Viewing Room
Andy Denzler
A Moment of Reflection
Andy Denzler is a respected artist in the contemporary art scene and
well known for his iconic paintings which waver between abstraction and figuration.
He works in a traditional and timeless realm, and his darker paintings reminds us of those of the
Renaissance Masters. He creates theatre-like settings using his personal photographs to assemble a
collage which he then paints on canvas, alla prima, with
multiple layers of impasto oil paint. Before the surface dries, he treats it with a spatula or a
palette knife to reveal a distorted image frozen in time.
For this exhibition A Moment of Reflection, Denzler has
created twelve new masterpieces, capturing human figures in their intimacy taking a moment of
reflection.
"Andy Denzler makes us discover the world through a different perspective. He
unveils a new concrete reality."
Andy Denzler
Woman on a Beige Chaise Longue
2020
oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm (70.8 x 59 in)
Andy Denzler
The Study Room V
2020
oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm (70.8 x 59 in)
Denzler has created a signature style encompassing bands of pigment that
alternate between static, thick marks and blurred, flowing sweeps. The human figure remains at the
core of his explorations, courting the viewer’s memories, and leaving us with a vague gnawing that
we have missed something lying just beneath the surface.
These distorted paintings are close to reality but also contain a nostalgic
distance, because the eye can never precisely capture the image being viewed.
Andy Denzler
Woman on a Daybed II
2020
oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm (70.8 x 59 in)
Installation view, Andy Denzler, A Moment of
Reflection, Opera Gallery ©
Andy Denzler
Treehouse I
2020
oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm (70.8 x 59 in)
Denzler’s pieces are snap-shots of events that take place in the span of mere
moments, distorted in their movements, their timeframe artificially smeared and elongated into
frozen eternities like the oscillating frames of a VHS tape hovering on pause.
"His images are unpredictable and unlikely, but undoubtedly mysterious and
enticing. They are scenes of reality, but the sense of unreality prevails in them."
Andy Denzler
Venus in Maroon
2020
oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm (70.8 x 59 in)
Andy Denzler
Portrait of Pascal
2020
oil on canvas, 50 x 120 cm (overall) (17.9 x 47.2 in) / 50 x 40 cm (each) (19.7 x 15.7 in)
Andy Denzler (born in 1965) lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. In
2006, he received his Master of Fine Arts at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. His
works have been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in Europe, the United States and Asia in
private and public institutions including the Gwangju Museum of Art, the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz,
the Ludwig Museum Schloss in Oberhausen, the Kunsthalle in Rostock, in Germany and he recently had a
major retrospective at the Kunstforum in Vienna. In 2015, Denzler participated in the 6th Beijing
international Biennale and in 2016, at the 6th Marrakech Biennale. His art is featured in major
collections including the Hirshhorn Museum, in Washington DC, the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Montreal, the David Roberts Art Foundation in London, the Tel Aviv Museum of
Modern Art, the MOMA Moscow, as well as the Museum Würth in Schwäbisch Hall, in Germany, the
Burger Collection in Hong Kong and the White Cube Collection in London. A monography was recently
published by Damiani.
Installation view, Andy Denzler, A Moment of
Reflection, Opera Gallery ©
Andy Denzler
Boy Meanders Through
2020
oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm (27.5 x 31.5 in)
Denzler's paintings are the outcome of several layers of painting and erasure.
Their surfaces are animated by lines where the squeegee has paused, by brushstrokes, other
scrapings, and areas where the skin of oil paint has dried and rippled. The paint seems delicate and
fluid in some areas, coarser and more solid in others.
"His models feel both identifiable and anonymous, faceless and opaque, yet
distinguishable. If his scenes were once “frozen” in time, they are now glacially melting before the
viewer on the horizon as a block of butter in a simple pan. The eye is drawn to this movement. And
it is not just the body that is active, but the hair, leather, soul too, commingling in the paint
color and texture. All elements are interspersed and kinetic."
Andy Denzler
If I Could Tell You
2020
oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm (31.5 x 27.5 in)
Installation view, Andy Denzler, A Moment of
Reflection, Opera Gallery ©
Andy Denzler
Introspection III
2019
oil on canvas, 180 x 450 cm (overall) (70.8 x 177.1 in) / 180 x 150 cm (each) (70.8 x 59 in)
Installation view, Andy Denzler, A Moment of
Reflection, Opera Gallery ©
Andy Denzler
The Earth Reflects in Her
2020
oil on canvas, 140 x 120 cm (51.1 x 47.2 in)
"Denzler’s paintings have a unique palette of ochers, browns, blacks, flesh
tones and grays, that make them readable and naturalistic images infused with energy."
Andy Denzler
The Study Room I
2020
oil on canvas, 200 x 300 cm (78.7 x 118.1 in)
"The identity of each sitter is strengthened by the haptic intervention and
distortion. This makes the people who are portrayed appear more vulnerable. Ultimately, it serves as
a reminder to the transience of our existence.
The spontaneous manner that I paint is central to the work's emotive freshness. Each painting starts
with one human figure or more and the landscape or interior is built around that. Free brushstrokes
are applied by using a combination of impasto oil paints dripping turps and glazing."
Andy Denzler
Treehouse II
2020
oil on canvas, 140 x 120 cm (51.1 x 47.2 in)
