Henning Strassburger

In the exhibition HIGH, Sies + Höke presents new works by the Berlin-based artist Henning Strassburger. Known as one of the leading protagonists of his generation in the discourse on abstract painting, Strassburger integrates the insights gained from his previous works into a new cycle of paintings. Since 2020, representative elements are clearly recognisable in his series of grey paintings. These seemingly abstract lines are representative amplifications of figurative ink drawings, enlarged by the artist via projections directly onto the canvas. The supposedly spontaneous gesture of the line became a calculated and critical questioning of abstract painting. Christian Malycha described this as “manipulative markmaking”. The critical attitude towards pure gesture led Strassburger to an analytical abstraction that, with references to an external narration, elevated the image beyond the depicted to a more narrative level. The artist comments: “Gestural painting is only sexy in combination with youthfulness”. [...]