Christoph Schrein
Christoph Schrein is a contemporary painter and draftsman who has exhibited in New York, San Francisco, and Melbourne with a private practice on a consistent body of work since 2006. His most recent exhibitions include Art Ventures Gallery in Silicon Valley and Lumas Gallery in New York City. He was commissioned by the international cruise ship Arvia for his works and recently completed a residency in Napa Valley, California with Art Ventures Gallery. Recent art fairs include DENFAIR in Melbourne, Australia and he has been featured in various collections on Saatchi Art.
The paintings are executed with either oil or acrylic on luminous or metallic surfaces such as glass, plexiglass, and aluminum while his drawings are done with ink on paper. Perhaps the surfaces he paints on remains the reason for the pristine radiance across his compositions which leaves a reflective sheen. These surfaces also generally do not soak up material like canvas, instead, the paint streaks across the planes of the glass, plexiglass, or aluminum. Like a rhythmic dance and classical music, the fabric-like forms in the paintings flow naturally without tension or friction.
These monochromatic compositions are soothing in their consistent cool grayish-blues and off-whites revealing tapestry-inspired shapes which lay with asymmetrical harmony across the surface. Although the works are totally abstract, they are not executed with improvisation or compulsion, but rather through careful composure and direct precision of the brush. The brush strokes within the paintings represent movement and flow of the paint rather than of direct expression.
Untitled ( pictured above) contains an oil on glass paintings with pristine form and finish one would find on a fine piece of machinery such as a brand new kitchen appliance. The metallic representation folds with minimal elegance and composure. A fine work which represents the clockwork precision tuning of perfected form elegantly flowing across the surface, much like how the foam of the sea caresses the sands of the shore.
Christoph Schrein’s paintings and drawings showcase a career enveloped in consistency and development of creating a body of work representing finely tuned refined abstraction. He explores the boundaries of creating the illusion of metallic surfaces without the revelation of metals on the composition. His surface material allows him to flow the paint in a way which seems therapeutic and persistent. Through careful, precise brushwork and a connection with the nature of paint, Christoph Schrein reveals compositions which organically spread across the surface with technological implications representing metallic monochromatic sheen.
