Is a painting merely the physical depiction of a room, or does it fill the void left by a memory or a lost story? One of the leading painters of his generation, Matthias Weischer returns to London after more than two decades with his solo exhibition Off Target at GRIMM’s new Duke Street space.
Weischer’s paintings depict interior scenes that challenge our perception of space. Drawing frequent inspiration from the Italian Renaissance and 17th-century Dutch masters, he uses his own studio as a starting point, carefully constructing and re-staging his compositions. In these new works, sparsely furnished rooms and traces of repair reflect a moment suspended in time, evoking a powerful sense of emptiness and abandonment.
Entropy and the Memory of Material
Weischer’s technique is as layered as memory itself. While he continues to work with traditional oil paint applied in meticulous strata, in the most recent pieces he has begun using egg tempera. The flatness and lightness of tempera lend the paintings a warm, pastel-toned atmosphere reminiscent of the plaster surfaces of frescoes.
Yet beyond this meticulousness, Weischer’s surfaces also bear traces of entropy. At times he sands the paint away or scrapes it with a blade before painting over it again. This process creates a sensation of time passing across the canvas, mirroring the arrested flow of time within the depicted environments.
Weischer manipulates the various objects in his compositions through disintegrating horizons and vanishing points. The result is an uncanny spatial feeling; when combined with paintings-within-paintings (Byzantine or Renaissance scenes), the dimensions overlap in a disorientingly layered effect.
The Language of the Stage and the Importance of Emptiness
The artist first constructs the environments in his studio in real life, then carefully recreates them on canvas. These scenes feel like abandoned theatre sets after the final act, once all the actors have left the stage. The objects function both as stage props and as signifiers, establishing a delicate balance between emptiness and detail. This exhibition is built on that very balance between void and detail, the foundation of Weischer’s entire artistic practice.
Exhibition Information Summary
Artist: Matthias Weischer (b. 1973, Leipzig)
Title: Off Target
Venue: GRIMM, 43a Duke Street, St James’s, London (new gallery opening)
Dates: 27 November 2025 – 10 January 2026
