Goldsmiths CCA is proud to show Galli’s work in this large-scale exhibition. The exhibition feels personal, as we have been talking and thinking about Galli for several years. The privilege of bringing a practice of such wealth and significance to the CCA and to expose our audiences, especially students, to a body of painting and drawing which so intensely explores the human condition is truly an honour
Sarah McCrory, Director of Goldsmiths CCA
Galli, 1982. © Galli.
Photo: Hedwigis von Fürstenberg
In 2020 Galli secured her rightful place among the great neo-expressionist artists of modern times. While preparing for the 11th Berlin Biennale in 2020, one of its curators, Agustín Pérez Rubio, stumbled upon an artist’s book by Galli, leading to her inclusion in the exhibition. Galli is now celebrated as a highly collectible artist whose moving (and at times challenging) works speak of the hedonistic, volatile and progressive West Berlin art scene of the 1970s and 80s — an artistic era dominated by men, and one in which trailblazing feminists and activists like Galli often struggled for recognition.
Installation view: Galli, So, So, So (7 February 2025–4 May 2025) at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art. Courtesy Goldsmiths CCA.
Photo: Rob Harris.
Galli has emerged as a compelling figure in contemporary art, distinguished by her unflinching exploration of corporeality and the human condition. Her oeuvre, spanning painting, drawing, and collage, delves into themes of vulnerability, disfigurement, and ecstatic joy, offering a nuanced commentary on the complexities of existence. A salient feature of Galli’s work is her distinctive approach to figuration. Her characters, often rendered with sharp noses and contorted forms, inhabit a space that oscillates between the grotesque and the whimsical. Despite the depiction of violent scenes — figures with spikes driven through their necks or bearing stigmatic wounds — these subjects appear resigned, devoid of anguish, suggesting a commentary on human resilience and the acceptance of suffering.
Image 1: Galli, Turbasky, 1987, mixed media on cardboard, 122 × 86 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Nogueras Blanchard
Image 2: Galli, Monster v. Firenze, 1990, acrylic on burlap, 150 x 120 cm. Courtesy of LYRA
Galli’s artistic lineage can be traced to her studies under Martin Engelman, an artist whose works referenced Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel and Surrealism. This influence is evident in her impetuous, expressive painting style, which emerged alongside the Neue Wilde movement in Germany and Austria during the early 1980s. Her compositions are characterized by a complex interplay of figures, signs, disembodied parts, porous shapes, scribbles, words, interiors, animated architectural elements, domestic objects, and art historical motifs. This eclectic blend results in dynamic and thought-provoking works that invite viewers to engage deeply with the visual narratives she constructs.
Installation view: Galli, So, So, So (7 February 2025–4 May 2025) at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art. Courtesy Goldsmiths CCA.
Photo: Rob Harris.
This week we will celebrate with Galli at her first UK solo exhibition at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in London (7th Feb — 4th May.) So, So, So will include works from across the artist’s decades-long practice, including painting, books, collages and drawings. The exhibition’s title — So, So, So — refers to the melodic cadence of the artist’s speech, and, in both English and German, gestures to «openness, something to come, and excess.»
Image 1: GALLI, Fidschi im Transit, 1984, chalk and tempera on nettle, 125 x 100 x 2.9cm. Courtesy of the artist.
Image 2: Galli, ...und predigt den Husky´s die Liebe (o.T.)!, 1981/1987. Courtesy of the artist, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler and Cherñajorksy Collection
The works that will be on show at the exhibition have been selected from the 1980s to the 2000s. Some of these are part of series that used a particular formal device, such as the paravent folding screen. Others were made during a specific period, such as her residency in Florence in 1990. Often these works are large scale, physical works, that bear the traces of their making; «It’s about chaos, sorting, chaos, sorting.» Sometimes Galli would work on a figure and then completely paint over it, doing this time and again until the character that develops holds the desired emotional force and communicative energy. The resulting figures are anti-heroic, frequently genderless, abject, and often violently contorted and convulsed. They are rendered flesh through spare lines and vivid colour, provoking intense affect. Her approach to figures has often been read through the lens of her short stature and queerness, but Galli herself views this interpretation as limiting.
Installation view: Galli, So, So, So (7 February 2025–4 May 2025) at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art. Courtesy Goldsmiths CCA.
Photo: Rob Harris.
Works such as Hocker (1989) directly reference the act of art making as a violent process of fragmentation. Despite the intensely personal dialogue through which the works are created, they never impose a singular reading or refer to the artist as the arbiter of meaning. She draws on sources including mythology and the particularities of sexual desire, but she flattens hierarchies of interpretation through ambiguity. Other pieces concentrate more on domestic space, with figures growing out of washing machines or objects speaking to one another in claustrophobic, boxed-in spaces, inferring that the concept of ‘home’ can be both a ‘safe space’ and an unbearable pressure chamber that can swallow us up.
GALLI, o.T., 1989, Acrylic & emulsion on nettle (Acryl & Dispersion auf Nessel) 150 x 180 cm.
Ultimately, Galli’s works offer a powerful commentary on corporeality in a fractious and violent age. Her distinctive style and unflinching exploration of the human condition have established her as a significant figure in contemporary art, So, So, So will do much to highlight the enduring relevance and appeal of Galli’s work, cementing her legacy in the contemporary art landscape and ensuring that the artist will maintain her position in the annals of history.
So, So, So opens at Goldsmiths CCA on 7th February and will run until 4th May 2025.