Chiefs & Spirits

1966  Born at Birkesdorf, Düren, Germany                
1992 Final examination as apprentice stonemason. Working since then as an independent artist.                                                
1993-2004 Studies: History of Art, Philosophy; PhD, Aachen, Germany
2007-2009 Artistic member of staff at Institut für Kunstwissenschaft / Institute of Art History and Theory at University of Koblenz, Germany
2012-2015 additional studio in Leipzig, Germany
2015- lives and works in Aachen, Germany
Selected Exhibitions
Czarnetta has exhibited his work extensively all over the world
2025 Art Miami  with Galerie Chiefs & Spirits
Kunstrai Amsterdam , Art Palm Beach, Florida,  New York, Austin, Texas
Los Angeles Art Show

VITA
1982 -89
Studium Bildende Kunst an der HBK Braunschweig bei Prof. Hinnerk Schrader, Alfred Winter-Rust – Diplom, Meisterschülerin
1989/90    Residenzstipendium  Land Niedersachsen, Atelierhaus Worpswede
1991    Reisestipendium Japan/ Hokkaido
lebt und arbeitet in Hamburg
Mitglied BBK Hamburg
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EIN GEDANKE GEHT IN BEWEGUNG:
und der Faden - geworfen, gestreut, geführt, gezogen und gerollt – folgt ihm 
Im Abspulen, Ziehen, Laufen lassen, durchläuft er die Körperform immer wieder.
Und zeichnet sich wie eine zweite Haut – eine Silhouette.
Filigrane Liniengeflechte werden Gewebe, Nervenfasern, Muskelzellen, Wirbelkörper.
Das industriell hergestellte Garn emanzipiert sich als künstlerisches Material;
öffnet sich zu poetischer Metapher und gewinnt eine neue Ausdrucksform für die Zeichnung.
Die transparente Rahmung auf Acrylglas lässt die Schwerkraft weichen – die Figur scheint zu schweben
Und so wird der Faden selbst zu einem dreidimensionalen Körper.
—
A THOUGHT GOES INTO MOTION:
and the thread – being thrown, scattered, guided, pulled and rolled follows
while unwinding, pulling, running, it forms bodily shapes – over and over again.
It draws itself in many layers to form a silhouette.
And filigree meshes of lines become its tissue, nerve fibres, and muscle cells.
The industrially produced yarn emancipates itself as an artistic material;
And while opening up poetic metaphors the thread drawing gains a new form of expression.
Transparent acrylic glass frames stimulate a sense of weightlessness – the figure seems to float.
Eventually, a planar thread becomes a three-dimensional body.

Kerstin Vegelahn was born in 1965 in Hamburg, Germany.
After graduating in the Hamburg University of Applied Science she lived for 20 years in Paris, Barcelona, Manila and Hong Kong where she worked in Fashion Design. In 2002 she moved back to Spain and graduated with a Fine Arts degree from L’Escola superior d’Arts Aplicades y Oficis Artistics, La Llotja (Barcelona). In the Summer of 2005, she moved back to Hamburg where she currently works and lives.
Viewers would be astonished by Kerstin Vegelahn’s Hamburg origins, as her method of painting would not normally be associated with Northern Germany!
This is typified by her use of radiant areas of colours and amorphous structures, blended with coloured spots which elude to a precise arrangement. Coupled with this creation are smaller formations of different colours, which often offer a bold contrast to one another.
 
Kerstin’s many years of living and working in Asia, combined with her studies at the academy of Arts in Barcelona as well as her extensive cosmopolitan outlook, lay the foundations for this creative style. Her unique form of artistic expression is inspired by these extensive visual impressions absorbed during travel across diverse continents. She does not make it easy for herself, conversely she is a research minded artist who is at odds with herself in her desire to go beyond the normal limits.
 
Kerstin’s unique paints comprise of specialized pigments which are added to pure bees wax. Different colours are then applied layer by layer to the canvas. This creates layered coloured surfaces, which are then carefully exposed by using specially developed tools.
 
These numerous and elaborate steps take days and sometimes weeks to evolve, which in turn enables the artist to separate herself from her surroundings. This inspires a creative reading of the designs which prompt the viewer to question, whether these could be continents, computer circuit boards, a view into space or a journey into one’s own thoughts – ordered, confusing and yet lost at the same time.
 
The artist’s method of sculpturing into the material, creates openings of wonderful polychrome colours. These initially look like shiny colour glazed porcelain heads and immediately capture the attention of viewers. This ongoing obsession with the multilayered surface, into which the artist incorporates such exuberant creativity, offers observers an increasingly rare experience. When captured in the finished work of art, there are the emotions of reflection, discovery and the finally pure joy of realisation.
 
Those who engage with this radiance of colours may embark on a journey into their own fantasy world. Due to her extraordinary working techniques and beautiful colours, this Hamburg-based artist creates a surprisingly inspiring art experience.
 
Juliana Schaart, M.A.
September 2021

Stefan Gross, born in Bendorf Germany, apprenticed as a practitioner of stained glass manufacture. During his apprenticeship he was surrounded by coloured glass and learned to think in color. In 1988 he became a master of the practice and also concluded it by taking up studies of painting at art school HBK Saar, Saarbrücken. After his studies which he completed cum laude, he moved to the Netherlands. Here he lives and works, always seeking to develop new painting techniques. In ca. 2006 he developed a material of his own he now predominantly uses: "oil plastic". It results from dyeing an industrial plastic with classic oil paints. It is surface and paint in one and enables Stefan Gross to extend the painted surface three-dimensionally. "Oil plastic" is translucent and behaves, at a relatively low temperature, like glass. In his work, Stefan Gross depicts, in a colorful way, the fall of a society based on growth. "The world is a serious place these days. This is a problem I address in my work." He shows the beauty and potential of industrial production in a look back on the times in which we now live.

Collection of

• Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
• Van den Broek Foundation
• Netcompany
• Museum LAM Lisse

Toyin Loye studied Fine Art at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Nigeria, Senegal, Argentina, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Germany, Spain, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. Toyin was commissioned by FIFA along with Andreas Gursky, Luo Brothers, Markus Lupetz and others to create the official Art Poster for the Germany 2006 World Cup. He lives and works in The Hague, The Netherlands.