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Exhibition — Painting

Fringe | Christian Hellmich

Date:
11 January up to 22 February 2025
Location:
→ Rutger Brandt Gallery
Bethaniënstraat 39
1012 BZ Amsterdam
Open:
  • Wednesday 12:00—17:00
  • Thursday 12:00—17:00
  • Friday 12:00—17:00
  • Saturday 12:00—17:00
Admission
Free admission
Open today from 12:00 to 17:00

German artist Christian Hellmich creates paintings that blend abstraction with urban and industrial themes, transforming everyday architectural motifs into imagined yet recognizable environments. His distinctive style is defined by gestural abstraction, asymmetrically arranged planes of color and geometric grid patterns that fragment the pictorial space to create dynamic and layered compositions. In his latest exhibition “Fringe” Hellmich draws inspiration from the outskirts of Berlin, where back-alley melancholy is intertwined with personal memory.

The exhibition reflects the unique character of Berlin’s fringes, where gritty urban charm intersects with Hellmich’s childhood experiences of Stadtranderholung—youth holidays spent on the city’s edges. These retreats, often organized by social welfare groups, provided affordable vacations close to home. Hellmich’s creative process begins with chaotic, gestural compositions that gradually evolve into structured, abstract patterns. From this disorder, objects emerge, which he gradually refines into structured abstract patterns. As the work evolves, objects emerge and recede, blurring the lines between background and foreground. This shifting interplay creates a fluid dialogue between space and form, inviting viewers into an ambiguous yet captivating realm where the real and the imagined coexist.