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.

CATALOGUE – ROBERT LANZ

The catalogue ROBERT LANZ – Works 2008–2016 offers a focused insight into key bodies of work that define my artistic practice – ranging from early, densely layered paintings on canvas, dibond and aluminium, to large-scale installations merging material research, conceptual strategies and light-based interventions.

With contributions by Laila Kleveman, Leiko Ikemura, Susanne Pfleger, and others, the publication situates my work within a field of tension between contemporary painting, physico-chemical processes, and a speculative engagement with space, memory and transformation.

Published in cooperation with the Kunze Art Foundation and the Braunschweig Private Bank.
Design: Julia Vukovic

 

https://robertlanz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ROBERT_LANZ__KATALOG_231016_FINAL043-zus-1.pdf

KATALOG – ROBERT LANZ

Der Katalog ROBERT LANZ – Werke 2008–2016 gibt einen konzentrierten Überblick über zentrale Werkgruppen meiner künstlerischen Praxis – von frühen, verdichteten Malereien auf Leinwand, Dibond und Aluminium bis hin zu raumgreifenden Installationen, die Materialforschung, Konzept und Lichtintervention verbinden.

Mit Textbeiträgen von Laila Kleveman, Leiko Ikemura, Susanne Pfleger sowie weiteren Autor:innen verortet die Publikation meine Arbeit im Spannungsfeld von zeitgenössischer Malerei, physikalisch-chemischen Prozessen und einer spekulativen Auseinandersetzung mit Raum, Erinnerung und Transformation.

Herausgegeben in Kooperation mit der Kunststiftung Kunze und der Braunschweiger Privatbank.
Gestaltung: Julia Vukovic

 

https://robertlanz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ROBERT_LANZ__KATALOG_231016_FINAL043-zus-1.pdf