Florian Krewer’s Raw New World at Michael Werner

Florian Krewer‘s acidic hues may be what initially draws people to his paintings, but it’s the restless energy embedded in his elusive narratives that keeps them hooked.

Michael Werner Gallery‘s autumn programme opens with Krewer’s solo exhibition, strike the dust (14 September–16 November 2024), introducing the work of the German-born, New York-based artist to the West Coast.

In this suite of new works, Krewer relishes in his signature lurid hues—among them flaming orange, hot pink, and neon chartreuse—while foregrounding emotional complexities shaped by recent experiences.

His canvases teem with imagery from urban life, infused with a charged, almost cinematic atmosphere. Amid these vivid backdrops emerge striking figures: a tattooed figure, likely the artist himself, is seen to shave someone’s head; masked figures wear clown-like features; and solitary men hover against distant city silhouettes. These scenes traverse a spectrum of emotions, from euphoria and desire to fear, vulnerability, and loneliness.

Krewer envisions a city liberated from constraints, where humanity, in all its rawness, can exist in an honest yet unsettling space. As he said in an interview with Ocula last year: ‘You can’t always be who you really are... And that is the case on a small scale as an individual and in general in society. It’s difficult to express yourself freely without being targeted.’