Emotional Paintings David Ostrowski
Past Exhibitions exhibition
Press release
David is the future of painting. I first saw his work in Cologne at his studio. It blew my mind. There is great depth and vision to his work. I feel his soul. We went out afterwards for a drink. He is a true maniac. He tried to stick his tongue in my mouth. I told him we should stay friends. In truth his paintings are a turn on. Let’s see what happens. The future is bright for Ostrowski.
– Scarlett Johanssen
Peres Projects is pleased to present David Ostrowski's solo exhibition, Emotional Paintings.
Minimal, empty, unpainted: these are words we would use to describe David Ostrowski's paintings. Their blank surfaces, failed gestures and jarring colors appear “unpainted” and cold upon first glance.
Standing in front of one of these large paintings however, the romantic intentions behind these works begins to come into focus. The “unpainted” line of spray paint becomes the aborted gesture of a 21st century German studio painter who uses the medium because of it’s inherent spontaneity. Anything can happen between the nozzle of spray can and the canvas. The footprints on the otherwise untreated canvases of the Footsie paintings are portraits of the artist's muses, an intimate peak into the women who fill his life and studio and the beauty he finds in their feet.
Ostrowski often refers to pop culture pillars like Seinfeld or Between Two Ferns, creating a context of irony and humor for his work to live in. Perhaps an even more fitting reference for the viewer could be Sliding Doors, the early 2000’s RomCom film about chance, romance and the lack control we have over our daily lives.
At the end of his studies under Albert Oehlen at the Akadamie in Düsseldorf, Ostrowski lost almost every painting he ever made due to a devastating electrical fire in his studio. Every labored painting, layer after layer of tedious oil paint mixed and applied painstakingly with brushes, perfectly treated canvases, gone in a instant. The only thing left to show for all of these years of effort and study was a single surviving canvas, raw except the shadow of the stretcher bars painted in soot by the flames of the fire. Ultimate failure, endless possibilities.
It’s exhilarating to think that there is opportunity in failure, liberating to believe there is beauty in raw materials and romantic to immortalize a muse in a fleeting footstep, preserved and exhibited for all to see.
For Ostrowski's second solo exhibition, Romantic Paintings, at Peres Projects the artist will present a new body of works from his ongoing F series.
Installation Shots
