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Artist: Andreas Schulze

Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers present Land’s End, Andreas Schulze's fourth solo exhibition at the London gallery. The show features works on paper: rarely shown black-and-white charcoal drawings from the 1980s are presented alongside new colored acrylic works, which, due to their thick application of color, are characterized as paintings by the artist.

Together, both bodies of works highlight Schulze’s playful and experimental way of creating illusionistic, ambiguous pictorial spaces – parables of the supposedly familiar and the uncannily bizarre – and demonstrate the artist’s creative, compositional process, as many of the black-and- white drawings were later realized as paintings.

The charcoal drawings depict surrealistic environments that oscillate between the real and the unreal and leave viewers uncertain of what they are seeing: in Untitled (Bumbs) (1985/88), an ominous mass floats in an undefined space, while Untitled (Flying saucer) (1985/88) shows objects that appear familiar yet remain abstract as they hover in a wide, empty space reminiscent of a science fiction scenario.

The works present unexpected, confusing forms, reveal intriguing configurations and open up numerous possibilities for interpretation. By playing and experimenting with various motifs, taking them apart and out of context, the drawings succeed in creating a tension between sense and nonsense while also finding pictorial solutions and referencing art history. The light-dark contrasts lend the depicted shapes a particular plasticity, making the forms seem almost tangible. But it is not only the formal qualities that transmit a sense of subtle closeness and familiarity with the works – the melancholy of the deserted scenes in Schulze’s drawings may reflect society's longing for comfort and a sense of security, which proves to be fragile and even restrictive.

Embedded in the UK context, the exhibition title refers to the legendary headland of Land's End in Cornwall. The 100-meter-high cliffs, which form the westernmost point of Great Britain, offer a seemingly endless view and are a transition point where one state of the landscape passes into another. The idea of an end that merely signifies a beginning elsewhere resembles Schulze's exhibited works. Just like the cliffs of Cornwall, they embody a transitory moment that represents a threshold – from black- and-white drawings to color paintings.

Schulze’s captivating, colorful painterly worlds echo and deepen the questions raised in his charcoal drawings. Walls, window frames and other structural elements run through the color paintings, indicating the importance of architecture and sculptural space for the artist’s pictorial concepts. Untitled (Biennale) (2023), for example, shows a section of a brick wall adjoined by two beams, reminiscent of a window frame, subdivided by two translucent areas offering a view of a blue, partly cloudy sky that seems to merge into the turquoise sea. However, the view is obstructed by a grey, square shape. The work creates a convincing dynamic between inside and outside. Are we looking through a window at a cityscape beyond?

Untitled (Lido) and Untitled (Venice in furs) (both 2023), which depict sausage-like forms leaning on, or placed on, familiar brick architectural elements, recall Schulze's recent series of glass sculptures, Relax (2022). Created on the island of Murano, famous for its glass production, the works function as bookends and represent the artist's understanding of form: something surprisingly harmonious emerges from seemingly banal objects. As in his charcoal drawings, the paintings reveal Schulze's interest in reflecting everyday life through abstract, illusionistic pictorial scenes that evoke discomfort, but also enticement.

Schulze transforms not only the walls but the entire space into an environment of his unique pictorial worlds. A narrow carpet in black and white, hand-painted by the artist, runs through the rooms, echoing the vivid shapes of the black-and-white charcoal drawings. Complemented by a lamp and a plant in front of the fireplace, this immersive installation invites the viewer to engage with Schulze's playful and surreal worlds in a more tactile and intimate way. Acting as a spatial bridge between his drawings and paintings, it highlights the continuity and evolution of Schulze's artistic vision.

Concurrent with the exhibition at the gallery, Andreas Schulze’s work is on view in a solo exhibition at The Perimeter. Traveling from Kunsthalle Nürnberg to London, On Stage transforms The Perimeter into a fantastical set for Schulze's distinctive painterly worlds.

Andreas Schulze (*1955, Hanover) lives in Cologne. Amongst others, his works were on display in the solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Nuremberg (2022), Fuhrwerkswaage Cologne (2021), Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2018); the touring exhibition at Villa Merkel in Esslingen (2014), Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2015) and Kunstmuseum Bonn (2014); Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2014); Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg and Leopold- Hoesch-Museum, Dueren (both 2010); Monika Sprüth Galerie, Cologne (1983). Schulze’s works have also been represented in important exhibitions, including Städel Museum Frankfurt (2015); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2000); Triennale di Milano (1997); Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen (1988); MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York (1984) and Tate Britain, London (1983).