AS YOU STAND THERE WATCHING

AS YOU STAND THERE WATCHING
Dan Schein

press release in danish (pdf)
Dan Schein CV
open a PDF file with all the works
Duration: 20.01. – 17.02. 2012

Opening: Friday 20.01.2012 5-7 PM

CUBE: Tove Kurtzweil, Udvalgte portrætter

The young American painter Dan Schein exhibits for the first time in Europe at Galleri Tom Christoffersen. After he gratuated and got his MFA at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia last year, he had a residency in Switzerland in Stein Am Rhein, Chretzeturm, where most of the works for the exhibition were made.

Dan Schein’s paintings are figurative and narrative. Each of them is like a frozen movie-still, or as a transitional image in a comic strip between the speech bubbles. There is an action going on. The “scenes” are played out in the landscape, the forest and the closest we come the urbane life is the detached house gardens. “Actors” can be merry nudist couples or the lonely wanderer and no one seems to notice “the camera”. The awkward, amusing or melancholy, sad scenes appear hushed but incredibly evocative and a story is brought to life in each one. The naked couple enjoying themselves after their barbecue in the garden with the Weber Grill tells about present times, while the angry mob of peasants with pitchforks tells about the past.

It is particularly in nature depiction Dan Schein’s painterly characteristics emerge. His very coarse broad strokes and the angular markings are reminiscent of the Danish artist Erik Hoppe (1896-1968). And like Erik Hoppe searched for one of “colour meaning” in art does Dan Schein. It’s not about the colour as brilliant or powerful, but about its fullness and depth. Dan Schein puts like Hoppe colour against colour and frames in the heavy surfaces a melancholic (almost Nordic) tone. Going further back in the Danish art history Dan Schein’s depictions of trees and sky can remind one of Albert Gottschalk’s (1866-1906) “unfinished” symbolism. It is sensual with a strong textural tension. Dan Schein paints, like Gottschalk, colours into the landscape attuned to light and weather, and balanced together with the action taking place in the picture, he pinpoints the instantaneous character of reality.

Dan Schein (b.1985). 2009-2011: M.F.A Candidate in Painting, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia PA. 2004-2008: Purchase College SUNY, Purchase NY, Bachelor of Fine Arts, May 2008, Major in Painting.

Dan Schein: Backyard Shenanigans. 2011, oil on canvas, 174 x 230 cm

Dan Schein Pigs in a Pile 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm

Dan Schein Arthritic Swine 2011 Oil on canvas 70 x 60 cm

Dan Schein "Okay Higgins, Your Turn" 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

Dan Schein The Guy Who Stood There for a While 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 70 cm

Dan Schein Garbage Day 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 70 cm

Dan Schein "Dont Worry Cows, It's Only Death" 2011 Oil on canvas 80 x 100 cm

Dan Schein Snouts in the Trough 2011 Oil on canvas 80 x 100 cm

Dan Schein Drinking Brews in a Speeding Truck 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

Dan Schein Squeezing Udders 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

Dan Schein The Mysterious Thing That Happened After the Unnecessary Hauling of the Bucket 2011 Oil on canvas 50 x 70 cm

Dan Schein Burn Everything 2011 Oil on canvas 50 x 70 cm

Dan Schein Leg Wound 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 70 cm

Dan Schein Priest Drinks Wine 2011 Oil on canvas 40 x 30 cm

Dan Schein Beers, BBQ, and Fucking in the Pool 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

Dan Schein Standard Behavior 2011 Oil on canvas 50 x 70 cm

Dan Schein "This Blows" 2011 Oil on canvas 50 x 70 cm

Dan Schein The Self Important man in Nature who Thinks about Things Different from the way That Things are Usually Thought About 2011 Oil on canvas 40 x 50 cm

Dan Schein Bear Eats Legs 2011 Oil on canvas 135 x 245 cm

Dan Schein Genitals Reflected Fishing Trip 2011 Oil on canvas 132 x 172 cm

Dan Schein Car Park Overdose 2011 Oil on canvas 140 x 190 cm

Dan Schein "Oh crap" 2011 Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm

Installation view Dan Schein: AS YOU STAND THERE WATCHING Galleri Tom Christoffersen 2012

CUBE:
Tove Kurtzweil
Udvalgte portrætter

Duration: 20.01. – 17.02. 2012

Opening: Friday 20.01.2012 5-7 PM

Installation view Tove Kurtzweil: UDVALGTE PORTRÆTTER Galleri Tom Christoffersen 2012

Tove Kurtzweil Helmut Newton in his hotel room, Gothenburg, October 1997