BIG LETTERS, BRIGHT COLORS

Letters, words, sentences: in contemporary painting, they carry not only literal meaning but can become an independent pictorial motif in their own right. The Kunsthalle Emden dedicates a new exhibition to this field of tension: “GROSSE BUCHSTABEN, GRELLE FARBEN (BIG LETTERS, BRIGHT COLOURS)” (August 15, 2026 – February 28, 2027) brings together around twenty works by contemporary artists and asks how lettering functions within an image: What does it add to the work, how is it shaped artistically? Can script convey something that cannot be captured in words alone?

Script within the image has been an art-historical subject since at least classical modernism. The Dada movement provided pioneering impulses here; in later movements such as Neo-Expressionism and the Neue Wilde – both collection focal points of the Kunsthalle Emden – script also became an elemental component of the picture. In the works gathered here, it appears in manifold forms: as a quotation, as a complementary element, or as the actual main motif. The formal design is always in productive tension with the literal, linguistic, or symbolic content. The manipulation and alienation of script becomes an artistic decision.

The exhibition is complemented by works from graffiti writers selected by artist MadC as co-curator. These works make clear that script as a formal and artistic device unfolds its full effect not only in modern and contemporary painting, but equally in graffiti.

BIG LETTERS, BRIGHT COLORS

When?
August 15, 2026 to February 28, 2027

Where?
Kunsthalle Emden

Further information are available via the official website of Kunsthalle Emden.