Documentary broadcast about the exhibition in Guangzhou/China
Kui Yuan television broadcast January 2013
The Struggle for a Place
about the former Australian Embassy in the GDR, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
– FA Week 37, 2018 | by Hanna Bethke
Saying goodbye in a dignified atmosphereBarbara Lay | Berlin Zehlendorf | 2016
Aus dem nichts schöpfen [Creating out of nothing]
Article by Paul Mackay with pictures from Marion Ehrsam
Weekly publication ‘The Goetheanum’ | No. 7-8/2015
A Long Road Back
About the exhibition ‘Lichtraum II in the old post office in Riehen
Riehenerzeitung | rz August 2011
Wedding is next – now art too
Visit to the Künsterlin ME.
weekly newspaper – Der Nordberliner
March 2011 | by Maria Heinze
Extracts from press and publications
Marion Ehrsam is a painter, designer and set designer. She often creates works on paper or uses thin gauze as a background for her paintings and drawings. She uses ink and colours with lots of water for soft surfaces, in contrast to the hard chalk and charcoal of drawings.
Some of her works are abstract, but mostly she interprets motifs, and these are often based on nature. She is interested in the expression that is conveyed by the work: She focuses on the flight of the eagle, the power of the bull, the strength of the lion.
In one series, she revisits the Norse epic poem by Olaf Åsteson: ‘It was Olaf Åsteson, he slept for so long… ‘ He slept for 13 nights, traveling through the spiritual planes. This legend of a near-death experience is the subject of the artist’s series of twelve large canvases.
Another nine-part cycle illustrates the Indian legend of the white and black wolf – the light and dark characters in each of us: ‘Two beings live, oh, in my heart. The black one is ignorant, selfish and full of impatience and anger. . . The other, the white one, lives with love and compassion for all living things around him… . So, tell me, which wolf is the stronger one in your heart? The one that I feed.’
This shows the artist’s interest in philosophical and psychological topics. Her philosophy of life is also reflected in her works, in her motifs and the light shades of colour on delicate backgrounds. One of the texts to a large, multi-part work ends with the final sentence: ‘…wrap everything in lightness – lightness and humour are healing miracles’.
Simona Doletzki (art historian) – 2019 on the occasion of an art festival in the former Australian Embassy of the GDR in Pankow
AT the Border to Recognise is an exhibition with . . . works by Marion Ehrsam, a Swiss artist who has lived in Berlin since 2009; . . . The 41 works by Marion are showcased in several batches separately featuring different themes: a legend of two wolves — black, which stands for ignorance, selfishness and impatience, and white, which cultivates kindness, love and compassion; something to remind herself of never forgetting lightness and humour, which perform miracles; and questions such as “Where does my strength come from? Who may benefit from it? And where is it headed?”
Beginning her studies at the Basle School of Art & Design in Switzerland at age 15, Marion graduated with a master’s degree five years later. She then worked as a designer in Basle, Paris and Bologna and afterwards moved to Germany, where she studied movement and dance in Stuttgart and worked in design, photography, stage and costume design in Hamburg and later in Freiburg. In 2007, someone asked her, “Can you do exhibitions?” She replied: “Yes” which started her career in painting.
Marion’s paintings are on a combination of Chinese rice paper and a layer of thin fabric such as silk or gauze. She stuck the two materials together and drew a background with watercolour before using chalk to do drawings. “I’m a creator. I never copy others’,” she said in earnest. Apart from the wolf paintings, most of Marion’s artworks are in white or very light colours. “I want to take things with easiness and humour,” she smiled. Marion created the exhibits in five weeks in her rented apartment in Zhuhai. “My works are more spiritual and philosophical,” she said. . . .
China – Englische Beilage der Tageszeitung von Zhuhai – Betty Lin, Zhuhai Daily, 20. Mai 2013
“…Perhaps it is precisely the security of a mature and experienced woman that makes her paintings extremely light. Her works are gentle, honest and sublime. Nevertheless, they have an expressiveness that immediately captivates the viewer. They fascinate not only by their special nature, but above all they give reason and courage for depth and for dreaming.
Carolin Reinhartz – on the occasion of the exhibition in the gallery Flächenland – Berlin 2012
“Movement as a painting style and clear, simple forms – few colours, but many nuances between black and white, light and lightness also in the material – these are the characteristics of Marion Ehrsam’s paintings. There is hardly any tranquillity, but an intimate home, which is worked out energetically. The observer comes into movement and rest at the same time, and is addressed as a seeker…”
Georg Hegglin – on the occasion of the exhibition in Stollenrain – Arlesheim 2012