Vanessa Onuk

Vanessa Onuk developed her artistic practice alongside a career in medicine. Her work as a physician, including in Germany’s largest prison and in acute psychiatric care, deepened her interest in perception, emotion and the unconscious.

Her paintings often begin with landscapes, bodies or visual memories. She simplifies these motifs until only certain elements remain: a horizon, a mountain shape, a silhouette, a shift of light.

The use of diluted colour and absorbent surfaces creates a clear link with Color Field painting, especially Helen Frankenthaler. The comparison is strongest in the way pigment sinks into the support and becomes part of the surface itself. In Vanessa Onuk’s work, this technique preserves the feeling of a place without fixing it into a precise description.

The soft, ink-like forms can also recall Rorschach images, both in their appearance and in the way they leave room for personal interpretation. The comparison is especially interesting given Vanessa Onuk’s experience and her interest in perception and the unconscious. This openness is closely tied to the way she works with the material itself. Water and pigment move through the canvas in ways that can be guided but not fully controlled. Linen produces softer and more irregular transitions, while cotton allows sharper edges and stronger colour.

Her scientific background also shapes this way of working. She pays close attention to how colour and material behave, letting the image develop through a process of observation and response.