Raw Vision

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Einhorn’s body of work develops his interest in channeling the assertive energy of the urban periphery.
These new works incorporate tarpaper cut out silhouettes layered starkly above a vibrant collage of
fabric, acrylic, and spray paint. The gritty, plant-like forms allude to East Germany, whose barren city
landscape Einhorn explored as a teenager.

The concrete jungle represents Einhorn’s wilderness, where leaves cover tarpaper rooves and blend
with the colors of graffiti and rust. Describing his interests, Einhorn references the abandoned shelters
and overgrown junkyards that exist between the urban and natural worlds. Like Einhorn’s canvases,
these plots are spaces of collage and metamorphosis. Just as our personal memories give meaning to
others’ discarded objects, Einhorn’s collages emanate suggestion and opportunity within this context.

Einhorn’s working method requires instinct, determination, and condition. Difficult to handle and cut,

tarpaper resists intention; Einhorn writes that it “often demands its own way.” In some works, rhythmic
territories of color give a spontaneous impression. In others, built-up layers of tarpaper attest to
decisions accumulated, revisited, and rethought. This artistic practice parallels life in the period leading
to “Deutsche Einheit”, where feelings of impulse and jeopardy are inherent in every decision.

Tensions between what is manmade and what is natural give force to Jens Einhorn’s vision of East
Germany and present Berlin. Einhorn’s paintings harmonize design and intuition, motion and rest,
freedom and control.

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From the Press Release of "Raw Vision" at Olsen Gruin, New York, January 10 to February 5, 2018