Untitled Painting

Christoph Schrein explores the sublime in his work. In his paintings on glass, he creates a contemplative space that sucks the observer in an optical maelstrom. From influences of Tachisme, New British Sculpture and also current trends in Generative Art, Christoph Schrein developed an own imagery, which positions itself in contemporary abstract painting. His artwork consists in thoughts, landscapes, physical non-spaces, forming undulating colour streams and fluent movements that unite creating a complex composition. The characteristics of glass as the carrier material – transparency and a plane surface – allow and also require the need to develop new techniques and designs. Applying colour on both sides of the glass leads to a perceptive challenge. Due to the spatial separation of both sides, light is refracted, so that the three-dimensional effect expands. Depending on the incidence angle of the light source and the observer’s position, the spatial and colour perception varies. Thus the image turns into a light object. It seems to shine from its inside out, as if it starts to breathe. These works come into being from a reflexive-dialectical working process that consists in compressing colour, shape and spatial structures. One layer after another artistic gestures are superimposing themselves to get closer to the final image. However, the focus is not on the expressive process, but on the artificial image space, which speaks for itself and withholds the artist’s former intervention. The artwork seems to have been developing by itself which also is its source of supply. Schreins paintings ask for a dialogue without giving any answers, they question the inner being of painting and create a space for subjective experience.