David Schnell (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany 1971)

The artist studied painting at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig from 1995 to 2000. Like Neo Rauch, Schnell studied under Professor Arno Rink and, like Rauch, he is now one of the formative protagonists of the New Leizpig School, although he certainly belongs to a different, younger generation.

His works have been presented in exhibitions such as Kunstverein Hannover, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausen, Parasol Unit Foundation London Museo de Arte de Ponce Puerto Rico or Galerie Eigen+Art Leipzig/Berlin.
In 2013, he was awarded the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo scholarship, the highest endowed scholarship in Germany.

Schnell's landscape depictions, as can also be seen in the print "Schnitt" from 2011, reflect the manifestations of a nature that is infiltrated by our immediate, urban environment. However, Schnell does not evoke any real moments of memory in his landscapes. Instead, he shows an abstracted nature that is beyond any recognisability or concrete experience. This abstraction is expressed in the painterly dissolution of architectural structures and wavering, sometimes competing vanishing points. The alienation, dissolution, decomposition and subsequent connection is a sign of the artist's processual approach.

Copyright the artist. Photo UniCredit Group