Le Clos Pascal

The paintings of Erwin Gross could be understood as quiet in the loudness of our time. Almost a bit mysterious, like Erwin Gross himself, about whom not much can be found on the internet. But this should not be misunderstood as mystical staging. It is much more about maintaining a state of overview. A state which allows to pay attention to the smallest differences.

The paintings of Erwin Gross, who participated in documenta 7 in 1982 and has been teaching painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe since 1990, often find their origin at the border areas of coincidence  and manipulation. Moments of nature or better of man touched nature, but also a wide range of culture and art history are the ongoing inspiration and subject for Erwin Gross. In his often large-format paintings, he uses watercolour-like backgrounds to create two-dimensional spaces in which nuances in the application of paint, splashes or patina-like irregularities become the relevant element. Recognising the states of the works requires concentration, which the artist does not only obtain through the almost monochrome palette and low light contrasts. In his studio, too, space is reserved exclusively for his works. In the extreme of this reduction, Erwin Gross creates the space for experimental fields of organic and formal arrangement, which come to the fore especially in his series. It is these relationships of painterly moments that find their space in the paintings and always give the artist cause to change the experimental arrangement once again.

Paula Kohn

Contemporary Art Library

Photos: Heinz Pelz