Johanna Schelle

  • At the heart of Johanna Schelle’s sculptural work is the human figure – not as a portrait of a particular individual, but as a presence captured in a fleeting moment. Her figures appear as though they have been momentarily removed from the continuous flow of everyday life: a slight shift of weight, a casual stance, a moment of pause, or an almost imperceptible movement. It is precisely these unspectacular transitional moments that lend her sculptures their distinctive presence.Schelle draws her inspiration from her immediate surroundings. Encounters and observations from everyday life may become the starting point for a figure, without the person depicted ever becoming the actual subject of the work. Rather, the artist is interested in the atmosphere surrounding a person – their posture, body language, and the mood of a particular moment. In this way, something universal and familiar emerges from the individual.Schelle initially trained as a wood sculptor before studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and her work reveals a pronounced sensitivity to material. Her preferred medium is wood, although she also works with scagliola. Her figures emerge through a process of reduction. Anatomical detail recedes, while posture, silhouette, and volume gain in significance. Traces of the sculpting process remain visible on the surface, preserving something of the work’s creation within the finished sculpture.Her use of colour follows the same principle. Rather than completely concealing the material, colour is often applied in translucent washes or in several layers, some of which are subsequently removed again. Wood, the traces of carving, and colour thus enter into a subtle dialogue. The surface appears at once self-contained and vulnerable, corporeal and transparent.A distinctive characteristic of Schelle’s figures is their particular relationship between stillness and movement. They do not pose. Instead, they seem to have been arrested in the midst of a movement. Yet this moment of suspension takes nothing away from their vitality – quite the opposite. Precisely because the gesture remains unexplained and no specific narrative is imposed upon the scene, space is created for the viewer’s own perception and interpretation.Johanna Schelle’s sculptures thus become observations on the nature of being human: on presence and restraint, proximity and distance, and on those small, often overlooked moments in which personality may reveal itself more immediately than in any consciously assumed pose.

Biography

1984

born in Berchtesgaden

2006-2009

vocational training as a wood sculptor at the Vocational Training Center Munich

2008

2nd prize of the Danner Foundation

2011

young art in Bavaria

art calendar of the LfA Förderbank Bayern

scholarship of the Hans-Rudolf-Foundation

2012-2013

semester abroad in Madrid, Facultad de Bellas Artes

2009-2017

studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich

2017

degree art award of Kunstverein Rosenheim

2019-2022

Bavarian studio support program exhibition

2017

24th Aichach art award art topical

annual exhibition of the Kunstverein Rosenheim

open studios urban studio house Baumstraße

diploma exhibition at ADBK München

2018

IMPACT Kunst- und Gewerbeverein Regensburg

annual exhibition of art and culture at Hohenaschau

open studios urban studio house Baumstraße

2019

Munich master class

art forum of the Munich bank

Domagk studio days 2019

urban studio house at Domagkpark

2021

Domagk studio days 2021

urban studio house at Domagkpark

Heimatministerium, Nuremberg (in cooperation with Bode Galerie)

2022

collectibles Bode Galerie, Nuremberg

season start and art weekend, Bode Galerie, Nuremberg

collectibles 2022, Bode Galerie, Nuremberg

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Works

Körper#311 (Vater mit Kind) - Johanna Schelle
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Körper#312 - Johanna Schelle
  • Körper#312
  • 2020
  • limewood coloured
  • Height including plinth: 44 cm, width: 15 cm, depth: 12 cm
  • Unikatserie #312 Ex. 1/2
  • €2,600 (incl. VAT)
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Körper#311 / Körper#309 (Familie) - Johanna Schelle
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Körper#297 - Johanna Schelle
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Körper#317 - Johanna Schelle
  • Körper#317
  • 2022
  • limewood coloured
  • Height including plinth: 66.5 cm, width: 13.5 cm, depth: 12 cm
  • Unikatserie #317 Ex. 1/4
  • €3,550 (incl. VAT)
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Körper#308 - Johanna Schelle
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Körper#307 - Johanna Schelle
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Körper#319 (Vater mit Kind) - Johanna Schelle
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Körper#310 - Johanna Schelle
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Körper#311 (Vater und Kind) - Johanna Schelle
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Exhibitions

ARTventswochen 2025 - Alain Clément, Bernd Schwarzer, Dieter Roth, Dietrich Klinge, Donata Benker, Elvira Bach, Harry Meyer, Helge Leiberg, Herbert Maier, Hyeon-Uk Cha, Imi Knoebel, Jochen Pankrath, Johanna Schelle, Jong Taek Woo, Karl Hagedorn, Max Ackermann, Max Beckmann, Peter Hermann, Philipp-Emanuel Eyrich, Robert Lebeck, Roger Libesch, Rubica von Streng, Silke Mathé, Simone Bresele, Thomas Junghans, Udo Kaller, Wolfgang G. Bühler, Wolfgang Zelmer
Sammelstücke @ Kunstsalon und PopUp Bode Galerie in Frankfurt - Alain Clément, Benjamin Katz, Cony Theis, Elvira Bach, Georg Baselitz, Ja Hyun Koo, Johanna Schelle, Peter Hermann, Philipp-Emanuel Eyrich, Rubica von Streng, Silke Mathé, Simone Bresele, Udo Kaller
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, Sonja Edle von Hoeßle, Tamara Suhr, Udo Kaller, Wolfgang G. Bühler, Wolfgang Zelmer

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