109 - JULIUS HOFMANN

JULIUS HOFMANN (1983, Göttingen; based in Leipzig) Mud hud, 2016 Acrylic on canvas. 70 x 90 cm. Framed. Titled, signed, and dated on the reverse. Julius Hofmann studied in Leipzig under Neo Rauch and Heribert C. Ottersbach. Since then, he has been exploring how space and surface can be represented in the digital age—in painting as well as in 3D animation and computer graphics. For him, these two techniques influence one another: he transfers the aesthetics of simple, imperfect computer images into oil painting and contrasts them with the medium’s traditional techniques. Using a collage-like visual logic, the painting interweaves a dramatic mountain landscape, shimmering in shades of red and blue, with cool, geometric architectural elements that appear to have been inserted into the scene as if from another pictorial plane. The juxtaposition of organic, expressive landscape painting and clearly contoured architecture can be read as a commentary on the tension between humans, architecture, and an increasingly fragmented, alienated perception of nature.