THE STAGED HUMAN

At the center of Maribel Brandis’ work stands the human being and how they stage themselves. She draws upon a long tradition in art – and also in photography – of using portraiture to convey more than just the likeness of the portrayed person. Rather, it has always been about the staging of power and status, about outward representations of rank, position, and influence.

Maribel Brandis directs her gaze toward often ambivalent stagings of masculinity – for example, the lavishly decorated costumes of Spanish bullfighters – and of femininity, through modern drag queens but also more generally through the fashion of each era. Humor is not lacking in her work! Some of her best pieces belong to a series in which she invited her own family members to engage in self-staging with bathing caps and sunglasses.

In addition to painting, the techniques of transfer lithography and graffiti allow Maribel Brandis to incorporate her own drawings, photographs, and magazine templates, recombine them, pick up patterns, and work quickly. This stylistic mix, extending to collage, characterizes her paintings. In doing so, she skillfully captures our gaze and holds our attention in the contemplation of the image.

Maribel Brandis is a diligent painter who has already produced an extensive body of work with a virtuosic mastery of painting, for which I am very pleased to name her my master student.

Ute Wöllmann, Director of the Academy
Berlin, July 2025