Artist Statement

Out of Frame

My artistic work deals with the relationship between image, frame and space. Its starting point is the question of where a work begins, where it ends and what role the boundary in between plays.

With Out of Frame I am developing an artistic position in which the frame is no longer a mere boundary but becomes an active part of the work. It is extended, broken open, shifted or questioned in its function. Painting thus does not remain purely a surface: it steps into the room and demands a new way of looking.

My works emerge from clear formal decisions: hard edges, strong contrasts, spatial layers and precisely placed ruptures. I am not interested in the decorative image, but in the moment a work leaves its given order. Colour, form and material are used in ways that create tension and break open the expectations of a classical picture format.

Out of Frame stands for the deliberate step beyond existing boundaries. It is about shifting, expanding and the question of how much freedom is possible within a given frame. The frame becomes a symbol for structures that can provide support, but that equally have to be overcome if development is to take place.

As an artist and founder of a.fünf Galerieformat, I move between producing, presenting and communicating art every day. This dual perspective shapes my own work: I think of works not only as images, but also as objects in space, as counterparts and as part of an exhibition situation.

For me, Out of Frame is therefore not a finished series but an artistic attitude. It describes the point at which a work leaves the surface, makes boundaries visible and crosses them at the same time.

Paula Ellinger

Artist & founder of Galerieformat

Between studio and gallery: Paula Ellinger.

Works

Selected works

Works from the series Out of Frame – pieces that refuse to accept the frame as a boundary.

Out of Frame – No. 1

Standard

Mixed media on canvas45 × 55 cm2026

Out of Frame – No. 1 – “Standard” marks the beginning of my new artistic series Out of Frame. The sharp-edged, abstract and three-dimensional work deliberately crosses the expected boundaries of a classical picture format.

Beneath the surface lies pink newsprint from the Austrian daily Der Standard – partly visible, partly hidden. It refers to the title of the work and, at the same time, to the idea that Out of Frame is becoming my new artistic standard.

At its centre stands the tension between structure and departure, surface and depth, control and movement. The frame no longer serves merely as a boundary: it becomes part of the work itself and extends the image into the room.

Standard thus forms the starting point of a new visual language that engages with boundaries and their transgression. The work asks what emerges when an image no longer accepts its given format as a fixed limit.

Out of Frame – No. 2

Offset

Acrylic on canvas60 × 60 cm2026

Out of Frame – No. 2 – “Offset” deals with the feeling of not fully aligning with the structures, expectations or systems that surround us. The title refers to a shift – to consciously or unconsciously leaving an expected position.

At the centre of the work stands the tension between belonging and deviation. It asks whether belonging really requires adapting completely to existing structures, or whether it is possible to be part of a whole and still keep one's own shape and direction.

This idea becomes visible through the round canvas within a square frame. Both geometric forms exist with each other without fully conforming to one another. The round picture surface remains independent and makes the relationship between work and frame an essential part of the composition.

Sharp-edged geometric elements, layered surfaces and dynamic lines heighten this tension. Movement and structure meet small shifts and irregularities that keep the composition from becoming entirely predictable.

Offset thus becomes a visual metaphor for the possibility of being part of a structure without being fully defined by it – for the space between adaptation and individuality, between belonging and deliberately not quite fitting in.

Out of Frame – No. 4

Big Shift

Acrylic on canvas100 × 100 cm2026

Out of Frame – No. 4 – “Big Shift” deals with moments of profound change – with those points in life where change no longer happens gradually but becomes impossible to overlook. Established structures begin to shift, break open and rearrange themselves. A clear separation emerges between what came before and what comes after.

The composition is defined by a strong central movement. Geometric shapes, sharp lines and intense colour contrasts seem to move towards a centre while expanding outwards at the same time. This creates a tension between stability and upheaval. Depending on the perspective, the composition can appear to be collapsing inwards or breaking outwards – an ambiguity that mirrors the uncertainty of great change.

The physical construction of the work is part of its meaning as well. The canvas does not stay within the frame but crosses its boundaries. At the same time, the frame itself becomes visible and part of the composition.

Within my artistic concept Out of Frame, the frame stands for structures, expectations and boundaries – external as well as self-imposed. Big Shift focuses on the moment these structures can no longer remain unchanged and a new perspective becomes necessary.

The work does not judge this transformation as positive or negative. Profound change can bring uncertainty, loss, liberation and new possibilities all at once. What is decisive is its irreversibility: once something fundamental has shifted, a return to the previous order is no longer possible.

Big Shift is therefore not only about change, but about the moment an existing frame loses its stability and a new reality begins to take shape.

Out of Frame – No. X

Flag of Humanity

Acrylic on canvas90 × 110 cm2021

Out of Frame – No. X – “Flag of Humanity” examines humanity as a collective identity shaped not by sameness but by diversity. Bright colours, geometric shapes, layered surfaces and intersecting lines meet in a composition full of tension. Each element remains independent while being part of a greater whole.

The title refers to the idea of a symbolic flag that does not stand for a nation, culture or ideology, but for humanity itself. The different visual fragments can be read as perspectives, identities and experiences that exist side by side and influence one another at the same time.

At the centre, different directions collide. The composition can be read both as connection and as collision – as a mirror of human coexistence, shaped equally by community and conflict, by common ground and contrast.

Flag of Humanity was created several years before I developed my current artistic concept Out of Frame. Looking back, I see in it the concept's origin: geometry, strong colour contrasts, spatial depth and the relationship between work and boundary were already essential elements.

Today the work carries the designation Out of Frame – No. X. The “X” deliberately places it outside the chronological series. It was created before Out of Frame had a name, and yet it forms the starting point of my current engagement with boundaries, structures and the possibility of moving beyond them.