November 15 - Jan 3 - Hannes Schauer

ESMB is pleased to present the solo exhibition “Garden of Tomorrow” by Hannes Schauer. Artist Hannes Schauer regards his practice as a refuge from the world’s noise, a space for quiet contemplation. Schauer likens the experience to communing with nature: Both ameliorate the ego’s aches by casting their slight dimensions into relief. Intuitively, then, the artist decided to lend his practice in the service of encapsulating nature’s wisdom. In his latest series, Garden of Tomorrow, Schauer envisions a utopic realm in which humility, hope, and trust flourish, a future that replicates the harmony of a garden.

Schauer’s fifteen paintings teem with vibrant flora. Each slice of scenery floats within a foreshortened composition, immersing the beholder in its verdant splendor. While many of the paintings’ colors mirror those found in a garden, others do not. Off-kilter yellows, pinks, and blues imbue the works with a fantastical quality, reminiscent of Charles Burchfield’s landscapes.

The impressionist brushwork he employs ranges from gentle to bold; ethereal swirls intermingle with stark perpendicular lines, culminating in a symphony of textures. Here, Schauer is aided by his musical sensibility. As a composer of electronic music, the artist is keenly attuned to the dynamism of layered components, transmitting a fully realized visual language.

Highly embodied and intuitive, Schauer’s process is akin to a spiritual ritual. He executes each painting by laying the canvas on the floor, expressively splashing it with highly diluted ink and acrylic paint. Moving in tandem with the water, Schauer shapes its precipitation and atmospheric turbulence, establishing his initial composition.

As he applies more paint, this base layer either undergoes a full transformation or serves as a partially visible “humus” for the completed work. He then hangs the canvas on the wall to gain a different perspective, allowing gravity to pull the water downwards. Capturing this flow with a sponge, Schauer generates patterns modeled after those in nature.

Central to Garden of Tomorrow is the following question: What occurs when our presence on this planet is felt in a less exploitative manner? Refraining from moral reproof, the artist instead invites the viewer to imagine another mode of being and to revel in the majesty of the natural world.