Scary housemates

We, the beholders like to fall into ‚Anne Kückelhaus’ cutness-traps: strong horses, cuddly cats, devoted dogs – are they cute!
Tricked, clicked! They are nasty. All dead animals, exhausted, empty covers – caught red-handed, served fresh. At times of cold elegancy, immaculately shiny, sometimes artfully painted, at other times with a thick layer of glaze. Kitsch and nostalgia lurk beneath. Always combined with the strange.
Wounds bloom like roses. A horse loses it’s head in full speed and remains as an empty cover on the ground, picture and wall and sculpture fuse in an ornament into a haunting vision.
Beastly mean and cruel like a dream.

Stephan Trescher, 2010

Anne Kückelhaus, born in 1977, dedicates her pieces to the topic of animals as a screen for human feelings, characteristics and longings. Cats, dogs or rabbits are initially presented in a naturalistic setting, seemingly from kitsch-culture. But missing body parts, the reduction to a flabby outer skin, unnatural postures and the combination with objects known from household use, like a hot-water bottle neck or a laundry-hook, point to a different, more existential context.

Julia Garnatz, 2007