Katherina Olschbaur: Midnight Spill

Katherina Olschbaur’s newest works—entrancing oil paintings on canvases of linen—can be found in the exhibition “Midnight Spill” at Perrotin’s Hong Kong Gallery. Olschbaur’s first solo exhibition in Asia (open March 19 through April 22) presents visitors with a viewing experience that could be described as “a journey from chaos to figuration,” where the artist’s perception of light and color is of the utmost importance. While rooted in realistic figurative depictions, Olschbaur’s portraits and scenarios employ a spectrum of markings from smooth shading to abstract lines and gestural scratches, almost to a cut-and-paste effect, where bits and pieces of the figures appear somewhat realistic, accented by patches of bright color or hectic brushstrokes. Often captured mid-act—eating, reading, lounging with an overturned glass—the artist’s subjects have the stately, distant quality of classical statues and portraiture.