In . Corri .. and Door ..., Philip Emde (*1976 in Mannheim, lives and works in Cologne) resists the epilogue of a classical retrospective. The term feels too definitive for an oeuvre in which past, present, and possibility do not unfold sequentially, but exist simultaneously. Instead of looking backward, the exhibition bets on simultaneity. Memories, familial origins, artistic developments, and new experiences enter into dialogue with one another, forming a continuous present.

The Steiff animals are far more than recurring motifs within Emde’s work. Over decades, the artist has amassed an extensive collection and arranged them throughout his studios. His paintings and installations emerge from these figures. Sometimes they sit on shelves, sometimes they appear individually, and sometimes they encounter one another in carefully composed constellations. Elephants, frogs, monkeys, leopards, and crocodiles populate his pictorial world as active characters in a complex, emotional topography. – Elisa Mosch

Having exhibited extensively on an international level, the artist's work is widely represented in renowned private and institutional collections.