NOPE – does size matter?
Does great art really require large formats?
The summer exhibition “NOPE – does size matter?” approaches this question with quiet irony and genuine curiosity. Ten artists present works measuring no more than 50 × 40 cm – paintings, photographs, works on paper, sculptures and object-based works that demonstrate that artistic intensity is not a matter of scale.
Throughout the exhibition, Galerie nüüd.berlin is transformed into a small summer art fair. Each artist is given an individual wall. Ten distinct artistic positions enter into dialogue with one another, inviting visitors to move from work to work, compare, discover and engage with a wide variety of visual languages.
Programme:
Thursday, 25 June 2026, 6 p.m.
Vernissage. The artists will be present.
DJ Balthazar is playing.
Saturday, 18 July 2026, 4 p.m. tbc
Guided Talk with artists of the exhibition
Saturday, 22 August 2026, 4 p.m. tbc
Guided Talk with artists of the exhibition
Saturday, 29 August 2026, 4 – 6 p.m.
Finissage
The exhibition brings together works by:
Clara Cousineau | Daniela Finke | Daniel & Geo Fuchs | Dale Grant | Esther Gronenborn | Marco Kaufmann | Myrta Köhler | Bo Larsen | Christoph Uepping | Martin A. Völker
The works on display range from Clara Cousineau’s poetic object-based works and Daniela Finke’s colour-intensive photography to Daniel & Geo Fuchs’ iconic TOYGIANTS, Dale Grant’s new editions from FADING BEAUTY and Esther Gronenborn’s image worlds oscillating between reality and imagination. The exhibition also features Marco Kaufmann’s latest works from his Tape Series, Myrta Köhler’s photographic and installation-based works, the abstract paintings of Bo Larsen, Christoph Uepping’s narrative visual worlds and the poetic-surreal photography of Martin A. Völker.
The small format is not understood here as a limitation but as a form of concentration. Ideas, gestures, memories and observations are condensed into a reduced space and, precisely because of this, unfold a particular presence and intensity. Many of the works invite viewers to step closer, look more carefully and take time to discover their subtle details.
At the same time, the exhibition is also about collecting. After all, many collections begin with a small work – a piece discovered unexpectedly and impossible to let go of. All works can be purchased directly from the exhibition and, if desired, taken home immediately. In this way, “NOPE – does size matter?” combines the pleasure of discovery with the opportunity to bring art effortlessly into everyday life.
Ten walls. Ten artistic positions. Small formats.
NOPE – does size matter?
Clara Cousineau
Chose, Prose, Rose, 2024
Clothes hangers made of plastic, wool and lacquer, 50 x 70 cm
Clara Cousineau’s artistic practice moves between sculpture, photography, object art and visual language. Drawing on everyday objects, found materials and traces of material culture, she explores how meaning is created and how memories, stories and cultural codes become inscribed in things. In doing so, she transforms seemingly ordinary objects into poetic visual and conceptual spaces where chance, observation and construction converge. The exhibition features works from the series Slow Sculptures, Objectifier l’écriture and Note à moi-même / Note to Self. In Chose, Prose, Rose, from Slow Sculptures series, the repurposed clothes hangers are transformed into sculptural word formations that intertwine language and object. Matrice/matrice from Objectifier l’écriture series is based on historic printing matrices that were discovered by chance within the walls of a house in Québec during renovation works. Drawing upon the forms of everyday utilitarian objects, Cousineau develops abstract and typographic compositions that raise questions about reproduction, writing and material memory. The photographic series Note à moi-même / Note to Self documents a small yellow mobile home shortly before its demolition and reflects upon the fragility of places, memories and moments of transition. This corpus will be shown simultaneously in July, at La maison du Notaire, an artist-run center situated in Trois-Pistoles, the small city where the house is located. In her work, Clara Cousineau brings together language, photography and found materials in a multilayered narrative about impermanence and transformation.
Clara Cousineau (*Québec City, Canada) has developed a distinctive artistic practice at the intersection of sculpture, installation and paper-based work following her studies in Fine Arts at Concordia University (BFA, 2018). Her works have been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Canada and Europe, including in Montréal, Toronto and Brussels. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious BMO 1st Art! Award. Her works are held in both public and private collections, including those of the City of Laval, Claridge Montréal and the Press Art Collection in Zurich. The artist lives and works in Montréal, Canada.
Daniela Finke
Life Saver’s Cabin “Birdie”, 2003
Piezo Pigment Print on Premium Semigloss
30 x 40 cm
Edition: 7 + 1 AP
Daniela Finke works with photography, deliberately using colour and blurring as creative tools. The images arise from closely observed everyday situations that become visible at the very moment they occur. The focus is equally on the individual and the collective. Where physiognomic details recede, posture, movement and colour come to the fore. Baywatch depicts lifeguards in competition on the Baltic Sea. The images depict the world of lifesaving on the beach, caught between summer leisure, sporting competition and collective action. Life Saver’s Cabin turns the gaze towards the watchtowers and lifeguard huts. Viewed as a series, they become protagonists of an environment that, in Baywatch, is shaped by people. Instant Karma shows scenes from a working world in Thailand, caught between beauty and hardship. The visual language deliberately approaches the picturesque. The title refers to a continuous, repetitive cycle. The section titled Patterns of Life brings together works in which individual appearances and shared patterns converge. The reduction of physiognomic details directs the gaze towards postures, gestures and relationships. This results in images that reveal more because they explain less
Daniela Finke (*1958 in Hannover, Germany) is a visual artist whose work focuses on digital photography. Intense colour and the interplay between reality and abstraction are defining characteristics of her visual language. The human body, architecture, everyday objects and natural phenomena constitute the central themes of her practice. Finke has received numerous grants and awards, including the European Architectural Photography Prize. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in both public and private collections. The artist lives and works in Berlin.
Daniel & Geo Fuchs
TOYGIANTS – Editions
Gloomy
Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle Museum Etching
32,9 x 48,3 cm
Edition: 50 + 10 AP
Daniel & Geo Fuchs explore the visual worlds of popular culture and their influence on our collective memory in their internationally acclaimed series TOYGIANTS. Since 2004, the artist duo has been portraying iconic action figures, comic-book heroes, manga characters and collectible objects with the same care and dignity traditionally reserved for human portraiture. Through precise lighting and a monumental staging, these figures acquire a surprising presence and emotional depth. The series originated from an encounter with two Japanese robot figures in Berlin and the artists’ collaboration with the collector Selim Varol. Their engagement with his unique collection gave rise to a long-term photographic project that extends far beyond the mere documentation of toys. The figures become projection surfaces for memories, desires, social values and cultural conditioning. Beneath the colourful and often humorous surface lie themes of identity, consumerism, power and the formation of collective myths. Well-known characters appear at once familiar and strange, opening up new possibilities of interpretation. The exhibition presents current editions from the TOYGIANTS series, including entirely new motifs and combinations of figures. The underlying original works are produced as large-format photographs in limited editions and are presented in the series’ distinctive matt acrylic frames.
Daniel (*1966 in Alzenau, Germany) and Geo (*1969 in Frankfurt/M., Germany) Fuchs are a German artist couple who have been working together for over 20 years on conceptual photography series as well as video works and installations, which have earned them an international reputation. Their works have been shown in many international solo and group exhibitions and art fairs, among others at photo basel 2024, and can be found in private and public collections. Daniel & Geo live and work in Germany.
Dale Grant
Florilegium, 2026
Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta, 50 x 40 cm
Edition: 8 + 1 AP
Dale Grant turns his attention to those moments that often go unnoticed: the quiet transitions between bloom and decay, beauty and impermanence. In his photographic work, he explores the fragile aesthetics of transformation, making visible that which is in the process of disappearing. Particularly in his series FADING BEAUTY, he focuses on flowers in the final stages of their life cycle. Translucent petals, muted colours and delicate structures become poetic visual spaces of remarkable intensity. His approach to flowers is akin to the creation of human portraits. Grant observes his subjects over extended periods, studying light, form and transformation, and from this develops photographs that extend far beyond the tradition of the classical still life. Light plays a central role in his work. It penetrates the petals, accentuates their textures and lends the images an almost painterly depth. The series originated from Dale Grant’s fascination with fading flowers in New York, in which he recognised a reflection of the human condition. The resulting photographs understand impermanence not as an end, but as part of an ongoing cycle of life. The exhibition presents new works from the FADING BEAUTY series, created in 2026 and shown for the first time as editions. The underlying original works are conceived as large-format photographic compositions.
Dale Grant (*in Nassau, Bahamas) followed his heart after graduating from university with a degree in International Relations and became a photographer specialising in fashion and portrait photography. After working as a commercial photographer for many years, he turned to fine art photography. Flowers are now his favourite models, which for him are an allegory for life. His works can be found in many art collections and he lives in Berlin and Rotterdam.
Esther Gronenborn
Look what I found ln in my magic Garden, 2023
Photo collage and artistic editing,Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle William Turner, 33,2 x 23,2 cm
Edition: 5 + 1 AP
In the series STILLE / SILENCE, Esther Gronenborn explores silence as a fragile state between presence and disappearance. What initially appears calm or familiar reveals subtle disturbances upon closer inspection. Landscapes seem slightly displaced, while animals emerge like fragments of memory or projections. Between stillness and latent transformation, an atmosphere unfolds that is at once poetic and unsettling. The works originate from direct observations of nature, often photographed at dusk or during the night. The photographs are digitally collaged, layered and painterly manipulated, giving rise to hybrid visual spaces that exist between documentation and construction, reality and imagination. Many of the animals no longer appear merely as motifs from nature, but as figures inhabiting an unstable inner landscape. A fox stands beneath an artificially illuminated moonlight, swans gather on dry ground, and a red bird opens the viewer’s gaze onto a clearing that seems more like a memory than a landscape. The images resist straightforward interpretation and deliberately move between photographic reality and dreamlike states. In an age in which images are increasingly manipulated and constructed, Silence also reflects upon the uncertainty of seeing itself. The works investigate transitional states – between nature and image, visibility and dissolution, proximity and estrangement.
Esther Gronenborn (* in Oldenburg) lives and works near Berlin. The award-winning film director and media artist gained international recognition through films such as alaska.de, Ich werde nicht schweigen (I Will Not Be Silent), and Das weiße Schweigen (The White Silence). In recent years, she has increasingly expanded her artistic practice into the fields of visual and media art. Through photography, digital collage and AI-based video installations, she explores the boundaries between reality and imagination, memory and transformation. Since 2024, her visual works have been presented in exhibitions and international projects. The artist is a member of both the German Film Academy and the European Film Academy, and is a co-founder of the initiatives Pro Quote Regie and Pro Quote Film, which advocate for greater gender equality within the film industry.
Marco Kaufmann
Tape 92, 2026
Tape Collage, mixed technique on paper, 50 x 40 cm
Marco Kaufmann’s artistic practice moves between painting, photography and experimental approaches to image-making. Inspired by landscapes, urban environments, travel and photographic observation, he creates works that do not seek to represent reality but rather reinterpret it as a subjective experience. The result is a series of atmospheric compositions in which horizons, pathways, architectural fragments and fields of colour simultaneously offer and dissolve orientation. Characteristic of Kaufmann’s work is his process-oriented approach to materials. He paints, pours, sprays and tapes, making the act of creation an essential part of the finished work. This is particularly evident in his current TAPE series, from which both earlier and new works are presented in the exhibition. The starting point is the coloured strips and tape remnants left over from previous acrylic-on-canvas paintings. These materials are folded, torn, layered and incorporated into works on paper as independent visual elements. The resulting structures and negative forms open up new perspectives and pictorial spaces. Layers, sediments and traces of colour speak of earlier creative processes while simultaneously pointing towards new possibilities. In this way, a continuous artistic cycle emerges, in which each work retains traces of its origin while becoming the starting point for something new. Kaufmann’s works invite viewers to let their gaze wander and enter those intermediate spaces where memory, perception and imagination meet.
Marco Kaufmann (*1975 in Western Pomerania, Germany) graduated in fine art (painting and photography) at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art after completing his vocational training as a graphic designer. Inspired by the city, the country, his travels and photographs, he realises his feelings and thoughts in various techniques as a subjective version of reality – he paints, casts, sprays and glues. His works have been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in private and public collections. Marco Kaufmann lives and works in Berlin.
Myrta Köhler
Exca(r)vation #1, 2017
C-print on Fujicolor Crystal Archive Supreme / hand-processed, 21 x 30 cm
Unique work
At the heart of Myrta Köhler’s artistic practice are those interstitial spaces in which perception, memory and imagination converge. Working with photography, cyanotype and installation, the artist expands photographic processes through experimental techniques and manual interventions. Her works create spaces for association, chance and imagination. In the series EXCA(R)VATIONS, Myrta Köhler explores the simultaneity of the present, memory and hope. By partially removing the light-sensitive layer from photographic prints, she creates white spaces that resemble imprints of inner images. This subtraction of material generates an additional layer of reality. The work L’AURORA (I), also featured in the exhibition, continues Köhler’s engagement with the element of water. Here, transformation and fragility become metaphors for the poetry of life. Both bodies of work are characterised by an interplay between revealing and concealing. They create spaces of possibility in which meaning emerges only through the gaze of the viewer.
Myrta Köhler, born in Berlin and raised in Vienna, lives and works in Berlin. She studied, among other subjects, Theatre Studies and Media & Communication Studies, graduating with an M.A. degree. She discovered photography at an early stage as her primary artistic medium, while her many years of work for theatre and opera productions have profoundly influenced her sensitive approach to space, light and staging. Her photographic and installation-based works have been presented internationally in solo and group exhibitions and are regularly featured in art magazines and specialist publications.
Bo Larsen
NEON – Sugar I, 2021
Oil, acrylic and spraypaint in canvas, 25 x 20 cm
Bo Larsen’s painting is characterised by dynamism, materiality and emotional intensity. In his works, spontaneous gestures meet precisely composed pictorial spaces, vibrant fields of colour encounter translucent layers, and controlled structures are set against moments of deliberate dissolution. Using squeegees, layered applications and richly textured impasto paint, Bo Larsen develops a physical, almost tactile visual language that oscillates between energy and concentration. The starting points for his series are often atmospheric impressions, memories or inner states, which he does not narrate in a figurative manner but translates into abstract visual processes. Series such as MIRAGE, DANISH SOUTH SEA, NEON and TWENTIES GOLDEN? reflect his ongoing exploration of light, movement, reflection and emotional resonance. The resulting pictorial spaces appear at once spontaneous and carefully controlled. His works possess an immediate visual pull, inviting viewers not merely to observe colour and structure, but to experience them on a physical level. The exhibition presents small-format works from the LIGHT and NEON series.
Bo Larsen (*1986 in Karlsruhe) is a German-Danish artist who initially gained professional experience in the film industry before developing an independent position within contemporary painting without following a traditional academic training route. Inspired by artists such as Gerhard Richter and Jackson Pollock, his work moves between Abstract Expressionism, Action Painting, Pop Art and Street Art. Since 2017, his works have been exhibited regularly in Berlin, Brussels and Frankfurt am Main. Today, his works are held in numerous private collections both in Germany and internationally. He lives and works in Berlin.
Christoph Uepping
Little Red Riding Hood, 2026
Acrylic on cardboard,
39 x 28 cm / with frame 49,5 x 38 cm
In his works, Christoph Uepping explores how perception and meaning shift through new contexts. Familiar figures, places and cultural references are removed from their original setting, fragmented and reassembled. In this way, he creates visual worlds that appear both familiar and strange at the same time. Berlin is always the starting point for his narratives, where the artist discovers and photographs his motifs before recontextualising them in the studio. The metropolis itself becomes a projection surface for stories in which old and new, past and modern, fairy tale and reality stand in contrast to one another, yet complement each other in remarkable ways. Anyone wishing to decipher and reinterpret their meaning must look closely. Some motifs — which deliberately draw upon the visual language of the big city — only reveal themselves at second glance; this, in turn, opens up additional layers of meaning that extend beyond what is immediately visible. Between hope, overwhelm, irony and longing, open narratives emerge that leave room for individual interpretation. The exhibition presents the most recent works from the series Once Upon A Time, Modern Times and The Observers.
Christoph “Kikko” Uepping (*1980 in Essen) lives and works in Berlin. He studied Industrial Design at Folkwang University in Essen under Professor Kurt Mehnert. After nearly two decades working as a designer in the international automotive industry, he has been working full-time as an independent artist since 2025. His works are held in collections in Berlin, London, Amsterdam and Mexico City, among others. Since 2026, his works have been exhibited in Berlin.
Martin A. Völker
Garden I, 2025
Photography/Double exposure, collaged,
Acrylic glass, high-definition print, 30 x 30 cm,
Edition: 1 + 1 AP
The works presented by Martin A. Völker reflect his current artistic practice, which centres on the fragility of human beings and their environment. His photography is inherently narrative, telling stories and setting trains of thought in motion. What interests the artist is not photography as a means of merely depicting objects or documenting reality. Rather, he is fascinated by looking beyond the visible world and through the surface of things. Using a self-developed analogue process, Völker transforms impressions gathered through street photography into new visual worlds that open up surreal spaces for reflection. He believes that reality defines and limits us, restricting the possibilities available to us. Art, in his view, does not represent the best of all possible worlds, but at most the antechamber to a realm of ideas exchanged between artist and audience. Every image gives rise to individual associations and interpretations, realised differently in the mind of each viewer. In this sense, Martin A. Völker’s reduced and poetic compositions become invitations to think, to feel and to daydream. They possess a quiet beauty without concealing those traces of transience and decay that are inseparable from every human life.
Martin A. Völker (*1972 in West Berlin, Germany) is a writer and art photographer specialising in conceptual street photography. He captures the diversity of urban life and develops street photography in the direction of magical realism. He is influenced by his many years as a lecturer in cultural studies and aesthetics at Berlin’s Humboldt University. His work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Martin lives and works in Berlin.
NOPE – does size matter? Group exhibition
26 June – 29 August 2026
Vernissage: Thursday, 25 June 2026, 6 p.m.
Venue: nüüd.berlin gallery, Kronenstr. 18, 10117 Berlin-Mitte, U Stadtmitte
Open: Wed – Sat, 12 – 6 p.m. & by appointment
