“Encounters” is the title of the current exhibition at Schlieder Contemporary in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The show brings together the work of two artists: John Franzen and Peer Kriesel. John Franzen shows new works from his series “Creation is Destruction” and “Each Line one Breath”. Peer Kriesel shows works that address the visual overstimulation of our digitalized society. The exhibition runs until October 14, 2022.
John Franzen, Peer Kriesel: Encounters / Schlieder Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, September 9, 2022.
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Exhibition text:
Encounters presents the exhibition of the two artists John Franzen (1981) and Peer Kriesel (1979). Encounters refers to the meeting of two artists working in contrasting ways, the intersection of lines with pictorial elements, and the interaction of the viewer with the artwork.
In John Franzen’s mirror works of his “Creation is Destruction” series, it is precisely the interaction of the artist and later the viewer with the work that is in the foreground. At first glance, the mirrored steel plates, into which rough axe strokes have been hammered, disturb the eye of the viewer, who is narcissistic by nature, and encourage a critical examination of one’s own perception.
Franzen’s second series of works, “Each Line one Breath,” is also dedicated to his own existence in partial form of his breathing. Each breath is meditatively documented with a line, resembling a ritual. The two seemingly disparate series are connected in a logical, complementary way: the drawings represent the spiritual level of our being, while the steel works represent the physical side.
The works of Berlin-based artist Peer Kriesel (*1979) are visually inundated and reflect the information overload and extremes of our digitalized society. His paintings are often created on already used papers that previously had a specific function and have lost their value within a short or even very long period of time, such as train tickets or his latest series of works consisting of historical, painted-over sea and land maps. They are given a new context by Kriesel’s overpaintings – he creates imaginative worlds in which mixed creatures of flora, fauna, and people interact with geometric shapes that overlay the action or else form poles of calm.
