ABOUT
Monika Gerber was born in Emmendingen, Germany in the Black Forest area and graduated 1983 after 12 Semester study with Karl Fred Dahmen and Friedrich Scheuer from the Academy of Arts in Munich.
After living in Munich for 10 years Monika moved to Santa Cruz, California in 1987.
There -in Silicon Valley-she showed her work in various tech companies and also in various galleries in CA and the US.
1993 she moved to Los Angeles living and producing artworks in a store front/loft on Venice boulevard . LA County museum / Art Rental gallery represented and showed her work besides several art consultants.
Susanne Vielmetter curated a Solo show of Monika Gerber at the German Consulate.
To support her art and for additional income Monika worked as a Motorcycle messenger in Los Angeles from 1993-97 .
1997 Sony hired her to work as a Scenic Artist for Sony pictures, but after one year she was hired by Mural makers and shortly after by Disney.
Through her work with Disney Monika lived and worked in Asia for more than 9 years.
In 2017 she retired from Disney to focus all efforts onto her own painting.
Besides ART -traveling to many places exploring the World by herself and studying numerous languages has been a lifelong passion for Monika.
PLEASE REFER TO RESUME SECTION FOR DETAILS
"My paintings are intuitively derived compositions integrated with structural concerns, contrasting control and spontaneity.
Painting is a sensuous experience to me, one that makes me try different kinds of materials and instruments-rollers, air brush, spatulas and templates, stencils-to achieve a richness of color and texture. I obtain dramatic gesture by opposing severe geometric elements and color schemes.
The quickness of color gestures is another one of my subjects and I'm influenced by my study of Japanese calligraphy and intimate knowledge of various Asian cultures and visual sensibilities after living there for many years.
I'm also inspired by my travels and exploration of many different cultures in the world. This makes me experiment with different cultural color and texture schemes ." MG
About Monika Gerber’s Artworks
By Franziska Straubinger — Art Historian
At the beginning of the 1980’s, art was craving paintings. After the age of happenings, minimal art and concept art, a focus on more „traditional“ techniques such as painting and sculpture followed. This period is also distinguished by a return to figurative art. Spontaneity and subjectivity reigned the picture surfaces, a certain colorfulness was the icing on the cake. Neo-expressionism had become well-established and the „Neue Wilde“spread this new style in the German-speaking area.
This is precisely what one can observe within Monika’s early works at the beginning of the 1980’s: expressive, intuitive gestures set different objects from the artist’s surroundings in motion – motorcycles and XY , to name a few: they glisten in different colors and are full of verve. Monika also uses her precise and quick brush strokes to portray athletic activities on her canvases in order to skillfully capture their dynamics.
With time, however, these depicted snapshots become more and more abstract, making the objects blurry. What remains is the dynamic gesture of her work and above all, color. Monika’s large-scale paintings from the mid 90’s depict color landscapes. The viewer is offered exciting and shifting color surfaces which the artist has applied using different tools, including paintbrushes, rolls, and palette knives. These color tools give the beholder exciting and moving colored surfaces where specific color worlds are brought to life and indeed invite the beholder in turn to take a stroll within.
Monika Gerber, like her works, is always in motion and travels the world extensively. This urge to travel translates into her works: constantly inspired by her surroundings, Monika absorbs them and captures her emotions and experiences using color on her canvases. However, Monika is not only struck by visual colors, she also has a keen interest in structures, such as rocks, lichen, wood and patina. Monika records these in her photographic journal in order to transpose them onto her canvas once she is home in LA again.
Within her work, Monika uses different color application methods to obtain different types of structures within the colorfulness and then dedicates herself entirely to this fascinating dialogue. Deeply influenced by her long stay in Asia, Eastern characters – especially Japanese kanji – are incorporated into her paintings thus emphasizing the subjective component of her works, much like a condensed diary entry, bubbling over with impressions and emotions. There is, however, a deeper meaning to it: these intricate characters are never chosen on a whim and their meaning becomes clear to the beholder within their aesthetic. These writings also represent a kind of counterpart to Monika’s usual expressive work method. This sense of calm directly permeates Monika’s most recent works: for the past years, she’s been honing her calligraphy skills so that she can broadly incorporate these techniques in her new paintings.
Monika immerses herself into her surroundings during her travels, getting to know the country and its people and then she shares her experiences with the beholder of her works. The latter in turn, will embark on their own personal journey through Monika’s wild color landscapes filled with luscious sensitivity.