Tense, dark oil paintings by Florian Krewer that portray vulnerable characters

On show at the Michael Werner Gallery in Mayfair later this month, Krewer’s paintings begin in either found or personal photographs he has taken. These photographs may be cut, collaged and eventually redrawn to become the studies from which Krewer’s paintings in oil emerge.

Photographic specifics of time and place are mostly absent, save for a few occasional details – a horizon line, or an arrangement of coloured planes suggesting perspective – to frame the action.

Krewer’s palette likewise departs from the description with a surprising range of night-dark blacks, unclean whites and artificially-sweetened pinks, purples and blues. Compositions are conveyed entirely through the gestures and placement of the figures in a changing and dynamic surface of the paint.

There is a tension and vulnerability that suffuses Krewer’s figures, whether alone or interacting within the painting’s space. Grounded in the autobiographical yet free from an overt narrative, Krewer’s paintings elude one-dimensional reading.

Car Park Godiva opens at the Michael Werner Gallery in London on 30 March. To find out more, visit michaelwerner.com.