In her work, which is often produced in series, Monika Baer (*1964 in Freiburg/Breisgau, lives in Berlin) draws on various painting traditions and techniques, from monochrome and representational approaches to disrupting the surface of the canvas itself. Since the 1980s, one of her main artistic focuses has been to address the preconditions of painting. Baer’s practice is guided by an understanding of the painting as a site of performance, and the pursuit of choreography of seeing imbued with cultural history. Alongside new large-format paintings, Baer presented a series of small collages at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, continuing her investigation of art historical references and discourses. With her integration of a reproduction of the painting La Chambre bleue (1923) – a self-portrait of the French painter Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938) – into a new series of collages for n.b.k., Baer turns her attention to an icon of feminism.

Baer teaches at the Städelschule in Frankfurt/Main. Recent exhibitions of her work include at: Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (2020); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2019); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (2016); Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (2016); Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2015); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2013); Art Institute of Chicago (2013); documenta, Kassel (2007).