katharina grosse expands painting beyond the canvas into space
I Set Out, I Walked Fast exhibition brings together new works, archival material, and a large in-situ installation by Katharina Grosse, assembling them into a single, continuous environment. Rather than following a chronological order, the exhibition connects works from different periods, allowing them to interact across time. Individual pieces function as points within a wider network, where relationships shift depending on movement and proximity.
Since the late 1990s, Grosse primarily worked with acrylic pigments applied with an industrial spray gun, a technique that extends the reach of the body and registers the act of painting as movement. The gesture is not contained within a surface but unfolds across space, linking the act of looking with the act of making. This approach draws from performance and spatial practices, where boundaries between artwork, site, and viewer are reduced.
all images courtesy of White Cube
a painted field extends from earth to canvas in grosse’s work
In the North Gallery, a large in-situ installation combines mounds of earth, a partially submerged canvas, and a bronze-cast sculpture into a single painted field. Colour moves across these elements without distinction, covering and connecting uneven surfaces while maintaining their presence. The installation operates as a continuous terrain, where painting overlays rather than replaces what is already there.
The 9x9x9 series, produced in the artist’s New Zealand studio, develops a different spatial logic. Each canvas is divided into two parts, with the artist alternating between them during the painting process. The resulting compositions create soft transitions and shifting edges, making it difficult to perceive both halves simultaneously. These works read less as images and more as spatial fragments.
In the South Gallery, selected works from the archive are presented alongside more recent paintings. Large-scale formats described as landscapes are installed together with works that employ masking and stencil techniques. Hard edges created through covering are interrupted by drips and overspray, while other areas remain diffuse. The edge becomes a site of transition, where different conditions of paint meet.
Across the exhibition, painting is treated as an open and evolving system. Works produced under different conditions and at different times are brought into proximity, allowing them to affect one another. Colour operates as an active element within space, shaping perception and producing a continuous interplay between surface, movement, and environment.
project info:
name: I Set Out, I Walked Fast
artist: Katharina Grosse | @katharina_grosse
location: White Cube, 144–152 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TQ
venue: White Cube | @whitecube
dates: April 22nd – May 31st, 2026
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