Wer ist Oda Jaune? (Who is Oda Jaune?), Kamilla Pfeffer, Germany, 2016, 75', OV with Spanish subtitles, DCP
We could start by saying that Oda Jaune is a Bulgarian painter (born in Sofia, 1979), with a hypnotic screen presence. That she speaks slowly. That she suspects there’s a camera trying to record her creative process. That her work is disturbing: mysterious paintings, hyper-realist works, sexually charged, gore, some of them quite insipid, creamy, highly pulsating. That she seems to be from another world.
Now, to what the academy says about her: Oda Jaune studied at the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf and was one of the outstanding students of her generation. She married her teacher, Jörg Immendorff, and moved to Paris after becoming widowed. There, her work was taken in by the Daniel Templon gallery, which also handles artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
Now, to the film: it’s a documentary in which Oda is seen preparing canvas, preparing materials in her studio, painting, awkwardly answering questions put to her by the director. Oda doesn’t want this film to be a biography. She isn’t keen to reveal too much. She isn’t very forthcoming. Kamilla Pfeffer observes and registers the artist’s process and knows that there, in those images, gestures, silences, pauses, lies the key to something that’s impossible to define. It is her attempt to make the invisible visible. Who is Oda Jaune?
Kamilla Pfeffer observes and registers bulgarian artist Oda Jaune’s process and knows that there, in those images, gestures, silences, pauses, lies the key to something that’s impossible to define.