In her latest exhibition, *In Search of Lost Light*, Jule Korneffel navigates the delicate boundary between presence and disappearance. Since her emergence in 2018, Korneffel’s work—characterized by the precise application of acrylic and natural pigments—has moved toward an increasing gravitas. Her process is one of calculated intuition; she develops specific palettes for each canvas, focusing on the viscosity of the paint to balance a paradoxical relationship between austerity and lushness.
The current body of work, on view at Spencer Brownstone Gallery through May 2, represents a significant departure from the artist's original intent. Korneffel initially set out to produce a series of blue paintings, but the environmental reality of a winter spent in northeastern Germany intervened. Immersed in the region’s dense fog and the prose of Marcel Proust, she found her palette shifting toward a spectrum of grays. The result is a study of the "end of light"—the specific moment where the sun appears as a pale, suspended orb behind a dusky, atmospheric veil.
These paintings function as records of sensory endurance. Like Claude Monet before her, Korneffel is preoccupied with the ways light defines and dissolves form. Her marks are both crucial and spontaneous, carrying a vulnerability that suggests a deep engagement with the atmospheric conditions of her surroundings. It is an exploration of light not as a static subject, but as a fading resource, captured through a lens of intellectual and emotional restraint.
With reporting from Hyperallergic.
Source · Hyperallergic