Smiling Woman,

                 The artistic works to the subject ‘Laugh’ of Ulrike Bolenz

Freedom, understanding, sympathy, soulfulness, optimism, self-confidence, sovereignty – positive terms which are brought in conjunction primarily to human laugh.

Laughter can be understood as a form of communication between people, which, in its conflict-reducing effect, encourages the human interaction, creates a community spirit and consensus.

But this positive effect of forming a strong sense of community also contains a hidden essential anarchic feature of laugh: the critical questioning of and

disrespect for authorities. Thus authorities often feel provoked by this openly emotional expression – as recently became public.

The subject “laugh” can rarely be found in the history of art, as on one hand the early clergy condemned laughter as unchristian and as on the other hand the cause of laughter can not be pictured in works of Fine Arts like paintings, sculptures, etc.

Nevertheless several early Masters such as Frans Hals, Rubens, etc. have been dealing with this subject, lately also Chinese artists.

In her installations and paintings the artist Ulrike Bolenz often contains social, political and scientific time-critical themes and thus broach the issue of fears of modern man.

Her artistic works are emotional, touching and are making thoughtful.

For twenty years now the topic humor in the expression of laughter is already part of the oevre of Ulrike Bolenz.. In 1996 an installation of hers, a group of laughing women, has been on display at the famous Berliner Dom, in the following years in french churches and 2005 in Ghent in the chapel Campo Santo.

The delight, expressed at the art works with the topic laugh, Ulrike Bolenz also understands as a resistance against the human atrocities in our time.

The latest tragic situation in Paris in January 2015 confirms a fortiori the topicality of her works and can also be understood as an artistic effort to preserve optimism and joie de vivre and to reduce fears of the people.

The artistic work of Ulrike Bolenz includes sculptures and large-scale installations in a unique photo sculpture technique by Ulrike Bolenz and works on canvas and wood in oil, acrylic and mixed media.