SINGAPORE.- In her 5th solo exhibition, Miaja Art Collections presents Stefanie Hauger’s solo exhibition titled ‘Stone Stacks’ – This series is a departure from the use of acrylic paint, which was Stefanie’s medium of choice, back into oil and a more painterly, narrative approach.

This series is a reflection on and purging of 10 years in Stefanie’s life during which she had to confront and process many raw emotional challenges. It all began with a game: choose one word to describe each year in the last decade, an honest summary of the overriding emotions of each of those 12 months. Each painting represents one of these years when the artist was struggling and battling for a way out of the darkness. Every canvas is a landmark of soul-searching, burying unwanted emotions and remnants of pain, and collectively these paintings become a pilgrimage back to her inner gravity and truth.

Stone Stacks, also known as Cairns or Rock Stacks, are mounds of stones balanced precariously on top of one another in seemingly physically impossible positions, with gravity playing a key role in the success of the structure. The act of stacking stones is a practice of great patience, huge physical effort, and concentration, thereby translating into a vehicle for meditation and problem-solving. Each rock can have a significant representation ranging from thankfulness or a gesture of worship to the purging of emotions and to deep catharsis, stone by stone.

The paintings use energetic colour combinations and undulating, intertwining oversized brushstrokes that appear to vibrate against one another as if in a trance-like, rhythmic dance, challenging the viewer to take part in this intoxication emotionally whilst also recognizing that there is something intangible in the fragility and imbalance the paintings portray.

Stefanie Hauger studied Industrial Design and worked as an interior architect for 27 years until the present. In 2002 she founded lifestyle emporium Vanilla Home which enabled her to showcase other artists’ and, later, her own works. She returned to fine art fully in 2011 and today combines her varied experiences in the world of art and design to create paintings and sculptures with a definite wow factor.

Stefanie creates large-scale, bold, and colourful canvases that are designed to literally and aesthetically influence the spaces that they find themselves in, to be unapologetically, physically, and spiritually. Her intention and wish for the viewer is uninhibited engagement and interaction with the imagery, allowing it to ‘get under your skin’ so to speak, and thus leading to a deeper dialogue with its complex visual language. Aesthetic conviction and fearlessness are two of her distinctive traits.

Stefanie is utterly committed to pulling out all the stops when it comes to the creation of her works. Using only the finest materials and never compromising on scale or impact she creates paintings and sculptures that accentuate personality and charm. Stefanie always approaches her work with spatial considerations, creating large-scale works that literally change their surroundings through their bold palette and freedom of expression. Every work of art is seen as a new challenge which explains the artists’ foray into a variety of styles and voices over the last 9 years. She enjoys pushing her own boundaries and experimenting with techniques that will open new doors to her artistically and test her imagination. Previously working primarily as a process painter and rarely using a conventional paintbrush she has now firmly crossed over into the narrative and has begun a love affair with her, rather wide, brushes.

In 2013 Stefanie was the winner of the UOB Southeast Asian Painting of the Year and the 2013 UOB Painting of the Year (Singapore) as well as the 2019 UOB Painting of the Year.