ANDY DENZLER/
BETWEEN THE SHADOWS

Andy Denzler is a Zürich-based artist. After studying at F&F Schule für Gestaltung Zürich and UCLA, he went on to train at Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design, followed by a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Chelsea College of Art and Design (now the Chelsea College of Arts) in London. Denzler’s approach is figurative, working large scale using oil on canvas. His method is to add dynamic new layers to the traditional art of capturing the figure using paint. Treating oil paint as if they were cinematic, his compositions are given an additional layer of dynamism and life through the sweeps and cuts Denzler makes on the surface before the paint is fully dry. These interventions reference the fast forward and paused distortion of a videotape head clamping down on a freeze frame, or the jagged interpolations of a digital glitch. The portraits become animated, as if stills from an imaginary film, with figures – often posed in diptychs and triptychs – set against fantastical or cinematic backdrops. Denzler has exhibited in galleries around the world, with recent shows in Geneva, New York, Seoul and Berlin. Denzler also uses juxtaposition, incorporating classical modes of composition and framing that are subtly undermined and subverted by his painting technique.