Drawing inspiration from photographs of friends and acquaintances, Florian Krewer's practice delves into the possibilities of urban nightlife—often violent, sensuous, or somewhere in between.
Read MoreUsing loose brushstrokes that retain remnants of the artist's changing composition, his life-size canvases are bathed in inky black, their figures' faces blurred to avoid exactly signifying time or place. Krewer spends long hours in the studio, arriving early to retain the impressions of the previous night as a kind of personal therapy.
In 2020, Krewer exhibited Eyes on Fire with Michael Werner Gallery and TRAMPS, shortly after he moved to New York.
Krewer arrived just as the Covid-19 pandemic began and became sick for several weeks, eventually being hospitalised. When he finally had the strength to return to painting, Krewer found himself mentally and physically drained from the crippling isolation and lack of social stimulus that had previously inspired his work. The resultant works were far more introspective. Captive (2020) depicts an ashen-faced male figure lying on a bed in a cramped, dark room, a monstrous creature leering over him.
In 2021, Krewer's paintings caught the eye of businessman and art collector François Pinault. A selection of Krewer's works were displayed in the exhibition Ouverture in the Bourse de Commerce in dialogue with works by Martin Kippenberger and Thomas Schütte, representing three generations of German contemporary artists. Krewer's two-metre canvases were installed on the floor in two triangular triptychs and radiated enigmatic violence in their blood-red and black tones. The figures—his usual cast of young men in streetwear—appear on the verge of fighting or perhaps dance, their limbs outstretched, as in It's a party – angry (2018).
Krewer's 2021 exhibition ride or fly for Michael Werner's London space presented works that were much more visceral in their subject matter, comprising 'intimate portraits' of friends as his 'adoptive family.' The title was taken from the tattoo covering the artist's neck, meaning 'be positive', reflected in the lurid colour scheme of the paintings. Animals are frequently present or even involved in the full frontal acts, as in ursa minor (2021), where a celestial bear roars behind a nude male figure bent over and splayed. Krewer's frequent inclusion of wild animals symbolise their fluid existence 'without rules and judgement' in the 'wild times' both him and the viewer find themselves in.
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