The paintings and haunting silhouettes of Waldemar Zimbelmann (b. 1984, Agadyr, Kazakhstan) form an uncanny mishmash of art history through mesmerising material combinations on the surface of the canvas. His recent works focus on compositions created through the collision of
human bodies in space. Their calm demeanors contrast with the surreal clashes of bodies that pierce and meld one into the other. The pictorial style of Zimbelmann is reminiscent of great
masters of art history such as Marc Chagall whose use of pigment reaches into the inherent vibrational symbolism of colour. Meanwhile, his compositional styles recall Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 (1912) in which the human body overlays and fragments itself leaving traces of its material body through a time- register. His portraits have the unflinching face of Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus (1920).
Zimbelmann lives and works in Karlsruhe (DE), but grew up in Kazachstan before moving to Germany as a teenager. Important exhibitions include: solo exhibition at Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen (DE), 2020; Mayer Riegger, Berlin (DE), 2020; Museo MAN, Nuoro (IT) curated by Luigi Fassi 2018. He has participated in group exhibitions at Mamoth, London (UK) 2022, Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles (USA) 2020 a.o.