Haein Choi is a Düsseldorf-based painter whose work unfolds through quiet, introspective scenes that hover between figuration and abstraction. Her paintings explore subtle emotional registers, where gestures, textures, and spatial ambiguities create a sense of suspended communication—at once intimate and elusive. Rather than depicting fixed narratives, Choi constructs atmospheres that invite a slower, more perceptual engagement with the image.
Choi studied at Hongik University in Seoul and at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Prof. Andreas Schulze, where she completed her Meisterschüler in 2023. Her work has been presented in institutions and galleries including Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Ketterer Kunst (Munich), and Hengesbach Galerie (Wuppertal). She was nominated for the Masterclass Art Prize (2024) and the NRW.BANK Art Prize (2019).

Lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany

Education

2023 Meisterschüler (postgraduate master student) of Prof. Andreas Schulze
2023 Diploma in Painting, Class of Prof. Andreas Schulze, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany
2014 BFA in Fine Art, Hongik University, South Korea

Awards & Nominations

2024 Nominated for the Masterclass Art Prize, Ketterer Kunst
2019 Nominated for the NRW.BANK Art Prize

Solo Exhibitions

2023 Stille Gespräche (Silent Conversations), Hengesbach Galerie, Wuppertal, Germany
2023 Hug and Whisper, Graduation Presentation, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany

Group Exhibitions

2026 Something in the Water, Wild Palms, Düsseldorf, Germany
2024 Keine Akten Nirgends, Raum +, Düsseldorf, Germany
2024 Masterclass Art Prize Nominees, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, Germany
2024 Heaven Scent Laundry, Magma Maria, Frankfurt, Germany
2023 Frag den Abendwind, Akademie Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
2022 Baby Snail Button, AStA Exhibition Space, Düsseldorf, Germany
2022 Die Große, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany
2022 Academy Selection, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
2021 NRW.BANK Art Prize Nominees
2020 Fresh Positions, BBK Kunstforum Düsseldorf, Germany
2018 Silbertopf, Off-space, Leipzig, Germany
2014 Contemporary Art 2014, Graduation Exhibition, Hongik University, South Korea

Lucas Kaiser lives and works in Leipzig. He studied at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig under Prof. Annette Schröter and Prof. Oliver Kossack, and was a Meisterschüler of Prof. Anne Speier from 2021 to 2023. In 2019, he expanded his practice during a study period at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. In 2021, he was awarded the Landesgraduiertenstipendium of the Free State of Saxony.

Kaiser’s practice moves between painting, drawing, and printmaking, exploring the subtle tensions between figuration and abstraction. His works often evoke fragmented bodies, soft volumes, and ambiguous spatial settings, where forms appear to oscillate between presence and dissolution. Through a restrained yet sensuous painterly language, he constructs images that hover between intimacy and estrangement, allowing moments of vulnerability, humor, and unease to coexist.

Recent solo and duo exhibitions include Appropriate Illusion at Weserhalle, Berlin (2024), Down at the Green Meadow at ThisWeekendRoom, Seoul (2023), and GESUNDHEITSPARK at Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig (2021). His work has also been presented in numerous group exhibitions across Germany and internationally, including at Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig, Galerie Nord (Kunstverein Tiergarten), Berlin, and NCAD Gallery, Dublin.

Education
2021 – 2023
Meisterschüler, Prof. Anne Speier
2014 – 2021
Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig (HGB Leipzig)
Prof. Annette Schröter, Prof. Oliver Kossack
2019
National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin

Grants
2021
Landesgraduiertenstipendium des Freistaats Sachsen

Solo / Duo Exhibitions
2024
Appropriate Illusion Weserhalle, Berlin, DE
2023
Down at the Green Meadow ThisWeekendRoom, Seoul, KR
2021
GESUNDHEITSPARK Galerie Kleindienst (WESTSIDE), Leipzig, DE
2020
Softies (with Silke Berg) P145, Berlin, DE
2019
POLSTER (with Silke Berg) Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig, DE

Group Exhibitions
2024
Trip Kunstverein Freunde Aktueller Kunst e.V., Zwickau, DE
2023
Future Solos Weserhalle, Berlin, DE
Landscape and Depth Gallery Kiche, Seoul, KR
2022
Benni, Kai, Lucas & Philipp Galerie Kleindienst (WESTSIDE), Leipzig, DE
Leipziger Jahresausstellung Werkschauhalle, Leipzig, DE
Ereignis Druckgrafik Mädler Art Forum, Leipzig, DE
Silberne Kübel P145, Berlin, DE
2021
LETS PRINT IN LEIPZIG 4 Museum für Druckkunst, Leipzig, DE
I SAW IT HANG DOWN THERE Bode Projects, Berlin, DE
Lange Nicht Gesehen Thaler Originalgrafik, Leipzig, DE
THIS IS NOT FUNNY Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, DE
2020
If yesterday was tomorrow what is today
Bode Projects, Berlin, DE
100 Sächsische Grafiken Neue Sächsische Galerie, Chemnitz, DE
Purgatory (with Andrew Kernan, Paul Wilting, Bairre Mac Raighne) NCAD Gallery, Dublin, IE
2019
A Holy Smell (with Andrew Kernan, Bairre Mac Raighne) Yellow Box, Dublin, IE
Europa Kunstverein Erding, Erding, DE

Hanna Kuster is a Düsseldorf-based painter whose practice explores the interplay between abstraction, spatial perception, and painterly construction. Educated at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Siegfried Anzinger and Tomma Abts, she completed her studies as Meisterschülerin in 2022.

Kuster’s work is characterized by a precise yet intuitive approach to form, where color, surface, and compositional structure unfold in layered, often ambiguous spatial constellations. Her paintings navigate between control and openness, suggesting fragmented environments or shifting perspectives without settling into fixed narratives.

Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions across Germany and internationally, including Neuer Kunstverein Wuppertal, Museum Küppersmühle Duisburg, and Seoshin Gallery in South Korea. She has received several awards and residencies, most recently the P.air.s residency in Switzerland and the BBK Bayern working grant.

Lives and works in Düsseldorf.
Education
2016–2022 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany

2017 Class of Prof. Siegfried Anzinger

2018–2022 Class of Prof. Tomma Abts

2022 Master Student (Meisterschülerin) of Prof. Tomma Abts

Exhibitions
2025 Chromophobia, pro arte Kunststiftung, Ulm, DE
Casual Collaboration, Forum für Kunst und Architektur, Essen, DE
Body Doubling, Neuer Kunstverein, Wuppertal, DE
Byeonghee Bae x Hanna Kuster, Seoshin Gallery, Jeonju, KR
Chromophobia II, The Pool, Düsseldorf, DE
Gemüse/Obst, Villa de Bank, Enschede, NL
2024 Günter Drebusch Prize 2023, Märkisches Museum Witten, DE
Brachiale – Festival zur Ehrung der Brache, Zukunftshof, Vienna, AT
Monomentum, Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, DE
Group Show Bulgaria/Germany, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia, BG
2023 Chronicles 7, Galerie Droste, KPM Berlin, DE
77th Internationale Bergische Kunstausstellung, Solingen, DE
Young Painters Exhibition with January Pool Party Atmosphere, ES365, Düsseldorf, DE
There is Only One, Golestani Gallery, Düsseldorf, DE
A Lazy Person’s Guide to Space Travel, GUSCH, Düsseldorf, DE
Spring Performers, Marburger Kunstverein, DE
Fine Young Cannibals, Russ Maier Contemporary Fine Art, Düsseldorf, DE
Graduates of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Akademie Galerie, Düsseldorf, DE
2022 Too Much Fun, Golestani Gallery, Düsseldorf, DE
The Influence of Space on the Reach of Traffic, Rinde, Düsseldorf, DE
Young Artist Exhibition, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, DE
2021 Open Door_Result, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal, DE
Bindung, Baustelle Schaustelle – Raum für Junge Kunst, Düsseldorf, DE
N, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal, DE
2020 Sorry, Closed., Neuer Kunstverein Wuppertal, DE
Solo, Golestani Gallery, Düsseldorf, DE
2019 All Is One – Le Città Invisibili, Am Ende des Tages, Düsseldorf, DE

Awards & Residencies
2025 Mobiles Atelier am Ammersee, Working Grant, BBK Bayern

2024 Artist-in-Residence, P.air.s, Sigriswil, CH

2024 Brache Residency, Zukunftshof, Vienna, AT

2022 YOUNG ARTIST Publication Prize, Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur, Wienand Verlag

2020 Deutschlandstipendium

Paul DD Smith lives and works in Berlin. His practice unfolds through painting, installation, and text, engaging with processes of perception, transformation, and the instability of meaning. Often drawing on literary structures, mythological fragments, and speculative narratives, Smith constructs pictorial spaces that oscillate between figuration and abstraction, where forms appear to emerge, dissolve, and recombine.

Educated at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (MFA, Klasse Jutta Koether) and previously in the UK, Smith’s work reflects a sustained dialogue between painterly gesture and conceptual inquiry. His compositions frequently operate through layered associations—combining organic, symbolic, and architectural elements—creating environments that feel at once intimate and disorienting. Language, both implicit and explicit, plays a central role, not as a fixed system of communication but as a fluid material that shapes and destabilizes visual experience.

Smith has presented his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Europe, including The Chiral Gate at 1646, The Hague (2023), The Modern Cyclops at Rear Window, Berlin (2024), and Telepathic Satellite at Galerie Inga Kondeyne, Berlin (2025). His work has also been shown at institutions and project spaces such as Kunstverein Springhornhof, Kinderhook & Caracas, Chert Lüdde, and ACUD Macht Neu. Alongside his exhibition practice, he has contributed to workshops, seminars, and artist talks, reflecting an ongoing interest in collaborative and discursive formats.

His work has been supported by grants and residencies including the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen exhibition funding (2023), Neustart Kultur (2022), Kulturprojekte Berlin (2021), and the Künstlerhaus Vorwerkstift residency (2016).

Andreas moved to Germany with his parents at the age of four. Coming from a family of craftsmen, his talent and passion for drawing were recognized early on. Despite this, he first pursued a degree in graphic design at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, which he successfully completed. After working as a freelance designer, Andreas chose to further his artistic development by enrolling at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 2017. Studying under Professor Thomas Scheibitz, he completed his degree in spring 2023.
Andreas lives and works in Düsseldorf.

Lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany

Education

2023 — Meisterschüler with Prof. Thomas Scheibitz

2017–2023 — Akademiebrief, Fine Art, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf

2009–2013 — BA with Honors in Communication Design, Peter Behrens School of Arts, Hochschule Düsseldorf

Grants

2022–2023 — Best Kunstförderpreis 2022, Best Gruppe Düsseldorf
2020–2021 — Deutschlandstipendium, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf

Solo Shows

2026 Art Rotterdam

2025 Ruf der Trompeten (Call of the Trumpets), wildpalms, Düsseldorf, DE

2024 ALBA, Shazar Gallery, Naples, IT

2023 Stein und Tier, Master Thesis, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, DE

2022 ARARAT, BEST GRUPPE, Düsseldorf, DE

Group Shows

2026 Something in The Water, wildpalms, Düsseldorf, DE
2025 Arte Santander 2025

2024 1. Ausstellung, Storage Museum, Düsseldorf, DE

My Travel Diary, Metalhouse Gallery, Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Atelier Spielplatz, Teloy Mühle, Meerbusch, DE

Taking Shelter, Johanna-Ey-Foundation, Düsseldorf, DE

2023 Durch den Spiegel, Thomas Scheibitz mit Studierenden, Eichenmüllerhaus, Lemgo-Brake, DE
Selected Positions, Positions Berlin Art Fair, DE
On Animals, DC Open, wildpalms, Düsseldorf, DE
J+1, Jarmuschek + Partner, Berlin, DE

2022 To Swim or What Binds Us, Seewerk, Moers, DE
Cats and Dogs, La Felce, Cologne, DE
Accurate Glitch, Jarmuschek + Partner, Berlin, DE

Der Bogen im Auge, KIT – Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, DE

2021 Die Grosse 2021, Kunstausstellung in NRW, Kunstpalast & NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, DE

2020 Hanna Ando, ASTA Ausstellungsraum, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, DE
Academy Positions, Positions Berlin Art Fair, DE