ART-PREVIEW:Thilo Heinzmann

Thilo Heinzmann works primarily in the field of painting, taking its classic concern, the production of expressive pictures, and making it his own. He makes use of a series of techniques he developed himself and materials such as unbound pigment, absorbent cotton, Styrofoam, fur, or porcelain, which expand the scope of painterly techniques.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Perrotin Archive

Thilo Heinzmann’s genuine contribution to contemporary art is that he has used these media to achieve painterly qualities such as composition, color, and texture within the continuity of the history of the medium while at the same time opening new doors. The first solo exhibition of Thilo Heinzmann in Seoul has the title “We, Rivers & Mountains” and presents 8 new pigment paintings. His works with pigment display that powdery dust, they exhibit it in its material concreteness, as one of the many specimens of matter that make up our world; but they also transform it into chromatic fields, exploring its wide yet subtle palette, letting color perform as it should after it has been freed of the burdens of representation. In the paintings the landscape assumes a definite form in the relation of heaven and earth, in suspense, as it were, space is opened up for the intimation of human presence. The landscapes in the exhibition refer to the significance of this subject matter within the history of Western painting. Influences from East Asian art also come into play in accordance with their impact on various art-historical epochs. In the exhibition the viewer is confronted with the universal idea of landscape. Changing perspectives on diverse horizons are opened up in the physical space of the gallery. In her or his own movement the viewer animates landscape after landscape, thus taking an active role in a subtly nuanced and pointed space of reflection.

Info: Galerie Perrotin, 1F 5 Palpan-Gil, Jongno-Gu, Seoul, Duration: 13/4-18/5/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.perrotin.com