LIFE’S RICH TAPESTRY by Rolf Schulenburg at 404 | BAI

August 04 – 14, 2023

“A few years ago, after having gone through a number of very difficult years personally, I began making some big changes in all areas of my life. This lead me also to realize how dissatisfied I had become with my artistic practice, which was another area that I decided to completely rethink.

In my teens I often painted, but over the years I had become fixated on drawing, usually figurative and with fine line black pen, and I wanted to get completely away from this. So from small scale, black and white, detailed drawings, I wanted to work much larger, to experiment with lots of color and to paint, with brushes and other materials, allowing for less controlled, much freer and more expressive mark-making. I wanted to move away from realism and give myself the freedom to experiment more with how I expressed my ideas, striving to unlearn a lot of the habits and constraints I found I’d put on myself.

The paintings I’ve done in the time since then draw much inspiration from the previous, darker years in my life, but I wanted to extract details and ideas that would bring some light and humor into how I how I remember and reflect on that time and it was important to me that I really enjoy the process of making art again.

I’ve been inspired by a lot of different things in my life, I’ve had lots of interesting experiences and I’ve been influenced by a pretty broad spectrum of cultures and themes. These paintings were about investigating and identifying the parts of all these things that left a lasting impression on me and bringing them together to portray a more accurate impression of who I’ve become at this point in my life. I wanted to mark some of these events, people and places from my life, or sometimes celebrate my memories of them. Some are layered and chaotic, incorporating details from a number of sources in a number of styles and others are clearer and simpler, but that’s how I think many memories are experienced: some are very clear and easy to decipher and others more abstracted or surreal with unexpected details sticking out, or a song or conversation connecting to a particular scene or feelings in our minds. I wanted my paintings to have a similar “patchwork” quality, cobbling different styles and textures together, some bright and colorful, others darker or more monotone, hopefully communicating to the viewer more than just a straight forward message or idea, but instead an overall feeling or impression for them to interpret through making their own associations.” (Text by courtesy of Rolf Schulenburg)

Rolf Schulenburg completed his BA in Illustration at London Westminster University in 2007, following a Foundation Diploma in Art at London Metropolitan University. He exhibited in numerous group exhibitions in London, including Frieze Art Fair London, with Taishi Nagasaka (2008), London’s Golden Square with M&C Saatchi and Daydream Network Magazine and a solo show at Toasted, Camden Town. He also had numerous exhibitions in Los Angeles, including being featured at Zep Tepi Emporium and a solo exhibition at Burgundy Room, (2013) both in Hollywood.  After residencies at the Berlin Art Institute (2021-23) and contributing to Fellows Exhibitions in 2022 and 2023, he is holding his first solo exhibition in Berlin in August 2023.

More information on the Rolf Schulenburg Instagram account.

 404 | BAI is the display & project space of the BERLIN ART INSTITUTE. 404 is derived from the numeric designation of the building while also referring to the well-known HTTP status code: 404 Not Found, familiar from the internet.