Cassina Projects is pleased to present Paintings and Drawings 2009-2019, Marcel Eichner's first solo show in Italy.
Done in different years and moments between Berlin and Barcelona, the paintings on display interact with each other suggesting that the search for tranquillity is a lonely road. Surrounded by altered fragments of language and dripping ink, the characters depicted on a surreal scale are human and semi-human characters, friends of the artist, self-portraits, the reworking of scenes of his everyday life that populate undisclosed habitats.
Eichner's work intuitively searches for forms and languages that express his subconscious, his innate intuition for lines generates a web of fascinating contents that play on an altered stage. His artistic process is centred on playing with intoxication and a state of ecstasy. The imaginary that arises from dreams, imagination and reworkings of the artist's life stories reveals a condition of tragedy and restlessness.
The exhibition is introduced by Untitled (2012), a large painting in which an animal with human features seems to float in a sky of suffused light. Another painting reveals a decontextualized figure in an orange sky, ink that drips and small details out of place such as windmills, ice cream and hot air balloons. In other more obscure visions, the artist paints voyeurs, solitary characters, card players and rock and roll stars. A small drawing on paper from 2009 with a comical character working on a computer, confirms the humorous vision of the artist of today's society. Eichner's figures and narrative describe humankind's constant endeavours, attempting to reconcile reality through individuals or dark stories, even if the compositions are always pervaded by a dash or veil of irony.
All the works feature geometric shapes and numbers repeated with no apparent order, thus creating a dazzling surreal mood both in the work as well as in the beholder. Regardless of where they originate or what their stories might be, all the characters bear an aura of eternal restlessness.
