Annette Schock offers a mysterious perspective on animals, portraying them as both embodiments and symbols of the irresponsibility of our paradoxical times. Her focus is primarily on livestock animals, often living in deplorable conditions, such as those in farms where the joyful Alpine summer eventually gives way to a harsh winter and the sadness of confined animals. “The Three Graces” may serve as a symbol—three of Annette’s friends, beautiful Austrian cows whose personalities the artist knows intimately and describes in detail: “They deserve to be portrayed,” our creator declares.

Annette Schock is an extraordinary and tireless draftsman, mastering the use of charcoal on both paper and canvas, which she often enhances with acrylic paint. Her drawings, as noted, occupy (“invade,” one might say) her studios in Germany and Madrid. These works act as preparatory sketches forming large mosaics that serve as sources of study. From this process, her large paintings emerge, shaped by exhaustive analysis and meticulous selection from various sketch stages, sometimes incorporating photography into the preparatory process. In this intricate practice lies the starting point of her unique perspective on these animals. Medium-rare? Rare? The table is set.

—Alfonso de la Torre, Art Critic.