Andy Denzler | Anatomy of the Mind

Opera Gallery London

04 - 27 June 2021

Opera Gallery London is delighted to present a new exhibition by leading Swiss contemporary artist Andy Denzler, featuring twenty two new works created during the lockdown. More than one year ago the world started changing radically. Our lives and travelling habits have become more challenging than ever. Throughout this changing process, Denzler’s imagination allows us to make a journey in time and space, whilst confined in our homes. Thanks to the strength of the mind, the artist transports us to a realm of idyllic landscapes comforting our feeling of longing. Anatomy of the Mind refers to our capacity as humans to use our minds to travel, even when our physical bodies cannot. What distinguishes this unique series of paintings is the contrast between the still figures and the dystopian landscapes. As explained by the artist: “I have painted these new works during lockdown at a time when travelling was not possible. I started to paint these places of longing; it is a form of escapism and a desire to create invented places. Rather than just telling stories or documenting a certain situation, my paintings depict people in a new light. The invented landscapes are the results of multiple layers of different images. The possibilities are endless.”

His portraits and interior scenes are reminiscent of old paintings, particularly Italian and Flemish ones from the 17th century. Denzler’s timeless paintings are created using expressive brushstrokes to approach each subject with great respect and admiration, giving them a sublime dimension. Inspired by his own photographs, Denzler slowly divulges through each layer of paint the subject of his paintings. While the paint is still wet, the artist uses different brushes and spatulas to move the heavy impasto paint, streak and spread the matter in order to create texture. Colour and form fuse in a specific horizontal movement. As a result of this original aesthetic, Denzler’s paintings merge the figurative and the abstract. It is, in fact, the picture of a woman, a man, a couple that one can see on the surface of the canvas combined with large coloured areas, moving surfaces and distortions. Denzler integrates figures and scenes from everyday life and his own imagination. Thus, figuration leaves room to non-figuration and all is united in a neutral palette, composed of more subdued colours such as flesh tones, ochres and browns.

Opera Gallery is pleased to invite you on Andy Denzler’s personal journey of the mind.