Agathe Böttcher

In the mid-1980s, Agathe Böttcher's patchworks stood out from the standard knitwear of the GDR's textile art and craft sectors. They were lively, abstract, more free art echoing the classical modernism of the 1920s than the result of socialist lace-making. They seemed like a sampling of the absurdities of everyday life in the GDR lying around, skewered and re-sewn in the frenzy of masking and unmasking. In a distance to the party's guidelines collaged from twine and fabric, Böttcher combined snippets of events and excerpts of reality.

Her cheerful farewell to standardised consciousness is rhythmically painterly. Untrammelled and mischievously vagabond, the artist turned away from the tight needle workers to give free rein to her imagination.
At the time, she was an encourager for younger people who were also trying to break out of the coddled art reserves.

In all the episodes of inner hopelessness, Agathe Böttcher approached an almost sketchy style of composition. The line dominates, the accompaniment to it is composed of tomboyishly implanted surfaces. Dots of colour bring each format into a completely natural swing, detailed forms can unfold, everything points in the direction of a ravishing, shamanistic brew.