Land’s End is Andreas Schulze's fourth solo exhibition at the London gallery and features works on paper: rarely shown black-and-white charcoal drawings from the 1980s are presented alongside new colored acrylic works, which, due to their thick application of color, are characterized as paintings by the artist. Together, both bodies of works highlight Schulze’s playful and experimental way of creating illusionistic, ambiguous pictorial spaces – parables of the supposedly familiar and the uncannily bizarre – and demonstrate the artist’s creative, compositional process, as many of the black-and-white drawings were later realized as paintings.

The charcoal drawings depict surrealistic environments that oscillate between the real and the unreal and leave viewers uncertain of what they are seeing: in Untitled (Bumbs) (1985/88), an ominous mass floats in an undefined space, while Untitled (Flying saucer) (1985/88) shows objects that appear familiar yet remain abstract as they hover in a wide, empty space reminiscent of a science fiction scenario.

Embedded in the UK context, the exhibition title refers to the legendary headland of Land's End in Cornwall. The 100-meter-high cliffs that form the westernmost point of Great Britain offer a seemingly endless view and are a transition point where one state of the landscape passes into another.

Schulze’s captivating, colorful painterly worlds echo and deepen the questions raised in his charcoal drawings. Walls, window frames and other structural elements run through the color paintings, indicating the importance of architecture and sculptural space for the artist’s pictorial concepts.

Untitled (Lido) and Untitled (Venice in furs) (both 2023), which depict sausage-like forms leaning on, or placed on, familiar brick architectural elements, recall Schulze's recent series of glass sculptures, Relax (2022). Created on the island of Murano, famous for its glass production, the works function as bookends and represent the artist's understanding of form: something surprisingly harmonious emerges from seemingly banal objects. As in his charcoal drawings, the paintings reveal Schulze's interest in reflecting everyday life through abstract, illusionistic pictorial scenes that evoke discomfort, but also enticement.

Schulze transforms not only the walls but the entire space into an environment of his unique pictorial worlds. A narrow carpet in black and white, hand-painted by the artist, runs through the rooms, echoing the vivid shapes of the black-and-white charcoal drawings. This immersive installation invites the viewer to engage with Schulze's playful and surreal worlds in a more tactile and intimate way. Acting as a spatial bridge between his drawings and paintings, it highlights the continuity and evolution of Schulze's artistic vision.

Concurrent with the exhibition at the gallery, Andreas Schulze’s work is on view at The Perimeter. The solo show On Stage has traveled from Kunsthalle Nürnberg to London, transforming The Perimeter into a stage for Schulze's unique painterly worlds.

Andreas Schulze (*1955, Hanover) lives in Cologne. Amongst others, his works were on display in the solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Nuremberg (2022), Fuhrwerkswaage Cologne (2021), Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2018); the touring exhibition at Villa Merkel in Esslingen (2014), Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2015) and Kunstmuseum Bonn (2014); Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2014); Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg and Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Dueren (both 2010); Monika Sprüth Galerie, Cologne (1983). Schulze’s works have also been represented in important exhibitions, including Städel Museum Frankfurt (2015); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2000); Triennale di Milano (1997); Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen (1988); MoMA – Museum of Modern Art, New York (1984) and Tate Britain, London (1983).