"I develop my large-scale acrylic paintings based on charcoal drawings. The spontaneous, gestural impulse of drawing remains visible and forms the basis for a painterly transformation into intense, pop-infused color worlds. Text fragments occasionally appear within the images, functioning as visual interruptions, narrative hints, or associative elements that extend the pictorial space.
My work revolves around themes such as fashion, film, and everyday culture—fed by memories, visual fragments, and media impressions. I am not concerned with representation, but with a free, intuitive synthesis. Figures and motifs detach from their original references and are translated into an independent visual language, where image and text can interact, overlap, or contradict each
other.
The transition from charcoal to color is a decisive moment in my working process: reduction and condensation meet expressive color. My painting aims to be immediate, emotional, and intuitively accessible. I work with a direct visual language that deliberately remains open and allows space for individual associations, with text fragments reinforcing or disrupting perception. In this way, works emerge that oscillate between drawing and painting, memory and present, control and spontaneity—freely interpreted and at the same time precise in their visual impact." - Gabrielle Graessle
The uninfluenced, pure way of freely expressing oneself creatively has always fascinated Graessle. The idea is to return to the innocence with which a child sees and captures the world. But she was discouraged to use this approach, for fear that it might be considered too quick and seen as unfinished. Supported by her long-standing experience in her current practice, she has found a unique path to lightness and ease in her painting style.
She works on several large format, colored, intuitive and figurative paintings at the same time. Drawings are still an important part of her work as they are spontaneous expressions of her thoughts and stories and are often the starting point for her paintings.