David Ostrowski’s first solo exhibition at the Berlin gallery, So kalt kann es nicht sein / It can’t be that cold, features a new body of work that marks his first systematic approach to the color gray. Known for his minimalistic, abstract canvases in white or black, the gray paintings represent a new chapter in his artistic oeuvre. In using another “non-color”—in this case, a conventional, commercially-available “neutral gray” hue—Ostrowski continues his exploration of a total reduction in painting and a deliberate break with painterly codes and traditions. The new works assume a painterly, sensual, complex quality that is heightened by their small format. Despite their size, they have a significant presence and room-encompassing effect—characteristics enhanced by a gallery presentation that allows for the paintings to become a constitutive part of the space.

What might at first glance appear to be a monochrome surface is upon closer inspection multi-layered and complex. Copious layers of paint are applied to differently sized, but mainly rather small canvases – some new, some reused.

In this new body of work, the artist often paints over his own work while leaving isolated shapes exposed and highlighting or adding to them. It is a process which is also reflected in the dating of his paintings, some of which indicate two different years of creation (e.g. 2008/2020 or 2005/2021).

The three-dimensionality of the painted surface is translated into space via the specific, focused installation of the works in the room. Five works are suspended from the ceiling in a centrally arranged row. Dividing the (pictorial) space, they function as a line that lends both the works and their presentation a drawing-like quality. This line is taken up and continued in the arrangement of other works: across corners, on the walls, in and outside of the gallery space. The hanging supports the space-creating element inherent to Ostrowski’s works and ascribes to them an architectural dimension.

The titles of these new works combine Ostrowski’s typical F with the name of a well-known musician, i.e. F (Chris Isaak), F (Faith Hill), and F (Adriano Celentano). These titles, like the artist’s chosen materials and technique, work with what is already existing and available. They reference familiar, “mainstream” singers, the creators of the eminently accessible music that surrounds us in everyday life – and also surrounds the artist, who listens to it on CD.

Created in 2020/21 in the context of the global pandemic, the color gray suggests the prevailing monotony of locked-down life, while also providing a neutral, and possibly hopeful, ground for whatever the future may yet hold. It can’t be that cold, the ironic title of the exhibition, also evokes a light at the end of the tunnel. Like the exposed shapes in the paintings, it functions as a kind of window, opening the mind and spirit to the possibility of better days ahead.