BERLIN.- König Galerie present Feels Like Spring, a solo exhibition by Franz Stein in the Chapel of St. Agnes, the artist’s second exhibition with the gallery.

Franz Stein’s paintings are created through a multi-stage, process-oriented approach. He begins by pouring paint onto the canvas, usually diluted with water and consisting of remnants from previous works. The act of pouring paint onto a pictorial surface has a long tradition in art history, with artists who practice it seeking to relinquish control and allow the flow of paint—rather than controlled brushwork—to determine the pictorial act.

For Franz Stein, further steps follow this initial pouring. The treated canvas is subsequently overpainted in white. Applied in varying thicknesses, the white allows the underlying layers of color to show through with differing intensity, creating a vibrant surface. The white field—uneven and at times embedded with lint or small fragments from the studio environment—forms the pictorial space. Through its irregularities, it seems to tremble and appear animated, almost like a landscape.

Onto this pictorial ground, with its white folds of paint, Franz Stein applies signs, markings, dots, and loops—mostly in bold colors, sometimes even in neon—that seemingly occupy and probe the space at random. Stein employs a wide range of media, such as chalk, spray paint, and acrylic, resulting in a rich diversity of textures.

In Franz Stein’s works, different modes of abstraction converge and overlap: expressive pouring that leaves room for chance; covering, monochrome overpainting in white; and the seemingly spontaneous placement of signs. In this final step, Stein’s approach recalls lyrical abstraction, which explored the expressive potential of color and form with an emphasis on free and personal expression. His method is emotional and intuitive, and the result is a body of work characterized by spontaneity, personal expression, as well as freedom and openness.

When viewing the paintings, as one’s eyes follow the differently colored pictorial signs—seemingly placed at random—across the canvas, melodies appear to form in the mind. At the same time, they evoke afterimages: those flickering patterns, dots, and flashes of light one sees after gazing for a long time into the sunny sky on a spring day and then closing one’s eyes.