His paintings impress at second glance: After the eye hears a computerized collage, the mind registers that they are actually oil paintings. Sharp edges and a photo-realistic aesthetic dominate Simon Czapla's ductus. He lards old-master painting with confusing, surrealistic tips. The young artist prefers to fall back on animal motifs: an ostrich with cyan blue boots and matching, waving scarf strut through a steppe landscape, while the sky is bathed in a golden evening light, as in many paintings. He does something similar with rhinos, chimpanzees, giraffes or cheetahs. They »should make us aware that animals are beings over which man cannot dispose at will.«
Podium Kunst e.V. in Schramberg, Baden-Württemberg, in the Black Forest, is dedicating the exhibition Simon Czapla - Into the Woods to these idiosyncratic yet incomparable creations starting November 6. The solo show joins the successful vita of the Berlin-based artist: only this year he won the 3rd Southwest German Art Prize. The exhibition can be visited until January 8.
