Katharina Grosse (German, b.1961) is a painter known for her use of sprayed acrylic colors to produce large-scale installations and smaller works. Born in Freiburg, Grosse studied at the art academies of Münster and Düsseldorf.
Grosse uses a compressor-powered spray painter for her paintings, often combining loud colors in horizontal and vertical structures. The colors remain transparent, allowing the viewer to see the layers underneath. Drawing from a range of art historical practices, her work is inspired by fresco, en plein air painting, Abstract Expressionism, and graffiti art.
Grosse is a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany. She has had solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as the Suburban in Chicago, the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, among others. Grosse’s work is held in collections internationally, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland, the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, and the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea in Santiago de Compostela.
The artist currently lives and works in Düsseldorf and Berlin.
