Pratt Institute

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Education

M.F.A., Ohio State Univ

Biography

Andrea Loefke, Visiting Instructor; M.F.A., Ohio State University; M.Ed., University of Leipzig, Germany; solo exhibitions include Michael Steinberg Gallery, New York, Islip Art Museum, Galerie Schuster, Frankfurt, Germany, PH Gallery, New York; residence and fellowship awards, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Studio Program, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, N.Y., and the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, N.H.; reviews and feature in Sculpture magazine and Artforum. …once upon a time there was a world: whimsical, humorous, credulous, intimate, alien, glittering and obscure. In Loefke’s work, fictional narratives, dream worlds with anchors in the real, occupy a space between familiarity and fantasy. The groupings of objects and their placement in space become a journey of discovery. These fairy-like worlds are complex structures, resulting in playful, mysterious landscapes often with a strong sense of quite foreboding – the primary narrative holds a secondary within. She develops pathways for the viewer to travel. She links micro with macro worlds, the 2-dimensional with the 3-dimensional, encourages notions of irritation, and implied movement of the objects, and asks the viewer to relate oneself to the objects and the situations they present. Loefke’s main interest is to cultivate our human ability to fantasize, freely associate, create, be irrational and subjective and to allow an all-embracing experience. Andrea Loefke is a German born sculptor/installation artist with a Masters degree in art and physical education from Leipzig, Germany (year 2000) and an MFA in sculpture from Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio in 2003. As a student she received the prestigious “Outstanding Student Achievement In Contemporary Sculpture Awards”, offered by International Sculpture Center, Hamilton, NJ and published in Sculpture Magazine (Oct. 2002, Vol. 21, p. 56-61). This was followed by solo exhibitions at the Sculpture Center, and SPACES in Cleveland. After moving from Columbus, Ohio to New York, she immediately received a residency at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, as well as a one-year studio residency at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY. Already in September 2004, her fanciful installations were exhibited at PH Gallery – her first New York solo debut. A review on “ When the green frog changed into a happy prince.” followed in Artforum (Vol. Nov. 2004, p. 227-228). Since then she has shown extensively at different venues. Solo exhibitions include: 2005: “Ene mene miny mo”, Kiehle Gallery, St. Cloud State University, Saint Cloud, MN; 2006: “Oh, do let me help to undo it”, PH Gallery, New York, NY and at Galerie Schuster, Frankfurt, Germany: “Das muss gefeiert werden! Mit Krokant, Kandiszucker, Kremhuetchen,..!”; 2007: “Site Specifics’ 07 – Inandoutthroughandabout”, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY and “The squirrels, hedgehogs, and rabbits are indeed harmless”, Michael Steinberg Gallery, New York, NY. Numerous group shows and reviews in Sculpture Magazine (Dec, 2006, Vol. 25, p. 77-78), Brooklyn Rail (Vol. June 2005, p. 19) and in one of the main German newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine (Vol. 190, Thursday, August 17th, p.48) have accompanied the solo exhibitions through out the last years. Forthcoming is a lengthy feature in Sculpture Magazine, published in their 2008 March issue – “Once Upon A Time: A Conversation between Paul Black and Andrea Loefke”. During the summer months, Loefke will be a resident at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE.