until 13.04. | #4193ARTatBerlin | WENTRUP shows from 14. March 2024 the exhibition Knirsch by the artist Jan-Ole Schiemann.
In his third solo exhibition at Wentrup, Jan-Ole Schiemann presents new paintings that are a continuation of his most recent cycle of works. The two large-format canvases BigDataCorrupter and ContourBoostWust (both 2023) here serve as the starting point and were most recently on display in his solo museum exhibition “WAH WAH” at the Neue Galerie Gladbeck. Now, they take on a central role in Berlin.
Stencils, acrylic paint, oil pencil, charcoal, or drawing ink – these are the tools Jan-Ole Schiemann uses to create his often large-format paintings, which move between gestural abstraction and organic figuration. A superimposition of different levels creates an intangible depth in the canvas. In recent years, the artist has succeeded in developing his very own formal vocabulary for his paintings, which art critic Estelle Hoy describes as “visual scatting” and art historian Philipp Fernandes do Brito compares to “musical sampling”. In music, “scatting” is the improvised singing of rhythmically and melodically strung together sequences of syllables without a word meaning or coherent sense. Onomatopoeic instrumental phrases are imitated improvisationally and layered on top of each other in different scores. A vocal rebellion that is unique and unrepeatable. Schiemann appropriates this form and translates it into the visual with his technical and artistic skills. Tonal nuances, layered acrylic paints, flowing areas of color, and sometimes a whirlwind of oil stick. A mental linking of sounds resonates in the pictures; an associative sound repertoire which Schiemann tries to make visible and thus gives it an analog structure. Often, the titles of the works refer to musical elements – such as BigDataCorrupter and ContourBoostWust, which are based on the names of effect pedals. Schiemann makes use of musical-acoustic thinking to ultimately be able to describe what happens in his paintings. This connection to music seems obvious, since he is a passionate electronic musician himself.
Image caption: Jan-Ole Schiemann, BigDataCorrupter, 2023 (Detail)
Photo: Jana Buch
Whereas earlier works were more condensed, so that the canvas was no longer visible, the Gladbeck paintings open up and become uncluttered and more exposed. They allow the raw, light-colored canvas to emerge. Schiemann pursues a clear, structured approach. With the help of color stripes in delicate pink-purple tones in the upper and lower third of the portrait-format canvas, a horizontal format arises in the center. Here is, where “everything” happens – wild, organic shapes in black extend across this bright window, reminiscent of his ink drawings. The new paintings created for the Berlin exhibition take up this color concept, as well as isolated forms and elements from Gladbeck. Here, too, the raw, light canvas is partially revealed, but overall the compositions appear denser and more vibrant in color.
The exhibition is accompanied by a completely new body of work that reveals Schiemann’s interest in different materials: the Wabenpappen-Bilder (honeycomb cardboard paintings). These pictures seem to merge the characteristics of his canvases and works on paper, which are already manifested in his oeuvre. They take up the formal aspects of his surreal compositions and expressive-abstract shapes, as well as the size of the paintings; at the same time they are closer to the medium of paper due their materiality and surface, which gives the artist a different approach to the work and changes the process of painting.
The exhibition “KNIRSCH” provides an insight into the constantly evolving oeuvre of Jan-Ole Schiemann, who has become an important young painter of his generation with his unique vocabulary and has undoubtedly influenced the canon of contemporary abstract painting.
Image caption: Jan-Ole Schiemann, ContourBoost&Wust, 2023
Ink, acrylic and oil paint on canvas, 260 x 230 cm | 102 1/4 x 90 1/2 in
Photo: Jana Buch
Jan-Ole Schiemann (*1983 in Kiel) studied at Kunsthochschule Kassel and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He lives and works in Cologne.
Most recently, his solo exhibition “WAH WAH” was on view at the Museum Neue Galerie Gladbeck.
Further solo and group exhibitions have taken place at Kunst-Station, Wolfsburg, DE | Kunstverein Heppenheim, DE | Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, BE | Kunstverein Aachen, DE | Wentrup, Berlin, DE | Almine Rech, Brussels, BE | Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, US | Nino Mier, Los Angeles, US / Brussels, BE / Cologne, DE / Marfa, US | Choi & Lager Gallery, Seoul, KR.
Jan-Ole Schiemann’s paintings are in the following collections: Bronx Museum, New York, US | Craig Robins Collection, Miami, US | Hort Family Collection, New York, US | The Marciano Collection, Los Angeles, US | MOCAD Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, US | Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, US | Oetker Family Collection, Berlin, DE | r/e collection, ES | Rubell Family Collection, Miami, US | The Margulies Collection, Miami, US.
Opening: Thursday, 14. March, 6 – 8 pm
Exhibition dates: Thursday, 14 March until Saturday, 13. April 2024
Zur Galerie
Image caption: Jan-Ole Schiemann, BigDataCorrupter, 2023, Ink, acrylic and oil paint on canvas, 260 x 230 cm | 102 1/4 x 90 1/2 in Photo: Jana Buch
Exhibition Jan-Ole Schiemann – WENTRUP | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin