Jan-Ole Schiemann: If there was a letter for it

Kasmin presents Cologne-based painter Jan-Ole Schiemann’s third solo presentation at the gallery, If there was a letter for it. On view are new canvas paintings that index a careful process of gestural mark making, featuring the first series of paintings Schiemann realized in his new Cologne studio, all of which incorporate oil paint in his work for the first time. With oil, Schiemann intensifies the expression of velocity in his newest series of works. In thicker layers, Schiemann’s gestural marks glide across the canvas and retain the immediate sensibility of the artist’s hand, widening the range of motion that he captures. The smooth and energetic texture of the paint layers defines these surfaces, complementing the embedded texture of the canvas weave visible through Schiemann’s acrylic stains.

Schiemann’s atmospheric fields of color are framed by curving contours that approach the notations of language, recalling the visual vocabulary that defined the artist’s lauded Kavex series presented at Kasmin in 2019. As the eponymous painting’s title suggests, the paintings in If there was a letter for it evoke a sense of longing for a way to express a feeling with signs and symbols, testing the limitations of that notion. The paintings lay bare the process by which Schiemann builds his compositions, expanding the lexicon of gestures, textures and palettes that define his signature style.

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