DANIEL RICHTER x MATTHIAS FRANZ: Sensory Dialogue
Opening this November, Yi Space is pleased to present a duo show of German artists Daniel Richter and Matthias Franz. This is the first time their work will be shown in dialogue, as well as being Franz’s first exhibition in Asia. It examines their former student-teacher partnership, as Richter was Franz’s Painting Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2019. A selection of Richter’s recent drawings and paintings (2019-2024), and related etchings and lithographs, will be shown alongside a new series of paintings by Franz; a grouping infused with surreal scenes and dynamic figuration that speak to their broader social contexts.
Richter is a Berlin-based painter who has an extensive history exhibiting in both Europe and the United States and is one of the most lauded German artists of his generation. In Richter’s pictorial world, surrealist forms synthesize art history, politics, and cultural memory. Informed by aggression, isolation and awkwardness, an interplay of strongly defined silhouettes, colors and forms hang in the balance between abstraction and figuration. Richter maintains that this dichotomy in painting is a constructed fiction, since the formal problems of color and composition remain constant. This framework for thinking about painting has continued to inform the development of Richter’s approach.
Directly confronting the complexities of contemporary existence, Franz approaches the medium of painting as a venture in witnessing and recording his time. His canvases are characterized by muted, earthen tones that are contrasted with shadowy outlines and full primary hues that comprise invented architectural spaces or uncanny perspectives. These places are at once deeply unfamiliar yet seemingly recognizable, as viewpoints are often refracted, obscured, and thus, brought closer to life. Despite their dream-like appearance, Franz’s semi-abandoned spaces become places of creative possibility and transformation.
Daniel Richter x Matthias Franz: Sensory Dialogue is Yi Space’s fourth show since its conception in 2023, using the entirety of its three exhibition spaces, spread over two floors.
About Yi Space
Yi Space, situated at the foot of Chenghuang Pavilion on the shores of West Lake, opened in 2023. Covering an area of 4000 square meters with a building space of 800 square meters, it comprises three exhibition spaces, two outdoor gardens, a multifunctional hall, and artist residency facilities. Positioned in close proximity to the renowned Liu Lang Wen Ying and the China Academy of Art, Yi Space aims to inherit the profound cultural heritage of Hangzhou while embracing the beauty of nature.
Yi Space systematically collects artworks from domestic and international art masters, supports the diverse exploratory creations of young artists, and actively plans and organizes contemporary art exhibitions and activities. The goal is to facilitate interaction and dialogue between international art masters and Chinese contemporary artists. Simultaneously, Yi Space provides a space for close interaction with art masters for professional collectors, creates a platform for art practitioners to engage with classics, and offers an aesthetic haven for art enthusiasts.
About the Artists
Daniel Richter (b. 1962, Eutin, DE) was trained at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste, Hamburg (DE). From 2004 to 2006 he was Professor of Painting at Universität der Künste in Berlin (DE). Since 2006, Richter has held a professorship at Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna (AT). The artist is currently included in the group exhibition My World, at Singer Museum, Laren (NL) which will run until 12 January 2025.
Richter's work can be found in The David and Indre Roberts Collection, London (UK); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (US); Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin (DE); Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris (FR); Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (DE); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (DE); Kunsthalle, Kiel (DE); Kunstmuseum, Stuttgart (DE); Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg (FR); Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (US); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (CA); Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg (AT); and Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main (DE), among others.
Matthias Franz (b. 1984, Ilmenau, DE) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2019, where he was a student of Daniel Richter. The artist’s first solo exhibition with GRIMM, Salon des Nutzlosen, took place at the gallery’s New York location in June of 2022, and his second solo exhibition with GRIMM, Birds Sing the Echoes of Fragmentation, took place in March 2023 in Amsterdam (NL).
Franz's work can be found in the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, FL (US); The David and Indre Roberts Collection, London (UK); De Heus-Zomer Collection, Barneveld (NL); THE EKARD COLLECTION; Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas TX (US); He Art Museum, Foshan (CN); Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, TX (US), and numerous private collections.
