In the studio with Paula Kamps
In the quiet intimacy of her studio in Chicago, Paula Kamps’ paintings unfold like half-remembered visions, suspended between presence and dissolution. Using a wet-on-wet ink technique, she lets colors blend and shapes emerge organically, allowing each work to retain a sense of fluidity and openness. Her studio becomes a space where memory and perception intertwine, where painting is as much about the process as it is about the image left behind.
This latest series, filled with luminous blooms and ghostly silhouettes, feels like a collection of fleeting impressions. Flowers and faces dissolve into pools of pigment, echoing the way memories shift and blur over time. Rather than offering clear narratives, the works invite us into a world of quiet uncertainty, where meaning is felt rather than defined.
To step into Paula Kamps’ studio is to witness a delicate balance — where ink moves like thought, seeping into the canvas, lingering before vanishing. Her paintings hold something just out of reach, like a dream upon waking, familiar yet impossible to grasp entirely.
distemper and oil on canvas
50 × 40 cm
unique
distemper and oil on canvas
50 × 40 cm
unique
distemper and oil on canvas
50 × 40 cm
unique
distemper and oil on canvas
50 × 40 cm
unique
distemper and oil on canvas
50 × 40 cm
unique
Paula Kamps (born in 1990, Germany) lives and works in Chicago. Kamps graduated as a Meisterschülerin from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2016, having studied under Tomma Abts and Elizabeth Peyton.
The artist has been the subject of solo exhibitions at M. LeBlanc, Chicago (2024 & 2021); eastcontemporary, Milan (2022); Mou Project, Hong Kong (2022); Sans titre, Paris (2021); Kunstverein Heppenheim (2019), Spazio Nea, Naples (2018) as well as Kunsthaus Mettmann (2014).
Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (2024); Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck (2024); TheMerode, Brussels (2024); The Arts Club of Chicago (2024); Secci Gallery, Florence (2024); The Green Gallery, Milkwaukee (2024); Galería Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid (2023); Good Weather, North Little Rock (2023); M.LeBlanc, Chicago (2022); David Zwirner’s Platform (online) (2022); Sans titre, Paris (2022); NÉVÉ, Los Angeles (2022); LVH, London (2021); Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome (2021); SLICE, Ufer Studios, Berlin (2020); Orchard32, New York (2019); Carbon12, Dubai (2018) and at Kunstverein Reutlingen (2018).
She regularly publishes her poetry in form of artist’s books and was recently an artist-in-residence at Ox-Bow, MI after having attended residences in NYC (LESP, 2016), Italy (Viaggio in Sicilia VI, 2014-15) and France (Coco Collection, 2011). Later this spring, the artist will be part of the residency program at The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Carraig-na-gCat.