Sasa Bogojev

‘Rooms of fragments’ is how Tilo Baumgärtel (1972) describes his artworks. That is a perfect description. Because when one looks at one of his works, it is never entirely clear what is happening. Different elements alternate each other in colourful and fairytale-like worlds, creating a high degree of intrigue and alienation: what has happened here? Or better yet, what is about to happen? Baumgärtel can be considered one of the most remarkable Leipzig artists of his generation. He graduated from the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in 2000 and is often considered to be part of the so-called 'Neue Leipziger Schule'. Text in English and Dutch.

Julius Hofmann (b. G ttingen, 1983; lives and works near G ttingen) has mastered the traditional aspects of painting and commands a broad repertoire of creative techniques. This expertise enables him to call conventional painting in question by combining it with the aesthetic of 1990s computer graphics. The simple and often grotesque symbolism of the imperfect digital imagery contrasts with a perfectionistic figurative painting. This approach lends his pictures a disconcerting and unexpected quality. Western Philosophies is an episode in Hofmann's ongoing work confronting consumerist society with its dark secrets and its indifference. Meanwhile, his creative process is also an exploration of the artist's personal fears and frustrations. In depicting his figures, landscapes, and machines, he draws our attention to the painterly originality of structures and surfaces. The protagonists, to his mind, play a subordinate role, typically serving him as vehicles-- he is more interested in the " how" than in the " what." Julius Hofmann studied painting with Neo Rauch and Heribert C. Ottersbach at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB) from 2005 until 2011.