Sebastian Herzau’s work focuses mainly on portraits and still lifes. The painter experiments with alienation and veiling and thus plays with the viewer’s perception. The series of works “the great below” makes you feel as if you are only dimly observing the person portrayed through a transparent veil. The artist creates intimacy and creates an interplay between distance and closeness, which opens the space for fantasies. His still lifes also move between dimensions. Herzau juxtaposes representationalism and abstraction by working with light incidence and delicate colour gradients. The latest group of works are still lifes of flowers, which are not only coincidentally reminiscent of Old Masters. A series from 2022 quotes flower paintings by Henri Fantin-Latour quite specifically. By first meticulously copying them, then blurring them and giving the pictures titles of vases by the furniture manufacturer ikea, he transforms the motif of the flower picture into the present with a wink.
Exhibition: 21 January – 18 March 2023
Opening hours: Wed. – Sat., 1-6 p.m. and by appointment