Paul Pretzer
Paul Pretzer (b. 1981, Paide, Estonia) lives and works in Barcelona and Berlin. In his oil paintings, Pretzer often creates a multiplicity of strange hybrid beings and chimeras, which he endows with attributes borrowed from the world of consumer goods or completely invented, often defying clear interpretation. The scenes are often reminiscent of influential stories from German children's books - small instances of carelessness can lead to terrible consequences. But in Pretzer's pictures we are not confronted with dark disciplinary measures, but rather with black humor. The absurd, bad luck, great misfortune, and the failure of projects large and small just happen. In these paintings, there are no clearly identifiable instigators of fate or injustice. The only thing the artist gives his protagonists on their Sisyphean quest is empathy, which allows his lost creatures, who search for support in ritualized poses, to come very close to us. The culprits or villains seem to suffer as much from the effects of their misdeed as the seemingly identifiable victim.
Paul Pretzer skillfully uses his talent for composition, form and light. Looking at his paintings for the first time, one is tempted to fall back on the comfortable comfort of a seemingly easily accessible painting of figurative certainties. But watch out, we are already trapped, just like Pretzer's figures. And our sympathy for the beings struggling with the absurdity of life quickly turns to self-pity. Pretzer self-consciously places himself in the tradition of panel painting. He uses the best of them, quotes them skillfully, and questions the conventions of seriousness in dealing with art by introducing tragicomedy, the grotesque, and slapstick in a very contemporary way. This ability may be one of the reasons why Pretzer's work has already attracted considerable attention from the national and international art and collecting scene.
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Where there's smoke there's fire, 2021
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Darum lieb ich alles, was so gelb ist, 2020
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Vorband, 2020
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In a Sea of Tears I Slowly Drown, 2019
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Blender, 2018
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Rattenmann (Sean), 2018
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Mausfasser, 2018
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Bubble Brother, 2018
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Brüter, 2018
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All The Pleasure And All The Pain, 2016
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Grüne Apfel, 2015
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Herohorse, 2015
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Panoptic Puddle
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Between Reason and Imagination
January 23 - March 1, 2025 Lower East SideA group exhibition featuring works by Thomas Bangsted, Sandro Chia, Jeffrey Gibson, Moris, Anna Leonhardt, Volha Panco, Paul Pretzer, Renée Stout, Alexander Tinei and Entang Wiharso. Curated by Daniel Sachs.Read more -
Paul Pretzer
November 18, 2021 - February 5, 2022 Lower East Side -
Paul Pretzer
February 15 - March 31, 2019 Lower East Side -
Paul Pretzer
January 10 - February 14, 2016 Lower East Side -
Paul Pretzer
February 13 - March 17, 2013 Lower East Side -
Paul Pretzer
November 20 - December 23, 2011 Lower East Side
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Paul Pretzer at TØN Gallery Dublin
October 31, 2024 -
Paul Pretzer at Städtische Galerie Dresden
October 31, 2024 -
Paul Pretzer in elemmental
October 2, 2020 -
Paul Pretzer in Galerie Magazine
March 1, 2019 -
Paul Pretzer in On Art and Aesthetics
July 1, 2017 -
Paul Pretzer on Mapanare
October 12, 2014 -
Paul Pretzer in the Huffington Post
March 12, 2013 -
Paul Pretzer in Cool Hunting
February 14, 2013