terme, IT
2017	Hivernale, Galerie Thuillier, Paris, FR
2017	Das kleine Format – Bilder, die wir leben, Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf, DE
2017	Sonja Kalb: Abstrakte Malerei, Museum Kaiserswerth, Düsseldorf, DE
2017	Sonja Kalb, Colorida Art Gallery, Lisbon, PT
2017	Rainforest, Kunstverein Duisburg, Duisburg, DE
2016	Sonja Kalb: Poesie der Farben, Galerie Kellermann im Ballhaus im Nordpark, Düsseldorf, DE
2016	White Christmas, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, DE
2016	Encounters – Begegnungen, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2015	Abstract Dreams, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, DE
2015	Sonja Kalb: Emotion, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2015	Color of Life, Galería Art Cuestion, Ourense, ES
2015	20 Jahre Galerie Heidefeld, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2014	ganz frei 3, Kunstverein Duisburg, Duisburg, DE
2013	Art for Peace for a better World, National Art Gallery of Izmir, Izmir, TR
2013	Full House, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Düsseldorf, DE
2012	Fulfilment, Gallery M-Mauersberger, Vienna, AT
2012	Internationale Biennial Hamburg, Kunststätte am Michel, Hamburg, DE
2012	Sonja Kalb: Abstraktionen, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2012	21st Century Art and Artists, Gallery M-Mauersberger, Vienna, AT
2011	Woman Art, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2011	FebruArt, BBK Düsseldorf, Kunstforum, Düsseldorf, DE
2010	Künstler der Galerie, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2010	Untitled, Galerie Anne Malchers, Bergisch Gladbach, DE
2009	Latin Kunst, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE
2009	Sonja Kalb, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, Krefeld, DE

Selected Fairs

2021	art3f. Salon international d'art contemporain, Brussels Expo, Brussels, BE
2018	art KARLSRUHE, Messe Karlsruhe, Rheinstetten, DE
2017	Montreux Art Gallery, Montreux Music & Convention Centre, Montreux, FR
2015	25. Kunstmesse, Frauenmuseum, Bonn, DE
2014	1st International Contemporary Art Fair Iran, Qasr Garden Museum, Tehran, IR
2013	23. Kunstmesse, Frauenmuseum, Bonn, DE
2012	Affordable Art Fair, La Pelanda, Rome, IT
2012	Art Beijing, Fangheng International Center, Beijing, CN
2011	Lineart 30, Flanders Expo, Ghent, BE

Selected Publications

Marta Puig, editor, Interview with Sonja Kalb, Contemporary Art Curator, 2022
Musa International Art Space, editor, We Contemporary, Serradifalco Editore, 2021
John Austin, Unconstrained Paintings by Sonja Kalb, in Artery, 19 November 2020
Paul Zimmerman, Spotlight: Sonja Kalb, in Artery, 23 September 2020
Paolo Batoni, editor, Premio Combat 2020 Prize, Sillabe, 2020
Musa International Art Space, editor, Woman’s Essence UNESCO Edition, Serradifalco Editore, 2020
Paolo Batoni, editor, Premio Combat 2019 Prize, Sillabe, 2019
Matthias Kellermann, editor, Sonja Kalb, Galerie Kellermann, 2019
Timothy Warrington, Sonja Kalb. Critical Analysis, International Confederation Art Critics, 2019
Musa International Art Space, editor, We Contemporary, Serradifalco Editore, 2019
Egon Heidefeld, editor, Sonja Kalb. Emotion, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, 2015
Olga Antoniadou, editor, International Contemporary Artists Volume V, ICA Publishing, 2012
Egon Heidefeld, editor, Sonja Kalb. Abstraktionen, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, 2012
Olga Antoniadou, editor, International Contemporary Artists Volume IV, ICA Publishing, 2012
Egon Heidefeld, editor, Sonja Kalb, Galerie Heidefeld & Partner, 2009

Selected Collections

Yukyung Art Museum, Haegeumgang Theme Museum, Geoje, KR
Art Collection, Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, DE