ARTIST STATEMENT

Every day, we must ask different people different questions, explore sources, and gather diverse experiences to shape ourselves and discover our own truths. We decide whether to make things visible or keep them hidden.

Making decisions means never truly knowing where they will lead. How will the other person react or respond? What‘s behind the curtain? What will happen, if I press this button? Am I responding to this impulse? Am I making contact?

I ask myself: Can we control the decisions we make? And do we have the courage to face the consequences? Are we off track? Failing? Starting over?

At the heart of my paintings lies a triangle: a point in time, a place, and an emotion. To me, life is a series of encounters. Each place, each decision, each person becomes exactly what they are because of a unique chain of events. But the most fascinating moments are when you encounter yourself. You stumble upon a question you’ve once asked, a memory, a feeling, or an unexpected impulse.

Everyday situations and objects fascinate me. Diversity, observation, and research drive me. Switches, keyholes, LEDs, and loudspeakers, stripped of their original functionality and location, are the motifs of my RESET. series. I understand them as symbols of active decision-making processes. Confronting and encountering–my works is pleasantly uncomfortable. It radiates depth and calm. Through their size and technique of painterly representation, they invite the automatic desire to touch.

Getting up close and personal, consciously engaging with what I am doing now or what I will be doing next. It is my goal to offer space for mental „what-if“ scenarios to unfold. Personally. Directly. Emotionally. Consciously. In touch with the self and humanity.

CV

EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS

2026 in planning:
BBK Hamburg, Annual Exhibition, Group Show
Kulturhaus Marne, Solo Show;

2025
OH Galerie, Karlsruhe, Group Show
Art MUC, presented by ExtractArt, Berlin, Group Show
Discovery Art Fair, Köln, Solo Show;
viele farben, 2025, OH Galerie, Karlsruhe, Group Show;

2024
altonale Kunstherbst 2024, Hotel Pacific, Hamburg, Group Show;
Supper Club GalerY, Jeanette Walther, Sprockhövel, Group Show ;
Anonymous Drawings Berlin
, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, Group Show;
Zeitlos, der salon, Eiskeller Hamburg, Solo Show:;
New Works, Studio Show, Hamburg;
Transformation, New Bedford Art Museum, USA, Group Show

2023
MoNo, ExtractArt, Berlin, Group Show;
Position. Exhibition and Forum, BBK Hamburg, Group Show;
Le Debut, White Wall Collectors Club, Salzburg, Group Show;
Sehtest, OH Galerie, Karlsruhe, Group Show;
#006 Raum, Taylor Wessing x Galerie Holthoff, Hamburg, Group Show;

2022
Emergent realities and the fabrication of now, San Francisco, Cachronicle Volume 2, Online Group Show;
Anonymous Drawings Hamburg, Hyper Cultural Passengers (HYCP) Veddel Space, Group Show;
Discovery Art Fair Frankfurt, Solo Show;
Art Matters 6, Galerie Biesenbach, Online Group Show;

2021
The Safe House, Studio Janine Seelen, Solo Show

 

COLLABORATIONS

2025
THE.BETTERHEIM, Frederike Bettermann, Kittlitz, Solo Show

2024
Supper Club GalerY, Jeanette Walther, Sprockhövel, Gruppenausstellung

2023
AREA Showroom Linz, Austria

since 2022, Segelflieger music and paintings with composer Roland Mattner

2022
Film co-production RUHE/CALM in collaboration with director Mark Seelen

2021
Graphic concept and design of the book #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis at The International Center of Photography (ICP), New York,
C6 – Interpretation of the poem TOO Much for JoJo @isadisasta for a book project, Leipzig

 

PUBLICATIONS

2025, Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary, Ana Bambić Kostov, https://discoveryartfair.com/de/janine-seelen-koeln-2025/

2024, Transformation, New Bedford Art Museum, USA, Exhibition Catalogue;
#30 – OUR HOUSE – Der SALON Podcast, Antje Wewer

2023, Taylor Wessing #006 Raum, Journey between Internal and External Spaces,Belinda Grace Gardner, Exhibition Catalogue

2022, Transformierte Vielschichtigkeit, Birgit Franke, Architura Magazine;
The Energy of the ordinary as created by Janine Seelen, Ana Bambić Kostov, www.discoveryartfair.com/janine-seelen/;
In Between, Linda Hell, Art Market Magazine;
Talk to me,  Jeanette Kunsmann, A&W Magazin;
Painting the Ordinary Surrounded by Space, brochure

2022, 2020, Neobrutalism, article in ELLE DECOR ITALIA/CHINA/JAPAN, ELLE DECORATION UK

 

ART AWARDS

2025, Art Matters 14, Galerie Biesenbach Berlin, Honourable Mention, My Daily Dose

2023, Art Matters 7, Galerie Biesenbach Berlin, Honourable Mention, River House

2022, The Gold List, Art Market Magazine, Zones

2022, Art Matters 6, Galerie Biesenbach Berlin, Honourable Mention, Zones

2021, LICC, London: Final Selection, The Safe House, fine art series

 

INTERDISCIPLINARY AWARDS

2020, LICC, London: Official Selection, Interior Design, Neobrutalism in collaboration with Mark Seelen

2019, Indigo Design Award: Silver, Branding, Get Excycled;
Indigo Design Award: Gold, Integrated Design, Dr. Branding

 

GRAPHIC AWARDS

2019
IF Design Award: Winner, Book Design, The Story of a Brand;
German Design Award, Rat für Formgebung: Winner, Book Design, The Story of a Brand;
DDC, Gute Gestaltung
: Bronze, Book Design, The Story of a Brand;
Indigo Design Award: Gold, Book Design, The Story of a Brand

1999
SPD: Merit Award, Mode Magazine, Single Page;
American Corporate Identity: Award of Excellence, Mode Magazine, Logo Design

1998
Graphic Design USA: Excellence in Communication and Graphic Design, Le Journal de Chanel

1997
Summit Creative Awards: Bronze, Mode Magazine, Launch;
Summit Creative Awards: Silver, Zeitgeist, The Essence of the Moment;
Summit Creative Awards: Silver, Chanel, Le Journal de Chanel;
Summit Creative Awards: Gold, DKNY, Don’t Loose Control

1996
AIGA: Excellence in Environmental Design, L’Oréal, Cybershine

 

BIO

Janine Seelen is a painter with a career in the art and design world. After completing her graphic design studies in Germany, she moved to the USA and worked in New York and San Francisco for renowned companies, agencies, and publishers. In 1995, she founded her first graphic design studio in New York with a partner. In 2000, she returned to her hometown of Hamburg and continued her interdisciplinary graphic design work there. She provided practical training to many junior designers after their studies and placed them with renowned publishers and agencies. Since 2019, Seelen has worked exclusively as a freelance artist with exhibitions in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Salzburg, and the USA. Janine Seelen lives and works in Hamburg.

 

HISTORY

Since 2018 paintings and poetry
2002, founder and creative director of interdisciplinary graphic artist studio Creative Minds, Hamburg
2001, freelance creative consultant for publishing house Gruner & Jahr, Hamburg
2001, freelance creative consultant for publishing house Time Inc., NYC
2000, art director for publishing house Jahreszeiten Verlag, Hamburg
1995, founder, partner and creative director, interdisciplinary graphic artist studio, 360°, NYC
1994, freelance art director, Esprit, San Francisco
1994, freelance senior designer Sisman Design and Meredith Corporation, NYC
1993, freelance graphic artist Kirshenbaum, Bond and Partners, NYC
1993, master in graphic art and communication HBK Braunschweig, Germany

 

 

CONTACT

OFFICE & STUDIO

Janine Seelen
Friedensallee 44
D-22765 Hamburg
+49 170 3805781
janine@seelenplus.com

 

INSTAGRAM

@janine_seelen

 

PORTFOLIO

https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/janine-seelen