Johannes Daniel Johannes Daniel

OPENING
Thursday, 09.01.2020, 6-9 p.m.

WELCOME
6.30 p.m.
Dr. Peter Krammer, Member of the Managing Board STRABAG SE

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tobias Naehring, galerist, Leipzig-Berlin

Johannes Daniel's work could be roughly characterized as an attempt to approach an archetypal – albeit fragmentary – image of the present through painting. The artist generates his formal language by tapping into set-piece images drawn from digital advertising or social networks, short texts reminiscent of chat messages, and abstract gestures. In Johannes Daniel’s oeuvre, abstraction always forms the basis of every painting. The first step in preparing the canvas can be understood as becoming immersed in the work to be created: contemplation that leads to physical and mental preparation for the ensuing process of image formation and to engagement with that process. This initial phase unfolds without any preliminary planning. Daniel leaves room for paint’s imponderable nature to unfurl. Responding to this informal ground, the artist next begins to develop the motif. Daniel closely links his pictorial compositions with his image collection, which is structured in terms of both tangible and visual experiences. On the one hand this acts as a filter, while on the other hand it enables him to maintain a certain distance from the subject-matter. His attention does not focus on particular figures as individuals but rather on their appearance in the medium of painting.

Johannes Daniel on video

>Johannes Daniel
>johannesdaniel.com