A new artwork for the Public Art Collection of the Municipal Museums Recklinghausen / Kunsthalle Recklinghausen

Sagadin’s new sculpture not only takes the formal shape of a widely recognizable fruit, but—through its color scheme alone—explores questions of surface and the underlying semiotic interplay: Is it a plum, or is it a mouth turned blue by the cold? Through her multi-layered application of paint, the gradual sanding away of layers of varnish, and the resulting emergence of what came before, Sagadin is also an archaeologist of colors and forms.

Many of us have encountered combinations of bodies and fruits in art from Greek antiquity to the present day—whether in parks and gardens or in churches and museums. Or consider the visual language of Pop Art and advertising, where bodies and fruits often appear in bright, bold colors, extending to the more recent iconography of emojis. Thanks to Sagadin, a pair of “Blue Lips” next to the Kunsthalle now condenses all these themes into a plum visible from afar, and yet it fits so naturally into the space—it seems as though it has always been there.

Maruša Sagadin, born in Ljubljana in 1978, lives and works in Vienna. Sagadin studied architecture at Graz University of Technology before studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Monica Bonvicini. Her work is part of, among others, the collections of the Belvedere, the Artothek of the Austrian Federal Government, the MAK, the Wien Museum, the Heidi Horten Collection, and the Universalmuseum Joanneum.

Blaue Lippen, 2026
steel, sheet steel, lacquer paints
400 × 230 × 230 cm
Wickingplatz
GPS 51.6178, 7.2025

Blaue Lippen was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Stiftung der Stadtsparkasse Recklinghausen zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur sowie der Heimatpflege und Heimatkunde im Gebiet der Stadt Recklinghausen.

Curator: Dr. Nico Anklam
Project assistance for art in public space: Nora Langen
Planning: Monika Trimmel / Werkraum Ingenieure
Metal Construction: Stahl und Form
Painting: with Hannes Heel, Julian Ernst
On-site Construction: E. Liebing Bauunternehmung
Administrative support through: Förderverein für Bildende Kunst Recklinghausen e. V.
Photography: Mareike Tocha
Special Thanks: Christine König Galerie, Vienna