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until 04.04. | #4949ARTatBerlin | neugerriemschneider (Linienstrasse) shows from 3. March 2026 (Opening: 28.02.) the exhibition Keep On by the artist Thilo Heinzmann.
Following the publication of his latest monograph, Thilo Heinzmann presents selected sand paintings in Keep On, the artist’s fourth solo exhibition at neugerriemschneider. In these works, the latest results of his exploration of composition, texture and color, the white of the base of his pigment paintings is inverted into the complementary non-color black. Sand and pieces of glass, subtractive gestures and impasto application of black on black create a brilliant interplay of light and depth that always appears new and different depending on the point of view. After three decades of conceptual painterly investigation along the antagonisms and synergies of idea/process, chaos/precision and tradition/innovation, these new paintings build on the artist’s previous bodies of work. In their reduction and rigor, they concentrate Heinmann’s work, in which the individual elements continually relate to one another and question one another.
Heinzmann’s painting practice is a continuous search for something new in a medium that is repeatedly presented as having been told. Using both traditional and unconventional techniques, the artist questions materials as diverse as Styrofoam, parchment, aluminum, pressboard or unbound pigment about their potential and transfers the results into artistic discourse as suggestions. Combining repetitions and nuanced deviations leads to complex image creations that are guided by curiosity and play as much as by rules and skill. Image carrier and composition merge into a whole, whose physical presence is based on factors such as materiality, feel and light reflection. The latter are compressed in the impasto elements of the sand paintings, which represent the status quo in this veritable body of work.
With the furrowed and jagged layers of color in the sand paintings, chance in Heinzmann’s work is combined with physicality. This is in stark contrast to the fine color particles of the pigment paintings, which are brought onto the canvas with the help of the wind. In contrast, the sand of different grain sizes has a stabilizing effect; the volatility of the pigments and their differentiated polychromy are translated into a shimmering texture. The different types of sand come into connection with the pieces of glass broken and carved by Heinzmann, whose colored and reflective bodies mediate between pasty colored masses and grains of sand. The curves, lines and curves that are drawn into the still fresh background of both the sand and pigment paintings with brushes, spatulas and fingers and guide the eye as dynamic constants have their origin in an earlier group of black paintings, the Tacmos, which began in the early 2010s. In contrast to these, the artist foregoes a protective acrylic glass cover with the sand paintings and allows the black to draw the eye into the depths of the picture space and to focus on the effect of the light. The different textures of the non-color reflect this in many nuances. In addition, the black concentrates the individual elements of the composition more than the white, which is why the sand paintings appear stricter and more compact than the pigment paintings. In his continuous conversation with his own work, art history and the viewer, as Heinzmann sees his work, the paintings condense his strategies and allow a glimpse of his future developments.
Opening: Saturday, 28. February 2026, 18:00–21:00 Uhr
Exhibition dates : Tuesday, 3. March until Saturday, 4. April 2026
To the gallery
Titel image caption: Thilo Heinzmann, O.T., 2025. © Thilo Heinzmann / VG Bild-Kunst. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photo: Roman März. oil, sand and glass on canvas, 135 × 145 × 4 cm
Exhibition Thilo Heinzmann – Galerie neugerriemschneider | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
