International Artist-In-Residence
New Works 10.3
Henning Bohl
Berlin, Germany
November 18, 2010–January 09, 2011
Berlin-based artist Henning Bohl's work is an investigation of the language and structure of painting. He often pushes his vividly hued paintings into the realm of sculpture through collaging curled paper onto canvas or utilizing canvas supports in unconventional ways. The artist's playful abstractions recall the compositional strategies of late nineteenth-century Modernists Toulouse-Lautrec and Matisse. Bohl welcomes these comparisons with artists from the past, because he understands the historical weight inherent in contemporary painting. He writes, "It is a sign of the times that there is not really so much left to invent. Whatever you could use is already fraught with predetermined meaning; there's no way around that, and somehow you've got to work with it." Despite this battle with originality, Bohl strives to reinvigorate contemporary painting through a reexamination of past styles.
