Exhibition // Fränze Hoppe’s Pin Up at Figge von Rosen

Fränze Hoppe – “Pin-up No.2”, from the series “Pin-up Calender”, 2013. Pencil and crayon on paper, 50 x 80 cm. Photo: Simon Vogel

Fränze Hoppe’s thin, delicate looking pencil drawings on paper are encased in light colour-matched frames for the exhibition at Figge von Rosen Galerie. The show Pin Up presents 12 new drawings by the German artist.

Hoppe’s series Pin-up Calender is inspired by the popularity of Pin-Up girls in the widely read GDR publication Das Magazin. In her twist on these detachable, usually erotic magazine spreads of beautiful women, Hoppe has drawn a selection of their depicted poses into confoundingly soft, subtle geometric contexts. Removing the Pin-Up girls from the typical surroundings, she has radically changed the meaning of their poses and gestures. Rather than the usual air destined for voyeurs, the figures take on an uncannily still, nonchalant and unassuming appearance in this new environment.

Having exhibited previously at Figge von Rosen’s Cologne gallery space in 2010, this is Hoppe’s first solo exhibition in Berlin. The show opened last Friday at the gallery on Potsdamer Strasse and will run until November 16th.

Fränze Hoppe – “Pin-up No. 1”, from the series “Pin-up Calender”, 2013. Pencil and crayon on paper, 50 x 80 cm. Photo: Simon Vogel