Stella Maris
September 4, 2026 – November 7, 2026
Sophie Esslinger
Jacky Strenz
We are looking forward to Sophie Esslinger’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition will feature new paintings by the artist.
– the oscillation between the spheres. Up and down, heaven and hell, day and night, sleep and consciousness. Beyond—and within the landscape, the body is constructed, the crossing from the inner world into the outer world. A penetration or piercing in the form of arrows, dripping stars, and furry celestial bodies. In the presence of the absent, a shadowy backdrop and its sharp, pointed, and soft protagonists. The world is in flux, shaping and promising a panorama—the story of the eye, of seeing and recognizing. The world is an artificial one, in which the temperature scale of an exhibited material converges in extreme heat and bitter cold. Realisms and phantasms are explored in every possible way and follow a single trail—the dream of an image without beginning or end—
Text: Sophie Esslinger
SOPHIE ESSLINGER * 1996 in Linz. Lives and works in Düsseldorf. 2014–2017 Studied Comparative Literature (B.A.), University of Vienna 2017–2021 University of Applied Arts Vienna (under Jan Svenungsson) 2021–2025 Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts (under Thomas Scheibitz) 2025 Master’s degree under Thomas Scheibitz, Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts Residencies 2026 Passage Residency, Willebadessen Castle 2025 YARW Residency, Weidingen Exhibitions (Selection) (2026) *stella maris*, Jacky Strenz, Frankfurt am Main, DE (S); *ATLAS*, Jenny up the Hill, Syros, GR (S); *Jalousie* (c: Svenja Frisch), Galerie 3AP, Düsseldorf, DE (S); *The Storm Is Made of Air* (c: Thomas Scheibitz), SchauFenster Berlin, Berlin, DE (G); *PRISMATIC ROOM*, Kunstverein Heppenheim, DE (S). (2025) Graduate Exhibition, Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, DE (DE); *TOX INDIGO*, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Berlin (S). (2024) glas körper, Baustelle Schaustelle, Düsseldorf, DE (S); ein fleck sonne (c: Anna Ignatovich), Vienna Collector’s Club, Vienna, AT (S); JOSEFF_ROT HAT EIN BOOT (selected by Thomas Scheibitz), JVDW Gallery, (2023) Through the Mirror, Eichenmüllerhaus Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst e.V., Lemgo, DE (G); Winter Exhibition of the Düsseldorf-Palermo Association, Haus der Kunst, Palermo, IT, (G). (2022) Cool Stars, Galerie Hilger Ballgasse, Vienna, AT (S); The Arc in the Eye, KIT Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, DE (G). (2021) *Unter Stoffen*, Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna, AT (G). *
* *Artists As Independent Publishers*, Weserburg Museum, Bremen; Shortlisted for the Bank Austria Art Prize Carinthia 2021, Kunstverein Kärnten; *
* For further information, please contact die Galerie. jacky@jackystrenz.com