Laura Bruce: Pearls and Hooks

The visual worlds of Laura Bruce (born 1959 in East Orange, NJ, USA), which are as impressive as they are enigmatic, emerge at the fertile intersection of figuration and abstraction.

Cowgirl Blues, 2019

Large-format colored-pencil drawings, glazed ink paintings, and color-glazed ceramics characterize the extensive solo exhibition by the Berlin-based artist.

Drawing on countless “micro-stories”—quickly executed, mostly small-format drawings and ink sketches—the artist has, over the course of some 30 years, developed an extensive body of large-format drawings and paintings. These “micro-stories” serve as a complex reservoir of figures, motifs, and visual reminiscences for numerous series of drawings in which both the fragmented human body and symbol systems rich in meaning play a central role. Laura Bruce’s work is characterized by the art of combination—whether it be the combination of forms, body fragments, and arabesques in individual sheets, or the large-scale combination of multi-part works in clusters and tableaux. Added to this is a recurring dialogue with art history, as seen, for example, in the comprehensive drawing series *Perpetual*, 2017, in which the artist engages intensively with Francisco de Goya’s *Los Caprichos*, a series of socially critical aquatint etchings published in 1799.

Thus, against the backdrop of a resonant space of memory—both subjective and cultural—visual narratives emerge that rarely culminate in a concrete story, but rather form fields rich in associations of pictorial analogies and correspondences.

Runtime: Sat, 19/09/2026 to Sun, 03/01/2027

Takes place here:

• Zitadelle Spandau