After training as a painter and decorator and commencing a degree in architecture, Florian Krewer (b. 1986) embraced painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and becomes one of the leading representatives of its contemporary manifestations. Since 2020, he has been living and working in New York. The metropolis permeates his nocturnal urban scenes, which explore the discrepancy between inner life and external phenomena, social expectations, violence and intimacy in strong colours and powerful brushstrokes. Figurative and at the same time pared down in terms of composition, his works unfold narratives that are difficult to fathom.
In thunderstruck, too, we are confronted with ambiguity. Who is here aggressor and who victim: human or animal? Animals in Krewer’s paintings symbolise persons. The artist is concerned not with posthumanist questions about interspecies relationships, but with humankind’s animal nature and the essence of humanity.
Inspired by photographs, the artist develops compositions in drawings, which he then finalises on the canvas. At the painting stage, he thus concentrates on colour and its emotional expression. In thunderstruck, the neon pink against the dark background forms a counterpoint to the motif and leads us into the boundary zone between reality and fantasy.
Oil on linen
152.5 x 132 cm
Copyright: Florian Krewer
Courtesy: Florian Krewer and Michael Werner Gallery
Provenance: donated by the artist and Michael Werner Gallery
