Bettina Sellmann (born 1971) is a German artist.
From 1992 to 1997 Sellmann studied and graduated as Meisterschülerin (Master) at Städelschule Frankfurt. In 1999 she was awarded a DAAD grant for New York City, where she lived and worked until 2009. She currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Sellmann also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Hunter College, NYC.
In her paintings Sellmann uses a watercolor-on-canvas technique in "candy colored acrylic tones (bonbonbunte Acryltöne)" and “multi-layers of translucent pigments in pale pinks, powder blues, and acidic yellows and greens“. Works of her have been described as “see-through versions of Old Master paintings ... gone translucent and ethereal“, "particular reverie-inducers“, exploring “the other side of pink“.
Recent paintings deal with kidult and fairy tale "romanticism“ (Cassandra Neyenesch) as well as kawaii imagery and influences of Far Eastern spirituality.
At Wonderloch Kellerland Berlin in 2011 she performed a space clearing, which could be considered either an empty room or "a purely transcendent exhibition“.
She has works in private and public collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which holds her drawing The Saints in This World Are Watching (2003).
Awards
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) - Grant
Skowhegan Summer Residency Program
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
2021 Easymagic123 (with Julia Jansen, poetry reading by Julia Mantel), Kunstverein Offenbach, Germany 2020 Easymagic123 (with Julia Jansen), Baustelle Schaustelle Düsseldorf and Essen, Germany 2019 Glam magic manufactoray (with René Luckhardt), Oberfinanzdirektion, Frankfurt/Main, Germany 2018 Dia-Ikone (with René Luckhardt), Weißfrauen Diakoniekirche, Frankfurt/Main, Germany 2017 Hello Color, Gilla Lörcher I Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany 2016 It's already there, Gilla Lörcher I Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany 2015 US Paintings, Gilla Lörcher I Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany 2015 Spiral, Square and Dickie-Bow, Wolfstädter Galerie, Frankfurt, Germany 2013 To Queen Luise & Young-Wilhelm, Wonderloch Kellerland, Berlin, Germany 2013 Magic Every Day, Gilla Lörcher I Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany 2011 Bettina Sellmann @ Kaisersaal, ISI/Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany 2011 Templeloch Space Clearing, Wonderloch Kellerland, Berlin, Germany 2009 Taina, cosmogeny, make your own paper dragon, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY, USA 2007 Galerie Frank Schlag, Essen, Germany 2006 Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY, USA 2004 Armor & Etiquette, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY, USA 2004 Drawings, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY, USA