Tapeti

At the center of her work are often everyday or seemingly familiar motifs that Ortmeyer formally reduces, shifts, or transforms. The wallpaper Palma, created for the evn collection, follows this approach. It belongs to the KOKO cycle, in which the artist examines images of paradise, escapism, and promises of wealth. Another key work from this cycle is the sculpture KOKO I, also part of the evn collection, originally produced for an exhibition at Belvedere 21. Wallpaper and sculpture are closely connected conceptually, expanding the visual and spatial field of KOKO across different dimensions.

The palm tree — within a Western cultural context an easily legible symbol of exoticism, longing for elsewhere, and carefree leisure — has been a staple motif of decorative wallpapers in (Western) European living spaces since the 1970s. In Ortmeyer’s work, however, this motif is stripped of its bright colors and translated into grey or muted tones, thus removed from any naturalistic idyll. In Palma, too, the palm tree is freed from its decorative function: appearing as a grove of palms in varying sizes, it forms an ambivalent image world. The silvery, shimmering surface evokes no promise of paradise but instead points to its fragility.

Text: Heike Maier-Rieper, 2026

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)