Gregor Gleiwitz is a contemporary German artist recognised for his small and large-scale explorations of the painterly medium, focusing on texture, surface, colour, and form and line.
Read MoreBorn in Poland, Gleiwitz studied in Germany at the Kunstakademie Mainz (2000) and the Kunstakademie Münster (2003).
Gregor Gleiwitz's oil paintings are characterised by their titles, named with the dates of their completion, and saturated colours that morph into dynamic forms. Created by scratching or scraping paint across the canvas, these forms oscillate between figuration and abstraction, adopting almost tangible bodies without becoming completely concrete.
The manipulation of paint in Gleiwitz's paintings gives rise to possibly recognisable images, while remaining ambiguous. Sweeping horizontally across the canvas, the force of red in 11.11.2014 may evoke a storm or a massive creature against the background of brown and grey, while the soft undulations of white at the top in 13.11.2014 resemble the sky and a hovering presence underneath it (both 2014).
Many of Gleiwitz's paintings suggest surprisingly corporeal forms, made by pushing or scraping the paint around into curves, ribbon-like lines, and gorges. The varying density of paint within a single canvas establishes depth and dimensionality, while the faint streaks of paint left by the artist's gestures are reminiscent of blurred memories. The interplay of form and colour can be found in paintings such as 10.06.2020, dominated by shades of blue, or 27.05.2020, which evokes an entanglement of bodies and limbs in bright orange, violet, blue, green, and yellow (both 2020).
Gleiwitz also creates paintings that could almost be described as portraits, featuring distinctly human-like heads that quickly dissolve into their background. One figure appears in profile or in the midst of turning their head away in 06.10.2021 (2021), the round brushstrokes of their form contrasting with the verticality of browns and yellows in the background. In another painting, titled 31.03.2020 (2020), individual brushstrokes wrapping around the scalp suggest hair, while an almond-shaped eye peers out of the long face consisting of blue, white, pink, and shades of brown.
Gregor Gleiwitz has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions internationally.
Solo exhibitions include Monstera – I'm sitting on the edge of my eye, SETAREH, Düsseldorf (2019); On the brink of the eye, NAMproject, Milan (2017); Predator, HUS Gallery, London (2014).
Group exhibitions include elective affinities, SETAREH, Düsseldorf (2022); Jetzt! Junge Malerei in Deutschland, Kunstmuseum Bonn (2019); By the River, ACME, Los Angeles (2017); TRANSECTION/Hello! Palagkas Temporary, London (2013).
Gleiwitz's website can be found here, and his Instagram can be found here.
Sherry Paik | Ocula | 2022
