The amorphic, animalistic forms of German painter Michael Bauer are built upon color washes, meandering lines, and bulbous protrusions. Utilizing a variety of rendering techniques and materials, including pointillism, text and high-chroma colors, Bauer transforms his free-form compositions into dynamic and ornamented abstractions. He borrows from the colorful tradition of Modernist composition, juxtaposing collaged cutouts with a bevy of 20th century painting methodologies—including Cubist, Pop, and Surrealist techniques—to make the swirling paintings he’s become known for. Says Bauer of his process, “I will say, especially in paintings, there is always a figurative sense behind it. I look at figures and I look at inventions of figures. But then of course once you paint, it jumps back and forth between something that could be a landscape but is also certain color arrangements. So you’re constantly changing back in the way you look at it and in the way you work. It goes both ways.”

Michael Bauer has had several museum exhibitions in Europe, including Villa Merkel in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Stadtische Galerie, Delmenhorst, Germany and Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany. Other exhibitions include Alison Jacques Gallery, London, Lisa Cooley, New York, Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco and HOTEL, London.