German Enlightenment

Anton Henning
Interieur No. 384, 2007
Oil on linen
74.21 x 86.5 inches

Zach Feuer Gallery's second exhibition of work by German artist Anton Henning includes paintings from 2000 - 2008 and offers an insightful overview of Henning's painterly preoccupations. The titles (Interior, Portrait or Still life) announce rather traditional themes. Henning's headstrong definition of these paint motifs, however, challenges our way to categorize art by blurring the borders between genres. The show title "German Enlightenment" is a reference to both the artist's cultural background and to the tangible fact that the paintings are illuminated only from the light within the frames. The gallery space is transformed into a room-filling self-illuminating installation; the paintings stand out from the wall and capture the exhibition space.

Excerpt from the Zach Feuer Gallery exhibition, October 15 - November 26, 2008