Florian Krewer
Nice Dog
Curated by Matthew Higgs, director and chief curator, White Columns, and Victor Wang, artistic & executive director, M WOODS Museum
Assistant curator, Qi Yuanlin
M WOODS 798
December 02, 2023 – March 02, 2024
M WOODS Museum proudly presents “Nice Dog,” the most comprehensive survey of the paintings of Florian Krewer (b. 1986, Gerolstein, Germany) to date, and the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Asia. The exhibition is a collaboration with the Aspen Art Museum, which showed the artist's first institutional solo exhibition in the United States earlier this year.
With the New York night as his muse, Krewer paints all the vastness, liberation, and uncertainty it has to offer. Derived from lived experiences and fantasy, the artist creates a seductive world of magical encounters set against the staged backdrops of imagined landscapes and interiors. Primal needs, longing, and precarious interactions are depicted with the greater intention of revealing our collective vulnerabilities.
Exploring the last six years of Krewer’s career, the exhibition features new paintings alongside a selection of paintings from collections around the world. It charts Krewer’s journey since his 2017 graduation from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied under the artist Peter Doig. Krewer’s more recent paintings reflect the relentless and often anxious energy of New York, his newfound home.
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Exhibited in the urban sprawl of Beijing, Krewer’s work captures the off-beat pulse of city life, portraying figures in varying states of stress and release, ready for the night. In raw and intimate moments, Krewer's characters twist, merge, and engage with animals and shadows. Their actions, fraught with tension, blur the line between personal desires and societal expectations. “Nice Dog” delves deep into this dichotomy, exploring the complex interplay of private passions against the backdrop of public existence.
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
Installation view, Florian Krewer “Nice Dog”, M WOODS 798, Beijing, 2023, Image courtesy of M WOODS
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About the Artist
Florian Krewer’s work is held in important public collections worldwide. Recent solo exhibitions include light the ocean, Michael Werner Gallery, New York; everybody rise, Aspen Art Museum; Es liebt Dich und Deine Körperlichkeit ein Verwirrter, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; and ride or fly, Michael Werner Gallery, London. The artist is the 2022 recipient of the Prix Jean-François Prat awarded by the Bredin Prat Foundation, Paris, and currently lives and works in the South Bronx, New York.
About Aspen Art Museum
Located in Aspen, Colorado, USA, Aspen Art Museum is an artist-founded institution dedicated to supporting artists in the development of bold ideas to shape our museum and the field of art today. As an exhibition-focused, non-collecting museum, we are positioned to make strong commitments to meaningful exchange, both responding to—and driving—cultural change.
With special support from Michael Werner Gallery.
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VICTOR WANG
All content property of © Victor Wang 2009 - 2024 All rights reserved -- BEIJING - LONDON.
All content property of © Victor Wang 2009 - 2024 All rights reserved -- BEIJING - LONDON.