Cornelia Baltes
Hanging Out Again, 2014
Maternity Unit, Royal London Hospital
Wood, Pine veneer, Cherry Wood veneer, American Walnut veneer, paint
Artist Cornelia Baltes created her first public art commission for Vital Arts. Baltes took over an entire corridor in the Maternity Unit of The Royal London Hospital to create a charming installation of roosting birds perched on a handrail. This work is humorous and endearing, working with an economy of means – like a cartoonist without text. Using wood and a sparse palette of pastel paint, they bring a sense of warmth and natural materials into the hospital. Drawn with simple gestures, these large birds hover between abstraction and figuration.
Cornelia Baltes graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art; London in 2011. She has exhibited in solo and group shows at Deichtorhallen Hamburg; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz; Museum Wiesbaden; Chapter Arts Center, Cardiff; Mostyn, Llandudno (Wales); Northern Gallery for Contemporary Arts, Sunderland (UK), ICA London, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Kunsthalle Nuremberg; Museum Folkwang (Essen), Museum Kunst Palast Dusseldorf among many others.
