LONDON.- Michael Werner Gallery, London is presenting an exhibition of recent paintings by Markus L黳ertz. The exhibition is currently available to view online and will open at the Gallery once the current coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions lift. Painted over the last four years in Italy and Germany, the paintings masterfully combine Southern and Northern European painting traditions while presenting work that is new, innovative and contemporary.

The art historian Eric Darragon has called L黳ertz “a contemporary artist who wants a future for his works and finds it by thinking about the past.” In this new body of work, L黳ertz returns to the theme of Arcadia, a classic, pastoral utopia. Figures are pulled from Italian Renaissance and Dutch Golden Age paintings, given identities as characters from Greek mythology and placed into idyllic landscapes, largely inspired by the surroundings of the artist’s studio in M鋜kisch Wilmersdorf, Germany. A veteran painter who has exhibited internationally for nearly sixty years, L黳ertz continues to explore art history and classicism and introduce new materials and methods in his oeuvre.

Markus L黳ertz (b. 1941, Liberec, Bohemia) is one of the most important and influential artists to emerge from post-war Germany. In recent years major retrospectives of his work have been shown at Kunst-und Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn (2009); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2011); The Hermitage State Museum, St. Petersburg (2014); the Mus閑 d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2015); the Hirshhorn Museum and the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (2017); and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2019).

Markus L黳ertz: Recent Paintings is available to view online at www.michaelwerner.com from 14 January 2021 and will open at Michael Werner Gallery in London when the current coronavirus restrictions lift.