In his third solo exhibition at Wentrup, Jan-Ole Schiemann presents new paintings that are a continuation of his most recent cycle of works. The two large-format canvases BigDataCorrupter and ContourBoostWust (both 2023) here serve as the starting point and were most recently on display in his solo museum exhibition "WAH WAH" at the Neue Galerie Gladbeck. Now, they take on a central role in Berlin.
Stencils, acrylic paint, oil pencil, charcoal, or drawing ink - these are the tools Jan-Ole Schiemann uses to create his often large-format paintings, which move between gestural abstraction and organic figuration. A superimposition of different levels creates an intangible depth in the canvas. In recent years, the artist has succeeded in developing his very own formal vocabulary for his paintings, which art critic Estelle Hoy describes as "visual scatting" and art historian Philipp Fernandes do Brito compares to "musical sampling". In music, "scatting" is the improvised singing of rhythmically and melodically strung together sequences of syllables without a word meaning or coherent sense. Onomatopoeic instrumental phrases are imitated improvisationally and layered on top of each other in different scores. A vocal rebellion that is unique and unrepeatable. Schiemann appropriates this form and translates it into the visual with his technical and artistic skills. Tonal nuances, layered acrylic paints, flowing areas of color, and sometimes a whirlwind of oil stick. A mental linking of sounds resonates in the pictures; an associative sound repertoire which Schiemann tries to make visible and thus gives it an analog structure. Often, the titles of the works refer to musical elements — such as BigDataCorrupter and ContourBoostWust, which are based on the names of effect pedals. Schiemann makes use of musical-acoustic thinking to ultimately be able to describe what happens in his paintings. This connection to music seems obvious, since he is a passionate electronic musician himself.
Whereas earlier works were more condensed, so that the canvas was no longer visible, the Gladbeck paintings open up and become uncluttered and more exposed. They allow the raw, light-colored canvas to emerge. Schiemann pursues a clear, structured approach. With the help of color stripes in delicate pinkpurple tones in the upper and lower third of the portrait-format canvas, a horizontal format arises in the center. Here is, where "everything" happens – wild, organic shapes in black extend across this bright window, reminiscent of his ink drawings. The new paintings created for the Berlin exhibition take up this color concept, as well as isolated forms and elements from Gladbeck. Here, too, the raw, light canvas is partially revealed, but overall the compositions appear denser and more vibrant in color.
The exhibition is accompanied by a completely new body of work that reveals Schiemann's interest in different materials: the Wabenpappen-Bilder (honeycomb cardboard paintings). These pictures seem to merge the characteristics of his canvases and works on paper, which are already manifested in his oeuvre. They take up the formal aspects of his surreal compositions and expressive-abstract shapes, as well as the size of the paintings; at the same time they are closer to the medium of paper due their materiality and surface, which gives the artist a different approach to the work and changes the process of painting.
The exhibition "KNIRSCH" provides an insight into the constantly evolving oeuvre of Jan-Ole Schiemann, who has become an important young painter of his generation with his unique vocabulary and has undoubtedly influenced the canon of contemporary abstract painting.
Jan-Ole Schiemann (*1983 in Kiel) studied at Kunsthochschule Kassel and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He lives and works in Cologne.
