There is a good coherence in this exhibition. The style, color composition, and thematic world of the artworks are consistent throughout all pieces. This brings a certain calmness. That is until one takes a closer look at the motifs: The woman, who is blonde, is placed in the center in a modern urban environment. All artworks show details and motifs as if zoomed in with a powerful telephoto lens and captured by an extremely curious photographer.

However, the style is not purely photographic, as there are no mid-tones in the color planes, which consist of pure colors without smooth transitions. The colors are dominantly red, yellow, white, and black. Skin tones only appear as even planes to mark shadows. The style is cartoonish, as often used in pop art. Despite the motifs being so drastically cropped, and the background therefore only sporadically visible as small black areas on the periphery, there is never any doubt about where one is.

It is in the urban neighborhoods where the young, beautiful, self-aware, affluent, and liberated people move about. The woman, wearing a shiny red patent jacket and a similarly shiny motorcycle, scans the surroundings for prey, or she checks her makeup in the side mirror.

Steffen Kindt is a master at deriving something sexual from various effects. A yellow peeled banana in a red mouth is obvious. He strategically places a cone-shaped martini glass with green olives on the lower part of a woman’s torso. The painting’s title is: “The Holy Grail”.

Steffen Kindt also makes the frothy foam from a beer glass and the steam from a hot cup of coffee appear sexy. Some motifs are more traditionally executed with pin-up girls wearing crocheted garter belts and lace underwear. These too seem to favor large motorcycles.

These images are more direct and less original than those where the sexual signals are more subtle. The woman in Steffen Kindt’s paintings is entirely anonymous. She is also transformed into a symbol. She apparently has oceans of time to spend in the city’s café environments.

One never sees her smile. Either she is in ecstasy, or her gaze wanders hungrily around seeking new opportunities to attract new victims. One wonders where the artist draws his motifs from.