An exhibition full of rich detail and profound messages
Galerie Werner Klein had announced the second solo exhibition of drawings and engravings by the renowned artist Christian Weihrauch, which took place from May 17 to June 14, 2025. His works had already received great acclaim at the “paper positions” in Berlin at the beginning of May.
About the artist
Christian Weihrauch was born in Zella-Mehlis in 1966 and lives and works in Leipzig. He studied at the Burg Giebichenstein Academy of Art in Halle. He was also Professor of Painting, Drawing and Composition and Dean at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig.
Weihrauch’s art is characterized by a unique blend of realism and fantasy. He used techniques such as ink, silverpoint and/or tempera to transform tiny everyday objects into new, complex pictorial worlds. The results are drawings and engravings with an old-masterly feel, which impress with their enormous wealth of detail and show a clear reference to great masters such as Altdorfer and Dürer.
The artist himself described his approach as follows: “Drawing can come across as beautifully modest, it can illustrate, interpret, it can simply represent something and celebrate itself as a mistake, the transparent, the maybe-ish is a comforting alternative to the pithy presence of the whole other surrounding us.”
Insights into his work
One particularly interesting project that Weihrauch has dedicated himself to since 2023 was his work as part of the “Frogs, Fire, Darkness” exhibition at the Kunstforum Ingelheim. There, he worked intensively on ten etchings by the Dutch artist Jan Luyken (1649-1712), which were dedicated to the biblical plagues.
Based on these hidden object-like depictions, Weihrauch drew around thirty sheets in historical playing card format (10 x 7 cm). In these miniatures, he not only thematized the historical plagues, but also addressed current hardships and fears.
Frame in use
These impressive drawings are presented in HALBE frames, which support the effect in a special way and give them the perfect stage to unfold.