Only love will save us

Enari Gallery is proud to present Only love will save us, a solo exhibition by Johanna Bath. In her latest body of work, Bath shifts focus from the fleeting nature of memory and nostalgia to a more grounded, tactile exploration of remembrance. While the sense of transience still remains, her new paintings place greater emphasis on the physical aspects of memory, where touch, tension, and closeness come into play. Drawing on personal experience and reflecting on the historical portrayal of women’s bodies in art, Bath invites us to consider the untold stories that unfold beyond the canvas.
''I am madly in love with life, with the wonder it holds, the blissful moments, even the heartbreak, the hurt, the loss.''
Bath mentions, "I am madly in love with life, with the wonder it holds, the blissful moments, even the heartbreak, the hurt, the loss. Because I am so aware that every moment is a singular sensation and won’t come back. I am pushing myself to be aware of every second passing, paying attention to even the most insignificant things that add up to be my life."

Driven by a deep sensitivity to detail, Bath explores the concept of time; it’s passing, the fleetingness of a moment and the impact memory has on us as humans. Her work seeks to develop a visual language that captures the constant disappearance of the present, the way memories are embedded in our consciousness, and the selective nature of what we remember and why.

This exploration of memory and transience is also reflected in her choice of motifs, plants, hands, and figurative elements, drawn from a mix of sources including her own photographs, found imagery, and media references. The moment they become subject to a painting, they are put into another context and get transformed into a vehicle for her own thoughts.
A whisper not a scream

Bath’s work explores themes of intimacy, softness, touch, and the subtle tension inherent in painting the human body. Through these elements, she navigates seduction and sensuality, offering a vision of modern femininity where teasing and allure act as quiet resistance to the overwhelming visual culture shaped by the male gaze. Here, erotic undertones are not shouted but softly whispered, inviting the viewer to look closer, to sense what lies beyond the frame, and to engage with the unseen narrative that unfolds outside the canvas.

While drawing from personal experiences and reflecting on the historical portrayal of women’s bodies in art, her figurative work is not a self-portait. Rather than focusing on specific features or a recognizable face, it becomes something else entirely, a mirror in which everyone can get totally lost in.
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Johanna Bath, sheer II, 2025

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Artworks
'sheen'
sheen, 2025
Through 'sheen', Johann Bath transforms the folds of fabric into a meditation on form, shadow, and atmosphere. Subtle gradients of emerald and deep teal ripple across the canvas, creating a surface that feels both tactile and elusive. The image resists immediate interpretation, inviting viewers to lose themselves in its softness and ambiguity. As with much of Bath’s work, clarity is deliberately withheld, allowing emotion and texture to guide the experience. Sheen is not about what is seen, but how it’s felt.
Johanna Bath
Acid tulips, 2025 Oil on canvas
80 x 100 x 4 cm
31 1/2 x 39 3/8 x 1 5/8 in
'aura'

In 'aura', Johanna Bath deepens her ongoing exploration of memory, intimacy, and the fleeting nature of presence. Painted in her signature soft-focus, dreamlike style, the work presents a close-up glimpse of a figure, a strand of hair, the curve of an ear, and the trace of skin. The identity of the subject remains intentionally vague, inviting viewers into a space of ambiguity, where personal interpretation and emotional resonance take hold.
''I THINK THE BLURRED QUALITY CREATES THIS PARADOX OF MOTION.''
Artworks
Color Palette
collar, 2025
To emphasize the melancholic atmosphere of her work, Johanna Bath gravitates toward a washed-out color palette. While her paintings remain rich in color, the tones are still muted and look faded, as in a photographed that has been stained by light. This also refers to the idea of ''loss of the present''.

Bath notes that the blurred quality of her work creates a paradox of movement. Like if you would see the piece from a train window passing by or rushing by quickly and at the same time, the piece itself is very still.

This tension between motion and stillness offers a calming effect, giving the viewer a sense of something detached from time and its relentless flow.

As time passes and distance grows from a specific moment, details begin to slip away, forms blur, colors lose their intensity, and memory becomes increasingly elusive, softened by the passage of time.
Artworks
'nostalgia II (Grace)'
nostalgia II (Grace), 2025
In 'nostalgia II (Grace),' Johanna Bath captures the iconic Grace Kelly in a way that feels like a half-remembered dream. The soft blur and gentle tones give the piece a nostalgic, almost cinematic quality, like an old photograph that’s faded over time. Bath’s signature style turns this familiar face into something more personal and emotional, blurring the line between memory and image. It’s less about the celebrity and more about how we remember, feel, and connect with the past.
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Johanna Bath, Guava II, 2025

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ABOUT THE ARTIST
German, B. 1980

Born in 1980 in Warendorf, Germany, Johanna moved to Hamburg after graduating from high school in 1999 to get professional training in Illustration Design at Bildkunst Akademie.

She finished with a degree in 2002 but felt the need to deepen and expand her artistic skills, so she applied for Design Studies at the Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaft, Hamburg (HAW). She graduated with a diploma in Design in 2007, with a strong focus on painting.

Following a brief period working at a gallery and a publishing house focused on restoring old comics, she realized she was heavily missing the practice of painting and creating. This led her to return to the rural region where she grew up and fully commit to her path as a painter.

In 2017, she garnered international recognition when Saatchi Art featured her as 'One to Watch' in an online viewing room, highlighting her as an emerging talent on the global stage. Since then, Bath has exhibited internationally at events such as The Other Art Fair in Brooklyn (2019), group shows at Galleri Nobel in Oslo (2020–2022), and in major cities including New York, London, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo, with notable appearances at leading art fairs like CAN Art Fair in Ibiza and PAN Amsterdam.
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Only love will save us: Johanna Bath

A whisper not a scream

'sheen'

Johanna Bath

'aura'

Color Palette

'nostalgia II (Grace)'

ABOUT THE ARTIST

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