SCHROEDER

From thoughtful narrative illustrations of biblical verse to the psychological and emotional responses driven by his personal experience, our latest exhibition, ‘Redemption’ displays a number of works by classically trained French artist Frank Schroeder.

Born to a French mother and a West African father, Schroeder’s paintings explore the vibrant and visceral aspects of life and culture. Having suffered through the First Ivorian Civil War, the artist found solace studying philosophy, literature and art, retreating to an inner creative world he described as “dark and sometimes near death.”

Schroeder’s work is an on-going dialogue between classicism and modernism, his appreciation of the nude gives way to energetic and vigorous manipulation of the medium. The artist’s passionate response challenges the dogma of his academic training, yet the allusion to classical forms and lines remains entirely evident. Often, Schroeder uses the acrylic medium, to enable definitive contrasts in the work, in a manner that is highly suggestive of the Neo-Expressionist style and reminiscent of artists such as Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

In this exhibition, there are references to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, and the German legend of Faust. Themes of damnation and innocence, power and enjoyment of life are reflected in the bold use of colour and frenetic abandon of the artist’s painterly gesture. Curved forms contrast hard lines; forms and shapes are flattened almost into a single plane, in the manner of Picasso or Juan Gris. Psychological and theosophical musings are illustrated and expressed directly; crowns appear as metaphors for authoritarian power and the spatial separation of forms alludes to the rise of individualism and loneliness.

This exhibition aims to capture the spirit and vibrancy of Shroeder's work and will run from 8 - 30th JULY.