Big Ketchup

Introduction

Bold eye-catchers: the images of American artist Freddy Reitz, who has made her home in Germany, are impressive messages of freedom dressed up in ravishing, colorful hues.


The US flag, completely new: Reitz transforms it into a kaleidoscope, hinting at the “melting pot” idea at the heart of the national symbol. In the background, a collage of newspaper and postcard clippings gives the stars and stripes painted over them a completely new note.


Reitz calls her understanding of art “correspondent art.” She aims to engender a communicative bond between object and viewer. She layers collages and colors over one another until she has found the magical balance between boldness and subversion that characterizes her work.


The native Texan, who has long lived and worked in the German capital, had her breakthrough with her Berlin Series, which was exhibited in the Dresdner Bank on Pariser Platz on the occasion of the reopening of the Brandenburg Gate in 2002.


After 2002 Reitz continued to work on this series, which consists of large-format, red-background diptychs joined by small Brandenburg Gates, deeply and optimistically broaching the issue of the fusion of East and West. Bill Clinton and Sharon Stone are but a few of Reitz’s more famous fans and collectors.


LUMAS is delighted to present one Berlin work from 2009 in addition to two further works from the series Crazy Ketchup, which deals thematically with the symbolic American flag. In these Reitz alienates brand labels in great Factory style. “You are leaving the American sector,” the viewer is informed, while in the foreground the Crazy Ketchup bottle, no longer able to control itself, explodes in an array of colors. Pop art at its best.

Bio

1998	First Vernissage
	Lives and works in Berlin

Awards

2010	American Art Awards, Category Pop Art, 3rd. place
	American Art Awards, Category Political Commentary, 3rd. place

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2010	Keszler Gallery, New York, USA
	„stilwerk“, Hamburg, Germany
2009	Roth & Partners Fine Art, Miami, USA
2008	Galerie Münchow, Zurich, Switzerland
2005	Parexel, Boston, USA / Berlin, Germany
2004	Hotel Adlon , Berlin, Germany
	Galerie Anne Moerchen, Hamburg, Germany
	Berliner Bank, Berlin, Germany
2002

Group Exhibitions

2004	Galery Schriever, Köln, Germany
	Galery Anne Moerchen, Hamburg, Germany
2003	Galery Anne Moerchen, Hamburg, Germany
2001	Palais am Bundesrat, Berlin, Germany
2000	UNICEF, Berlin, Germany