R O B E R T   L A N Z

Between Substance and Trace – Painting as a State of Matter

Substance as Language – Matter in Transition

The Surface as Event Horizon – Pigment Processes in the Tension Field between Gravitation and Dissolution

Robert Lanz situates his artistic practice at the intersection of materiality, conceptual rigor, and procedural experimentation.


His work unfolds through overlapping layers of the microscopic and the cosmic, the chemical and the poetic. The surface becomes a resonant field – a space where pigments, metals, stones, and light are not mere materials but active agents in a dynamic process.

 

His paintings are not composed in the traditional sense, but emerge through an experimental logic of reaction, transformation, and decay – akin to geological or biological systems under controlled disruption. Lanz is less interested in the final image than in the painting as a site of continuous transition.

 

His series often span hundreds of works on paper, forming visual ecologies that are both meticulous and volatile. In contrast, his large-format paintings appear as concentrated zones – crystallizations of a process that elsewhere remains in flux.

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Pigment as a Cosmic Trace

Color becomes the residual signature of an event – shaped by temporal pressure, gravity, and molecular drift.

The Image Thinks in States of Matter

Between solid, liquid, and evaporated – painting emerges as a transitional form, a visible expression of thermodynamic systems.

The Surface as Resonant Space

Every impulse, every response inscribes itself into the skin of the painting – as an echo of light, touch, and entropy.
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Matter as a Carrier of Memory

What adheres, remains – pigment particles preserve moments like archives, driven by pressure, friction, and time.

Light as a Form-Giving Force

The eye does not merely see – light itself constructs the image: through scattering, reflection, and quantum flow.
Robert Lanz

Beyond the image, the field begins.

ROBERT LANZ RL:P-25-100

UNTITLED, 2025
Oil, egg tempera, tar, ink, ink, aluminium, mother-of-pearl, copper, shellac on cotton
190 x 150 cm
74,80 x 59,05 in

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JACKY – JACQUELINE LEE BOUVIER KENNEDY ONASSIS, 2018

Ink, aluminum, copper burned on paper

 

Papersize:
29,7 x 21 cm
11.7 x 8.3 in

 

Framesize:
37,9 x 50,2 cm
14.92 x 19.76 in

TSANTSA NOVA

 

Caput Inferni  ist ein skulpturales Objekt aus der Serie Tsantsa Nova. Die Arbeit besteht aus einem organischen Trägerkörper, der partiell geöffnet, versiegelt und bearbeitet wurde. Die äußere Oberfläche ist überzogen mit montierten Metallteilen, Kettenelementen, porösen Schichten, eingearbeiteten Pigmenten sowie stark strukturierten, teilweise geschwärzten Partien.

 

Die Form ist kopfartig, jedoch nicht anatomisch eindeutig. Das Objekt ist als Hängeform konzipiert, freischwebend, mit zentraler Rotationsachse und asymmetrischem Schwerpunkt.

 

Im Inneren befindet sich eine Mischung aus pulverisierten, pflanzlichen und mineralischen Bestandteilen. Die genaue Zusammensetzung ist dokumentiert, bleibt jedoch physisch nicht einsehbar. Die Oberfläche weist Spuren von Spannung, Kompression und kontrollierter Materialveränderung auf. Einzelne Stellen sind durchzogen von Einschnitten, Nahtverläufen oder punktuellen Einschlüssen.

Die Arbeit ist Teil einer vierteiligen Serie, in der jeweils ein Objekt mit einer individuellen Materialkonfiguration realisiert wurde.

 

https://robertlanz.com/tsantsa-nova/

CAPUT INFERNI, 2025
Medium: Sculptural artefact (assemblage), accompanied by video work with sound
Film: HD video, 27 seconds, format 16:9, with soundtrack (loop-capable)

 

Item-ID: RL/O-25-119-1/4
Warranty-ID: H25333

Robert Lanz

UNTITLED, 2014

Oil, ink, tar, pigments, pen ink, boat varnish on Alu-DIBOND

30 x 40 cm
11.81 x 15.75 in

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UNTITLED, 2018
Oil, tar, ink, ink, aluminum, copper, shellac on wood

60 x 50 x 1,5 cm
23.62 x 19.69 x 0.59 in

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DIFFERENT TITLES, 2015

Oil, ink, tar, copper, schellack, pigments on canvas

90 x 80 x 1,8 cm
35.43 x 31.5 x 0.71 in

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Robert_Lanz_PORTRAIT_1500_px
ANDY, 2015 Oil, ink, tar, copper, schellack, pigments on canvas 90 x 80 x 1,8 cm 35.43 x 31.5 x 0.71 in
ANDY, 2015 Oil, ink, tar, copper, schellack, pigments on canvas 90 x 80 x 1,8 cm 35.43 x 31.5 x 0.71 in
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Robert_Lanz_PORTRAIT_2000_px (2)
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ROBERT_Lanz UNTITLED_Oil, ink, tar, copper, schellack in canvas_ 90x80cm_2015
ROBERT_Lanz UNTITLED_Oil, ink, tar, copper, schellack in canvas_ 90x80cm_2015