Lars Rosenbohm
There are possibilities so true and untrue
The exhibition in the foyer of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld shows current works by the Bielefeld artist Lars Rosenbohm (*1971 in Lemgo). In his charcoal drawings and paintings, he opens up a space of possibilities in which the boundaries between figuration and abstraction become blurred. Based on an intuitive working process, Rosenbohm’s gaze alternates between the outside, the body, the shell – the concealment and the view into the inside – the organic – the depth, beneath the surface. In overpaintings, fragmentations and additions, his motifs merge into a complex visual language that combines opposites and brings the uncertain and ambivalent to the fore.
I can say that I am interested in certain contrasts and an ambivalence is expressed in the processual activity. I show and at the same time I conceal again. I combine the experienced and the imagined. Memories, current affairs, interior, exterior. I’m revealing something, I’m puzzling. I am preoccupied by the uncertain, the intangible. Even scary things. Spreading. Movement, energy, strength and control. The mask or veil as a motif has been appearing in my work for years. And thus beings somewhere between human, animal and fantasy figure. They are questions to myself.
Lars Rosenbohm, 2025
You can find more answers from the artist in the KB Journal.
Lars Rosenbohm (*1971 in Lemgo) lives and works in Bielefeld. His studio is located in the artists’ house Artists Unlimited.
Rosenbohm’s works have been exhibited at the Museum Marta Herford, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, the Kunsthaus Essen, the Museum Schloss Moyland, the Saarland Museum, the Westfälischer Kunstverein, the Kunstvereine in Bielefeld, Oerlinghausen, Lippstadt, Ludwigshafen, Gütersloh and Lemgo, among others. Also in galleries and project spaces in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Biel/Bienne, Austin, Barcelona, Ghent, Kassel, Wuppertal and Osnabrück.
Lars Rosenbohm’s works are represented in the collections of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, the Marta Herford and the Hanseatic City of Lünen.
He has received grants from the Kunststiftung NRW, the Aldegrever Gesellschaft Münster, the Landesverband Westfalen-Lippe, the Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft NRW and the Stiftung Kulturwerk, Bonn.
In 2023, Rosenbohm was awarded the CityARTists Art Prize NRW as a representative of the city of Bielefeld. He has been nominated for other art prizes, such as the Belgian IKOB Art Prize and the Gütersloh Woldemar Winkler Art Foundation Prize.
Welcome to the exhibition of the Bielefeld artist Lars Rosenbohm!
A journey into a world between figuration and abstraction awaits you here – a world that invites you to discover it.
Lars Rosenbohm, born in Lemgo in 1971, works with a unique mixture of experimentation and intuition. His works are created spontaneously: stroke by stroke, layer by layer. In his drawings, everything begins with simple charcoal strokes. Lines condense into shapes – heads, eyes or organic structures emerge. But before they really become clearly recognizable, he reworks them, discards them and starts again. This play with possibilities is particularly evident in his series Es sind Möglichkeiten so wahr und unwahr from 2022, which comprises 500 drawings. You can experience these works, which were created daily, in a video loop in the lecture hall.
His large-format paintings also carry this dynamic. Rosenbohm works with several layers of paint, scratching out, painting over and leaving behind traces of his creative process. Again and again we encounter organic forms: Veins, cells or creatures reminiscent of aquatic plants. Dark surfaces frame these motifs or merge with them – a balance between strength and fragility.
Heads and masks are a central motif in Rosenbohm’s art. In his more recent series, these become increasingly blurred: hair-like structures or shadows veil the faces. Are they protected or hidden? Do they come out of the darkness or do they disappear into it? This ambivalence runs through many of his works and invites you to find your own interpretations.
Rosenbohm’s art reflects the experiences of our time – uncertainties, changes, but also the search for identity and connection to nature. His pictures sometimes seem restless or mysterious and pose questions: Who are we? What remains hidden? What only becomes apparent at second glance?
Text: Felicitas von Richthofen
Audio by: Nadine Kleinken
Recording and editing: Matthias Albrecht, Nadine Kleinken (Digital Museum Practice Kunsthalle Bielefeld)
Gallerie
