Matthias Franzdie dünne Haut der Zivilisation

Oil paintings of surreal historical scenes—cloaked figures adrift at sea, children before an empty bandstand—questioning Enlightenment ideals.

Franz, who studied under Daniel Richter in Vienna, paints uncanny scenes drawn from literature and history: cloaked figures adrift on a yellow sea beneath a saluting Napoleonic officer, and children gazing up at an empty bandstand crowded with unplayed instruments.

Battered typewriters stamped with Hamlet’s name play on feigned madness and the distortions of translation, while the retro Ecstasy paintings nod to Norbert Schwontkowski, rehanging portraits of power on fragile scaffolding.

Full details at grimmgallery.com