MARCELLA LASSEN – HAMBURGER ART

Marcella Lassen has exhibited extensively throughout Europe, from the Museum of Modern Art in Liege to the European Parliament in Brussels. Recent shows include the International Art Fair in Salzburg, Austria and the Biennale in Florence, Italy. Ms. Lassen´s work is included in private collections throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Though her subject matter, the hamburger, has its roots in daily American life, in the 21st Century it has taken center stage on a global scale. Ms. Lassen’s consistent focus on this seemingly trivial subject manifests the significance of the hamburger being one of the very few cultural icons known in even the remotest corners of the world. Both formally and in content, her interpretations elaborate how this simple bun with a meat patty has found its way into our collective consciousness: what it represents for each individual consumer and non-consumer, and how individual interpretation is colored by social, political, economic, ecological, even personal factors. The content of Ms. Lassen’s interpretations is defined by a variety of perspectives: ironic, or philosophical, critical or with a humorous slant. "It contains an expanding powerhouse of potential for creative interpretation," she says.

The spectrum of her work spans from very color-intensive and visually effective Pop Art interpretations to finely structured, small-formatted works in the gouache medium. Large paintings depicting this simple sandwich with and without fillings are worked in Marcella Lassen’s most characteristic medium, the use of oil and wax combined with collage. The sheer volume of individually artful hamburgers that Marcella Lassen has produced is simultaneously thought-provoking, refreshing and delightful.

An American artist who has lived in Europe for three decades, Ms. Lassen has developed and managed exhibits for UFACSI, a European women artists' organization in Brussels, and more recently an Otto Dix Exhibition for the city of Singen (Germany). Beginning to exhibit her own artwork while establishing an art restoration business in Nuremburg, Germany in 1978, she has shown twice at the European Parliament, the Gallery Passage 44 in Brussels, ART PROM 97, the Salon International in both Valencia, Spain and Nancy, France, among others. She graduated from Brussels’ Academy of Fine Arts in the Master Class for monumental Painting (1998), as well as completing a BFA degree in Fine Arts and Art History from the University of Southern California (1975) and an apprenticeship in art restoration in Munich, Germany (1978). Her education also includes two years of undergraduate studies at the University of Vienna and the University of Applied and Contemporary Art in Vienna, Austria. She is a member of the Professional Fine Artists Association of the Federal Republic of Germany.

A native of Southern California where she spent her childhood and youth in the Hollywood Hills, Marcella Lassen currently lives and works in Switzerland, close to the shores of Lake Constance.