Ju Schnee | marc-cain.com/en

EVERYTHING IN SHAPE!
Ju Schnee is known for her squiggly artwork. Now, she is opening a solo exhibition in Berlin.

When we asked Ju Schnee for an interview in late June, she was instantly on board. “I’d love to!” she promptly responded. And might she visit the next Marc Cain fashion show? That’s how it came about that, one week later, Ju Schnee watched the “Pure Radiance” show during Berlin Fashion Week and, in the same week, opened her solo exhibition in Berlin. What timing.

EVERYTHING IN SHAPE!
Ju Schnee is known for her squiggly artwork. Now, she is opening a solo exhibition in Berlin.

PLAY OF COLOURS

The paintings and sculptures at the exhibition in Berlin are characterised by their high colour intensity.

PLAY OF COLOURS

The paintings and sculptures at the exhibition in Berlin are characterised by their high colour intensity.

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The woman with the poetic name is a multimedia artist and combines painting with augmented reality. The 32-year-old digitally designs multiple versions of her paintings and layers them using an app. When you point a smartphone camera at them, the works come to life: squiggles start to escape from the canvas, circle and swirl, pop out at the viewer or suddenly change shape. “I like the idea that everything is in flow,” says Ju Schnee about her work. Much better than a picture that hangs motionless on the wall.

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Her theme, squiggles, brings to mind loops that have been casually doodled on a piece of paper. The presenter of a children’s TV channel referred to them as “scribbles”. “Maybe that’s exactly what they are: wonderful scribbles,” says Ju Schnee and laughs as we meet her at the Better Go South gallery in Berlin, where she is making the final preparations for her exhibition. “But I call them ‘Ju Schnee Shapes’.” She is constantly painting these, and even discovered them in her old school books. So why not make them her artistic theme?

EXHIBITION

Ju Schnee is opening her solo exhibition “Good Luck” at the Better Go South gallery in Berlin. Several of her works were created in the accompanying studio.

EXHIBITION

Ju Schnee is opening her solo exhibition “Good Luck” at the Better Go South gallery in Berlin. Several of her works were created in the accompanying studio.

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WIGAN wide-cut Rethink Together jeans

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Two-tone sneakers

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Patch-look nappa leather coat

699,00 €

WIGAN wide-cut Rethink Together jeans

249,00 €

Two-tone sneakers

219,00 €

What sets Schnee’s work apart is the way she combines art with digital experiences – an approach that stems from her degree. The native Austrian studied communication design – against the wishes of her parents. “I come from a modest background and was an excellent student. My parents hoped I would study law or medicine,” she explains. But she has always loved art and already spent a lot of time painting as a student. After graduating, she had jobs as an illustrator, before moving to Berlin in 2017 with her husband, a film director. Two years later, Ju Schnee opened her own studio. “The timing could not have been worse, so soon before the coronavirus pandemic,” says Schnee. She had given up her illustration jobs, and of course, no one was visiting galleries during lockdown. “That was hard.”

But she held onto her dream. For one, because there is nothing she loves as much as art. And also because it would be a shame not to try. “Courage, openness and ambition,” answers Ju Schnee with apt spontaneity, when asked which three qualities define her. Of course there were doubters, who wondered what it was all about. And the art scene itself posed its challenges: as a newcomer, her chances were slim at many galleries. But then one day, she sold a sculpture to the artist Tim Bengel. Various gallerists became aware of Ju Schnee. Exhibitions followed in Los Angeles, the art fair in Seoul, collaborations with prestigious clients such as Motel a Miio, for whom she painted ceramics, and Porsche, for whom she designed the facade of the Porsche brand store in Stuttgart. “You could scan a QR code and then experience the installations in 3D,” explains Ju Schnee. “The visitors would bend down with their phones in front of their eyes and appear to pass through something. It was great to see people leave their daily lives behind for a few moments and playfully explore another world.”

PERFECTLY FORMED

Ju Schnee designs her sculptures (left) digitally. Then they are cast by hand at a workshop in London.

PERFECTLY FORMED

Ju Schnee designs her sculptures (left) digitally. Then they are cast by hand at a workshop in London.

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Little escapes are important to Ju Schnee, as a counterweight to her daily business, both professional and private. “In 2023, we moved back to Vienna, because many of our friends live there. It’s familiar and nice to meet up with them.” Since then, Ju Schnee commutes between Vienna and Berlin. Her apartment in Austria is minimalistically furnished, with light-coloured furniture and just a few of her artworks. She practises yoga as often as she can, and has even qualified to teach it. “It gives me peace. I can express myself with my movements, like with my art, and enjoy doing that with other people,” she says. If she were not an artist, she would be a yoga teacher. Schnee’s work shows how interrelated the two are: many of her shapes are named after asanas.

Her exhibition in Berlin will last for two months, and then it’s off to China, where her work will be displayed at a gallery in Beijing. And in the winter? “I travel to Spain with my husband. Every year, we go to the seaside and escape the northern weather,” she says. And beams with happiness.

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WAUKEE wide cut trousers

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CREDITS
Photography: Lena Giovanazzi, Production: Vanessa Zeeh, Styling: Max Jolivet/Nina Klein, Hair & Make-up: Maria Ehrlich, Photo assistance: Meret Eberl, Text: Katrin Rave

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