Thus! (from Swiss Spa Cava/ Stars and Stripes Series)

Kerstin Brätsch's *Thus!* is a dynamic, large-scale work on paper combining oil paint and mixed media with embedded coins, creating a textured interplay between painted gesture and physical material. Part of her Swiss Spa Cava/Stars and Stripes Series, the piece reflects Brätsch's interest in the unstable boundaries between abstraction, ornamentation, and commerce. The incorporation of currency into the painted surface charges the work with themes of value and exchange, while the fluid, expressive mark-making maintains a sense of spontaneous energy.