Karin Sander Gebrauchsbild 187/12, Im Garten während der Gebäudesanierung, Berlin-Zehlendorf / Patina Painting 187/12, In The Garden During Building Renovation, Berlin-Zehlendorf, 2018

Patina Paintings (Gebrauchsbilder) are ready-made canvases in standard formats that Karin Sander leaves at a selected location for a limited, defined period of time. Usually the artist choses environments that unavoidably leave their mark on the canvas: for example, gardens, balconies, cellars, terraces, or waterfronts.

Over a period determined by the artist specifically for each piece, traces of the environment, like dust, stains, mold, marks of rain, snow or earth, start to be visible on the canvas. The transformed painting then becomes a unique testimony of the time spent at the certain location and thus in way a portrait of that place.

The titles of the works refer to the places where they were 'produced' and to the duration of time which the painting spent acquiring its particular patina. This work is from a series of canvases placed at the Haus am Waldsee in advance of Karin Sander's 2018 solo exhibition at the Berlin-based non-profit exhibition space.