Sophie Esslinger’s (* 1996) pictorial spaces emerge in the tension between opposites (inside and outside, body and cosmos) that remain in flux. Her works depict less an external world than condensations of subjective experience, where perception and projection are intertwined. Drawing remains a key element: lines, marks, and recurring motifs structure open spaces between abstraction and figuration. Perception, memory, and imagination overlap without producing a fixed reading. Recurring elements such as droplet shapes or jalousie-like structures function as fluid signs, simultaneously guiding seeing, concealing, and revealing. Painting thus becomes a process in which thought manifests in the very act of making. Photo: Juliette De Monicault.

»Jalousie« at Wohnung Lauxtermann

CV

EDUCATION

Meisterschülerin Prof. Thomas Scheibitz (2025)

Diplom Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Prof. Thomas Scheibitz (20212025)

University Of Applied Arts Vienna Prof. Jan Svenungsson (20172021)

University Of Vienna, Comparative Literature (20142017)

 

EXHIBITIONS (selected)
2026

Jalousie, Wohnung Lauxtermann, Galerie 3AP, Düsseldorf (Project)

prismatic room, Kunstverein Heppenheim (S)

Der Sturm ist aus Luft, Schau Fenster Berlin (GS)

2025

novelle, fiebach, minninger, Cologne (S)

TOX INDIGO, CFA Berlin, Berlin (S)

psalms, drops and arrows, Gopea Ausstellungsraum, Burg Bentheim (Duo)

2024

glas körper, Baustelle Schaustelle, Düsseldorf (S)

ein fleck sonne, Vienna Collector’s Club, Vienna (S)

Vienna Contemporary, Vienna (S)

JOSEFF_ROT HAT EIN BOOT, JVDW Gallery, Düsseldorf (GS)

DIE GROSSE, Kunstausstellung NRW Forum, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf (GS)

galathea, Galerie Norbert Arns, Cologne (S)

Seven Single Works, Galerie Norbert Arns, Cologne (GS)

2023

Art Cologne New Positions, with Galerie Ernst Hilger, Art Cologne, Cologne (GS)

Durch den Spiegel, Eichenmüllerhaus Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst e.V., Lemgo (GS)

Paroli, DOD, Cologne

Winterausstellung Verein Düsseldorf-Palermo, Haus der Kunst, Palermo, Italy (GS)

2022

Der Bogen im Auge, KIT Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf (GS)

Kühle Sterne, Galerie Hilger Ballgasse, Vienna (S)

Gallery Statement with Galerie Hilger Next, Parallel Vienna, Vienna (S)

Steinwerk-Lithographie Kalender 2023, Steinwerk Edition, Leipzig (GS)

2021

Unter Stoffen, Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna (GS)

Artists As Independent Publishers, Weserburg Museum, Bremen (GS)

Shortlist Bank Austria Kunstpreis Kärnten 2021, Kunstverein Kärnten, Vienna (GS)

GRANTS

Shortlist Bank Austria Kunstpreis Kärnten (2021)