Foyer Exhibition: Anja Herzog

Sometimes you sense that something is about to change before it happens. That the world as we know it is on the edge. In the wall painting that Anja Herzog develops for the round wall in the foyer, such premonitions condense into a visually powerful vision. The starting point is her small-format painting MYS UNIVERSE from 2022, a portrait of a multi-layered figure between symbol and disturbance. She wears a sash, dress and wreath of flowers like a beauty queen – and yet there is something wrong with this picture. The skin shimmers an unhealthy blue, the body appears scrawny, almost bony. In one hand is a bouquet of flowers interspersed with snakes, in the other a casually held firearm. A figure as if from another world – strange, unsettling, yet full of presence and determination.

This figure is not a heroine in the classic sense, but an ambassador – for values that are quietly disappearing. Anja Herzog lets her speak to us about a possible future that seems dystopian if we continue to follow social change so blindly. Her mural is a visual memorial and at the same time raises questions: Where are we heading as a society if we repress outsiders?

“MYS” stands not only for the title, but also for the attitude of the figure. As a gender-neutral form, “MYS” eludes the binary order, plays with identity and opens up spaces beyond the familiar. It is part of a common thread that runs through Anja Herzog's entire oeuvre: Outsiders, ‘friendly monsters’, hybrid creatures and silent rebels populate her painterly, sculptural and installation works. Herzog's works are surreal experimental arrangements. The artist scrutinises norms and puts her finger on social pressure points: What is gender? What is family? And who decides what is normal?

We are currently experiencing a time of shifting, of tipping. Certainties are dissolving, new possibilities are opening up - both positive and negative. In the midst of this upheaval, Anja Herzog's art is a poetic compass. She shows us how things could end – and what might still be salvageable.

Anja Herzog, alias Radula, born in 1992, studied fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts (HfBK) Dresden and has been active as a freelance artist and organizer of art projects in rural areas since her diploma in 2017. The art residency “Kollission der Künste” in Saxony, which she initiated and has been managing annually since 2020, deserves a special mention. She has been a member of the Graz art collective ROTER KEIL since 2022.