An artist featured in the show I curated in Mallorca, Matthias Weischer, also recently opened a major solo show that’s been generating deserved buzz in the paintverse. After 20 years, the London audience has a chance to see his latest body of work presented in GRIMM Gallery’s new space in the British capital.
The first photo might be slightly misleading about the exhibition, but in a way, that fits perfectly with the title — Off Target. Unforeseen construction works pushed the opening back a few times (again, off target), but now that it’s finally open, the delay almost feels like it heightened the anticipation and added to the final TA-DA! moment. The space itself is a superb match for the gallery’s venues in Amsterdam and NYC, and inaugurating it with Matthias Weischer’s new work feels almost symbolic. Taking a construction-like approach, the Leipzig-based painter literally builds his paintings, starting with a foundation, raising walls, painting them, and only then adding furniture and decoration. Guided by intuition and whatever mood is present, the result often diverges from the original plan — hence, Off Target.
And speaking of significance, it feels as if Weischer is opening a new chapter in his ongoing exploration of the artificiality of representation with this body of work. Browsing the photos on the gallery’s website, I noticed familiar ideas being pushed, stretched, or reconfigured — from the figure in Wandler, to the perspective and tonal depth of Blaues Zimmer, and the abstract layout of Feld. But the work that excited me most was Memories of Guilin 3. As one of three variations on a Chinese landscape motif, this small-scale painting brings together elements that rarely meet in his practice (and when they do, we’re in for a treat) — his textural technique and a romantic trope. And the result is, once again, striking as on and beneath its surface, the painting reveals the scrutiny and probing curiosity at the core of Weischer’s painterly tectonics. —Saša Bogojev
