Volcanic rock, earth and personal memories: in her Hamburg exhibition LIFELINES, Anna van den Hövel brings landscape and biography into the same frame.
There are different ways to preserve a landscape. As a photograph, as a memory – or as dust brought home from a journey. Anna van den Hövel takes such traces into her studio. Volcanic rock, earth and other collected fragments become part of her paintings. What has formed outdoors through time, pressure and movement continues to evolve on the canvas.
From 29 October to 27 November 2026, Daniel und die Kunst in Hamburg will present LIFELINES, an exhibition of works by the German painter. Its focus is on fault lines: the shifts that shape landscapes and leave their marks on individual lives.
Landscape within the material
Distinct formations run through van den Hövel’s paintings. Surfaces thicken, break apart and project outwards with an almost physical presence. They recall rock strata, mountain ranges or coastlines whose contours change under the influence of different forces.
This connection to landscape begins with the materials themselves. The artist combines her collected fragments with acrylic paint, charcoal, reused varnish and mortar. The earth she brings back has its own texture; the rock introduces a different density. Each new layer changes the conditions for the next.
The process of making remains visible in the works. Some areas appear open and ruptured, others compact or sealed. The eye follows ridges, recesses and lines across the surface. Landscape becomes tangible as something continually in motion.
From aerial views to personal memory
Born in 1996, van den Hövel grew up between Munich, the Austrian Alps and the coast of Menorca. These different environments continue to inform her work. Travel provides visual impressions and encounters that develop new connections in the studio. On her website, she also describes the artistic process as an extension of her journeys.
Aerial photographs are one starting point for her paintings. From a distance, landscapes become fields, contours and transitions. Details recede as larger structures emerge. Van den Hövel translates this visual vocabulary into abstract painting that also draws on personal experience.
Specific events remain unspoken. A journey is not retold, a turning point is not illustrated. Experience enters the treatment of the surface: the decision to add a layer, leave an area exposed or break open an existing form. In the finished painting, impressions of the outside world and inner shifts become difficult to separate.
Fault lines as shaping forces
LIFELINES connects geological faults with the transitions of a life. The title directs attention towards places where forces meet and set something in motion.
This is where the tension in these works lies. A crack can interrupt a surface while giving it a new direction. A dense passage can close something off or become the foundation for another layer. Change appears as a material process whose traces remain.
Van den Hövel’s paintings leave these processes open. Following their lines, viewers may recognise landscapes, sense memories or begin simply by looking at colour and material. The collected fragments have left their original locations behind. On the canvas, they become part of a new geography.
Exhibition
Anna van den Hövel | LIFELINES
29 October to 27 November 2026
Daniel und die Kunst
Am Kaiserkai 30, 20457 Hamburg, Germany
