LIVERPOOL.- Tate Liverpool presents the first major UK exhibition of the New York based artist Charline von Heyl (b 1960). Von Heyl is at the forefront of a new generation of abstract painters who have acknowledged painting’s contradictions and rejected late modernism’s emphasis on signature style.

Forty-two large canvasses and a number of unique works on paper are displayed, covering the period 1990-2011. Taking a broadly chronological approach, the exhibition demonstrates von Heyl’s eclectic approach to painting. Often employing unconventional painting methods and actively resisting a single style or vision, she has constantly reinvented the art form.

Born in Germany in 1960, von Heyl studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with Jörg Immendorf and Fritz Schwegler. She witnessed first hand painting’s resurgence in the 1980s through the vibrant Köln-based art scene, where radical and experimental approaches to painting by artists such as Martin Kippenberger and Albert Oehlen began a dramatic expansion of the field.

Von Heyl’s work can be found in the collections of major international institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She has had solo exhibitions at Le Consortium, Dijon; the Dallas Museum of Art; and the Vienna Secession. ICA Philadelphia presents a survey of her work from 7 September 2011 – 19 February 2012, travelling to ICA Boston from 21 March – 8 July 2012. The US surveys trace the development of von Heyl’s work over the last decade, drawing on works in American collections.

Charline von Heyl is organised in collaboration with Kunsthalle Nuremberg, where the exhibition will be displayed from 11 July – 30 September 2012. The exhibition is curated by Gavin Delahunty, Head of Exhibitions & Displays, Tate Liverpool and Ellen Seifermann, Director, Kunsthalle Nuremberg.