Constantin Nitsche

Constantin Nitsche transforms everyday scenes into enigmatic compositions that hover between fiction and reality. The painter is inspired by his immediate surroundings: people and interiors, social interactions, animals and nature, street scenes and still lives. These are not rendered literally but distilled—through the filter of memory and act of painting—into lyrical compositions with few, if any, references to time or place. Interiors are sparse and impersonal, faces are inscrutable and impassive, streets and landscapes lack topographical detail. The indeterminacy is purposeful: Nitsche is not aiming to recreate specific or immediately recognisable scenes, preferring instead to leave their significance open to interpretation. Nitsche’s paintings are also exercises in colour and composition, with his style alternating between hard-edged, colour-blocked schemes and delicate brushwork. The tonal relationships, which can be complimentary or contrasting, play a defining role in the creation of atmosphere.

Constantin Nitsche (b. 1987, Ludwigshafen, Germany) lives and works in Marseille. He studied painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Selected solo and group exhibitions include Blauregen, La Traverse, Marseille (2022); VIOLETTE, O-Town House, Los Angeles (2021); Everything is Personal, TRAMPS, New York (2020); Untitled, Parkhaus im Malkastenpark, Düsseldorf (2019); and Salon des Amateurs, TRAMPS, London (2018).