Anne Imhof Dances with Death in ‘Citizen’

Anne Imhof's new solo exhibition, "Citizen," opened at Sprüth Magers in London this week and will run through August 1. The exhibition showcases a range of new works, including wave paintings, drawings, installations, and a film, building upon themes explored in her 2025 shows, "DOOM" and "Fun ist ein Stahlbad." Imhof, known for her multidisciplinary approach encompassing performance, sculpture, painting, dance, installation, and film, presents "Citizen" as a chronicle of her artistic career. The exhibition features monumental scratched wave paintings, such as the six-meter "The Lake of My Mother's Tears" (2025) and "You Are Queen so I Will Bow to You" (2026), which are digitally constructed and then layered with oil paint. The titular film, "Citizen," is a four-channel work shot on an iPhone by one of the performers from her "DOOM" exhibition. Complementing these pieces are crowd barrier installations, oil pastel drawings, and bronze reliefs. The exhibition also includes pencil drawings inspired by the "Danse macabre" and erotic paintings of women, adding a pictorial dimension to Imhof's exploration of mortality, pleasure, restraint, and movement.