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@isabell_sterner
In her artistic practice, Isabell Sterner deals with the human subject, its body and its tension complexes. The word tension complexes can be understood as a topos and emotions, physical and mental states ore influences from the environment are exemplary parts of it. With the help of sculptures, she generates fictitious bodies in which she materially evaluates these states. The creative process, which is strongly focused on material confrontation, resembles a psychological process: a constant alienation with the object, an appropriation, rejection or reworking. At the same time, this intense relationship is also linked to a kind of care and the question of where these dysfunctional entities, which are always alienated to their surroundings, belong.
* 2001 in Schweinfurt, Germany
Education
since 2020 Dresden Academy of Fine Arts
2021-2025 Class of Wilhelm Mundt, Dresden Academy of Fine Arts
2023-2024 Exchange semester at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
since 2025 Class of Judith Hopf, Dresden Academy of Fine Arts
Prizes and Scholarships
2021 Artist in Residence, Künstlerstadt Kalbe
since 2022 Scholarship by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
2022 EU4Art Short Term Workshop
at Latvijas Mākslas akadēmija (Riga, LVA) and
Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem (Budapest, HUN)
2023-2024 SEMP Scholarship for International Students
at Swiss Universities
2025 Perron Kunstpreis Grafik (Förderpreis)
2025 „Küsse-Berlin” consultation prize
2025 Freundeskreis HfBK Dresden work development grant
Publications
2024 Publication for “Dirty Teeth, Denim Dreams”,
Gallery Stephanie Kelly, Dresden
(Johanna Seidel, Isabella Engelhardt M.A.)
2024 Feature in “Where Flowers bloom”, Issue “Symbiosis”,
magazine for Contemporary Art, Lucarno, Switzerland
2025 Feature in Munchies Art Club, Issue 2, 2025, online blog
2025 Feature in “Under my skin”, Osservatoriomaree, Paola, Italien
2025 Feature in “Karusell”, magazine for young literature,
issue 3, 2025 Wuppteral
Archives and public collections
2020 5 poetry collages, public libary Nuremberg
2025 3 drawings, series „no no no“, Kunstsammlung der Moderne,
Ruhruniversität Bochum
2025 private collection, Anton / Tieves, Uzés (FR)
Published texts
2020-2022 divers texts in “Literarische Blätter”,
magazine for contemporary literature
2021 Anthology “Block Blogger - Poesie in Quarantäne”,
Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale)
2025 “say yes to the dress”, in: Schleier, Dresden 2025,
Martin Bertelmann
2025 “Wiegenschwindel”, in: collective literature magazine Würzburg,
issue 15 with “Sterner & Leonhardt, text collective
2025 “Sequenzen im Liegezustand”, in: “Zerstörung und Streicheln”,
1pp1, Berlin 2025, with “Sterner & Leonhardt”, text collective
Curation
2022 „Scribbles on tension“, Gallery Stephanie Kelly
2022 „Eine Nuance zwischen rot und blau, vielleicht purpur“,
Galerie Stephanie Kelly (text)
2023 „Animalia“, Galerie Stephanie Kelly (text)
2024 „not quiet as it seems“, Galerie Stephanie Kelly (text)
2025 „Tongue and Cocoon”, Galerie Stephanie Kelly (text)
2025 „Kisses to Paradise”, Galerie Stephanie Kelly
Laudatory speech from art historian and curator Nina Schwarzenberger for
“in good hands only”, Werkgalerie Dresden, 2025
Isabell Sterner's objects play with biomorphic associations and contrasts: hard and soft, smooth and rough, slippery wet and dry dull. She often uses materials such as silicone, wax, and concrete, which are transformed into seemingly prop-like structures through various casting and molding processes. Her works convey a physicality, yet appear frozen in their states. With their protruding points, cracks, and hairs, they seem to refer to something that has already happened. As if cast in wax or similar to a still, they lie before us as remnants of their former selves, or are they only manifested through this? What we see now is the sum of their histories: fragile, vulnerable, and courageous.
For some time now, and now also on display in this exhibition, she has been working with aluminum. While in past objects we find the material as spikes or oversized rivets, defensively encircling the supposed object like armor, here in “Wummerchen” we see the metal as the main protagonist. This change in material gives Isabell Sterner's sculptures a new interpretation.
The supposed anthropomorphism, the feeling that something alive inhabits the sculpture, gives way to objectivity, and yet we do not have to say goodbye to the object's liveliness. Quite the contrary: the things, as they lie before us or lean against the wall, still seem strangely animated. One could perhaps compare it to Tsukumogami—the Japanese folk belief that objects also have a soul. And yet: the thing, as Sterner calls it, is not a being. But it incorporates essential associations that evoke empathy in us as viewers. And so “Wummerchen” stands in this world on wobbly legs. And I can well imagine how Sterner created this thing with maternal concern, hoping that it would ultimately stand before her in a satisfactory manner. I feel the same way when I look at it with its edges and protrusions: the lower part hangs freely from thin silicone loops on its upper half. It digs into the wall, searching for a makeshift hold. You almost want to hug it. There is a strange ambivalence between the artist and her works, between the material and its effect.
Sterner's working method can be described as controlled letting go. Following a rough plan, she follows the decisions and paths of her fingers—process-oriented and mindful of chance. She does not need a strict agenda, but rather observes how her objects develop in the moment. She allows the material space in the process of letting go and her own ideas. It resembles a dance between distance and closeness. Perhaps it is also a preparation for the moment of finalization and the ongoing question of when a work of art is finished. And yet Isabell's creations are so close and immediate to her. If we look at the Polaroid series “Coming Home for Christmas,” she is accompanied by this alien-like object on her Christmas vacation, back home to her family. Somehow comparable to that lump in your throat that you often have before long stays with your family. Maybe that's what they are: little balls, cast in aluminum, wax, and ceramic; we can't do without them, but we don't always want them either.
But they have their place, and that's good.
2021
E.O. Plauen – junior competition for handdrawing, Plauen
7. european artist competition, Europa union Leverkusen, online exhibition
„Hundstage“, Schrebergarten, Offenbach am Main
Rundgang Künstlerstadt Kalbe
2022
„Image fétiche“, Gallery Stephanie Kelly Dresden
„A Galla“, pop up exhibtion, class of Wilhelm Mundt, Waldschlösschenbrücke, Dresden
2023
„Chasing Waterfalls“, Senatssaal, university of fine arts Dresden
„no fun, no fun”, annual exhibition, university of fine arts Dresden
„What´s your lover´s language”, Kunstverein Dresden
„Von Amtswegen“, Localize Festival, town hall Potsdam
„What´s your lover´s language II”, Galerie a-topos´, Paris
„take care“, (Performance) Spitäle, VKU Würzburg
“Dummy”, Zurich university of the arts
“Gift”, Zurich university of the arts
2024
„The struggle of living in Babylon“, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
„Lost in a very big sauce”, KuGu, Hamburg
„To cure, find solace in“, Helmut, Leipzig
„Das Geschrei”, annual exhibition, university of fine arts Dresden
“Semi-living Artifacts”, Toxi, Zürich
“Dirty Teeth, Denim Dreams”, Galerie Stephanie Kelly Dresden (duo)
2025
„Echo Echo Echo”, Kunstsammlungen der Moderne, Ruhruniverstität Bochum
„:p“, Mars, Frankfurt am Main
Perron Kunstpreis Grafik, Kunstmuseum Frankenthal
„Hailandt“, annual exhibition, university of fine arts Dresden
„in good hands only“, Werkgalerie Dresden (solo)
„Welcome to my crib”, Glue, Berlin
„Perspektiven. Blickwinkel deiner Welt”, Kunsthalle Bremen
„Mundt und Wolff”, Oktogon HfBK Dresden
Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Altes Volksbad Mannheim
„Laufmaschen”, Museum Gunzenhauser, Chemnitz
2026
“From Monsters to Monuments”, Frappant Gallery, Hamburg
all images used ©Isabell Sterner, unless otherwise stated
other activities
since 2020 text and reading performance collective “Sterner & Leonhardt”
performances at Wiener Konzerthaus, Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg
Leipziger Gewandhaus, Schauspielhaus Bochum i.a.
2024 costume designs for „Dido und Aeneas“, co-production
Zurich university of the arts and Zurich chamber orchestra
2024 costume design for dance-theater „meant to be together“,
Merge Dance Collective, Zurich, tournee production
2024 assistant director for KS Brigitte Fassbaender
at Gärtnerplatztheater München,
“Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor” (O. Nicolai);
at Tiroler Festspiele Erl, re-adaption whole
„Der Ring des Nibelungen“ (R. Wagner)