Letters, words, sentences: In contemporary painting, they not only carry literal meaning but can also become independent pictorial motifs. The Kunsthalle Emden is dedicating a new exhibition to this tension: LARGE LETTERS, BRIGHT COLORS (August 15, 2026 – February 28, 2027) brings together around twenty works by contemporary artists and explores how writing functions within the image: What does it add to the work, how is it artistically processed? Can writing communicate something to us that cannot be expressed in words alone?
Text in images has been a subject of art historical interest since at least the classical modern period. The Dada movement provided groundbreaking impetus in this regard; even in later movements such as Neo-Expressionism and the Neue Wilde (New Wild Ones) – both key areas of focus for the Kunsthalle Emden – text becomes an essential component of the image. In the assembled works, it appears in a variety of forms: as a quotation, as a supplementary element, or as the primary motif. The artistic form is always in productive tension with the literal, linguistic, or symbolic content. The manipulation and defamiliarization of text becomes an artistic choice.
For more information, click here.https://kunsthalle-emden.de/ausstellungen/grosse-buchstaben-grelle-farben
