To celebrate the start of 2025, Van der Grinten Galerie is delighted to open the first solo exhibition with new gallery artist Leigh Wells in its space!

The works on paper signed by Sigmar Polke and dated from 1999, 2002 and 2003 are exhibited for the first time as a group. They are a wonderful example of the typical combination of various painting media, including spray paint, silkscreen, ink, watercolors and interference colors used by Polke.

For Rikako Kawauchi ‘s second exhibition at our gallery, we are showing her oil painting for the first time, in tandem with a selection of the latest drawings on paper. In contrast to the clear, light and airy drawings, in which the forms float and breath in the often empty space of the pristine paper, Kawauchi’s oil paintings display a strong physical presence: in the thick, fresh layers of colorful material that form the weighty, abstract foundation, the palette knife is used to carve out motives that nevertheless transport the same somatic energy as the thin, minimalistic lines drawn on paper.

The idea for the current exhibition came when taking a closer look at the work of Roy Mordechay and Frans Roermond. One thing the two artists have in common in that they are both deeply influenced by artworks well beyond their immediate purview.