Donata Benker

  • * 1982 Nuremberg, Germany
  • In her works, artist Donata Benker brings together various elements from the classical genres of art history. Landscape painting and architectural representation converge within the realm of abstract painting. Against vibrant, multifaceted backgrounds composed of layered gradients or meticulously constructed planes, architectural constructs appear to float. The viewer is imbued with a sense of familiarity and comfort, even though these places are neither known nor real. There is an almost uncanny déjà vu, as if one recognizes these enchanted spaces from somewhere in memory. The depicted spaces and structures have no tangible connection to reality; they hover, shift, and merge with the chromatic backdrop. Yet, the houses, tents, or gardens, presented through their perspective and architectural design, evoke a sense of familiarity. Benker creates a synthesis of exterior and interior spaces that seem to interlace and dissolve into one another. What remains is a moment suspended in time. Donata Benker crafts these seemingly illusory spaces as open narrative realms. Initially, the viewer is offered a sense of refuge, an idealized place where one might momentarily lose themselves in a comforting void, if only for a fleeting moment. Benker’s constructs invite personal contemplation. Though these fantastical locations are neither tangible nor known, they can be entered mentally, offering inspiration within their ostensibly empty yet profoundly alive spaces.

1982
Born in Nuremberg

2002-06
Studies of painting and art education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg with Prof. Peter Angermann

2006-07
Fellowship for studies of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki/ Finland

2007-09
Studies of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg

2009
Masterstudent of Prof. Thomas Hartmann

Seit 2009
Self-employed artist



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Donata Benker - Biographie
Donata Benker - Biography

Works

Teehaus - Donata Benker
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Everything - Donata Benker
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Exhibitions

ARTventswochen 2024 - Alain Clément, Arquus, Benjamin Katz, Bernd Schwarting, Bernd Schwarzer, Bernd Zimmer, Cony Theis, Dieter Roth, Dietrich Klinge, Donata Benker, Elvira Bach, Erich Heckel, Georg Baselitz, Georges Braque, Harry Meyer, Helge Leiberg, Herbert Maier, Hoon Kwak, Hyeon-Uk Cha, Imi Knoebel, Ja Hyun Koo, Jochen Pankrath, Johanna Schelle, Jong Taek Woo, Karl Hagedorn, Marc Chagall, Markus Lüpertz, Max Ackermann, Ottmar Hörl, Otto Dix, Peter Angermann, Peter Gaymann, Peter Hermann, Ralf Klement, Roger Libesch, Rubica von Streng, Siiri Spronken, Sonja Edle von Hoeßle, Tamara Suhr, Thomas Junghans, Udo Kaller, Wolfgang G. Bühler, Wolfgang Zelmer
Everything

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Bode – Passion für Kunst

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