Streifzüge:
Paintings by David Schnell
21 June – 29 July, 2006
Private View
Tuesday 20 June 2006, 6-8pm
14 Wharf Road London N1 7RW
T 44 (0)20 7490 7373
info [at] parasol-unit.org
David Schnell usually employs elements of landscape in his paintings. Indeed, first-time viewers might be under the impression that they are looking at landscape paintings, but in reality they are witnessing Schnell’s obsessive treatment of space – something he frequently intensifies by painting in large formats that seem to engulf the viewer. Equally striking is Schnell’s compelling use of linear perspective and the vanishing point to create pictorial order. However, this order is often counteracted by the artist’s almost subliminal desire for action. These conflicting elements of order and disorder give the paintings an extraordinary energy and dynamism that never leave the viewer’s eye or mind at rest. The landscape in Schnell’s works provides a framework against which he explores his thoughts, ideas and artistic concerns.
This exhibition gives a comprehensive overview on Schnell’s artistic practice. While Hütte am See (Lakeside Cabin), 2002 reveals a highly controlled and disciplined practice, Die Schaukel (The Swing) and Spulen (Reel), 2004 manifest a celebratory mood, gaiety and lightness unprecedented in Schnell’s work and finally a painting like Dickicht (Thickest), 2005 hovers between the dynamism of an explosion and the opacity of an inaccessible arena – worlds apart in the mind of one single man.
David Schnell was born in 1971 in Bergische Gladbach, Germany. He lives and works in Leipzig.
Streifzüge: Paintings by David Schnell is accompanied by a full-colour book published by Hatje Cantz Verlag.
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