Alexander Wertheim

Saenger Gallery presents the exhibition, April 2024 by Alexander Wertheim.

The exhibition “April 2024” by Alexander Wertheim (Wertheim, Germany, 1995) arises from a stay of several months in Mexico City during the course of this same year, a period during which the artist had a provisional studio where he developed the paintings that make up the individual exhibition that houses the Main Room of Saenger Gallery. Prior to this presentation, at the beginning of 2024 Wertheim made his debut in Mexico in collaboration with Saenger Galería at the Acme No. 11 art fair and in the group exhibition “Janitz, Shinagawa, Wertheim” presented in the city of Guadalajara in collaboration with the Target Shooting gallery; In both events, Wertheim exhibited paintings executed in aerosol sprayed on primed white canvases forming his characteristic grids of horizontal and vertical lines that address the relationship between space and time from their physical qualities of density (and its counterpart, lightness), thickness, structure, speed, color and tonality (in the double visual and sound sense), and also from its pictorial attributes of sequence, rhythm and duration.

On this occasion, however, Wertheim reflects on his previous work and changes his way of working, opting for this exhibition to “suspend the idea of ​​crossing lines and instead divided my works into verticals and horizontals, allowing each gesture to remain independent.” . My new paintings are 'scratchy'. They can be seen as compositions or serve as backgrounds.” With this action, the artist makes a synthesis and resorts to the essential elements of his pictorial vocabulary: “My paintings show the transition from gestures to patterns, portraying the inherent struggle between the elements and the structures with which they are integrated. In their parallel relationships, their components oscillate between fusion and fission. Sprayed on the canvas, they materialize a state between solidity and lightness.” Alexander Wertheim's pictorial work is also a continuous essay on the potential of the physical trace, a study on its factual and spontaneous condition.

—Christian Barragan

Alexander Wertheim (Wertheim, Germany, 1995) Lives in Berlin. Alexander Wertheim was born in Wertheim, Germany; He studied at the Berlin University of the Arts with Manfred Pernice and also studied painting at Hunter College in New York. Since his first public appearance in 2022, he has presented seven solo exhibitions: “September Paintings” (Brunnenstraße 22, Berlin, 2022), “November Paintings” (Brunnenstraße 22, Berlin, 2022), “January Paintings” (König Gallery Showroom, Berlin , 2023), “Sunsets” (König Galerie, Berlin, 2023), “September 2023” (Schlachter 151, Berlin, 2023), “January 2024” (ACME Art Fair No.11, Mexico City, 2024) and “ April 2024” (Saenger Galería, Mexico City, 2024).

— Saenger Gallery