Artists

Friedrich Kunath

Press release

Galerie Max Hetzler is pleased to present One Day I’ll Follow The Byrds (Tutto Pasta), an exhibition of new paintings by Friedrich Kunath at Goethestraße 2/3, in Berlin. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, and his first in the Berlin space.

Friedrich Kunath's oeuvre spans painting, drawing, installation, sculpture and video. His works contain references to diverse subjects including music, film, Romanticism and pop culture. Born in Chemnitz, the artist grew up in East Berlin and later moved to Los Angeles. Both his personal history, as well as universal emotional experiences, are thematised in his work. Idealised landscapes are frequently depicted in which poetic phrases appear, sometimes clearly, sometimes hidden. For Kunath, the creative process resembles an intimate dialogue with the work. While the subconscious plays a major role, the carving of words into the wet paint creates a conscious message. The often playful motifs that follow create a complex interplay of serious and humorous elements that seem to interrelate or cancel each other out.

The exhibition title, One Day I'll Follow The Byrds (Tutto Pasta), refers to a sense of restlessness and moving on, similar to migratory birds, whilst also alluding to the American rock band, The Byrds. Kunath's passion for music and film is frequently reflected in the titles or motifs he selects, evoking feelings of freedom and the temporary oblivion of one's own reality that can be attained through immersion in a musical or cinematic work. In this exhibition, the subjects depicted range from sombre to hopeful, and are rooted in a state of contemplation and reflection. At the centre of the show is a six-metre-long quadriptych, titled When Was The First Time, You Realized The Next Time, Would Be The Last Time, 2023–2024. Two other paintings, I Dreamed It Was A Dream That You Were Gone, 2023–2024, and It's Classic, She Loves Someone Else, 2024, depict people seen from behind, like stills from a film. They appear to be looking at the rest of the works in the exhibition as outside observers, instead of blending in. This portrayal of observation also references Romantic painting, and can be found in reverse in Morrissey Lyrics (Roma), 2024, Kunath's depiction of a window from which warm light emanates from behind a curtain.