KAI ALTHOFF

Kai Althoff, born 1966 in Cologne, currently lives and works in New York. For his first show with Michael Werner, Althoff will present a new body of work comprised mostly of paintings and drawings.

Having turned into a heavily opinionated and high-strung personality, which seems to brood with anger that unloads fast, Kai Althoff wishes to create an antidote to this state of mind, by work that aesthetically calms the soul and seeks to feed a notion of shelter in an elegance reflecting the utilization of art in the homes of people with good taste and intellectual brilliance in times long passed. As soon as this notion seems to be satisfied, he starts to wrangle equally with the content and comfort and ultimate value of such work, which if successful, results in a void that defies words and emotions to be expressed without causing nausea. He seems to wish his art to embody the hefty balance between spirituality and adornment. But spirituality and adornment are no enemies, - rather both are to discover their natural unification within the feeble attempt to make life bearable.

Kai Althoff opens 26 September at Michael Werner Gallery in London and remains on view through 15 November. For more information, please contact the gallery at press@michaelwerner.com.