By Donald Schenkel
50 x 50 cm, 2024
Oil paint on synthetic canvas

Donald Schenkel's latest series explores the idea of paintings as screens, inspired by the seemingly digital character of the gradients. By suspending the works from the wall, they evoke the feel of computer screens. He draws on the historical shift in art from symbolic and spiritual meanings to alternate realities, which evolved further with the introduction of cinema, and digital screens.

As we grow up with digital screens, images are increasingly seen as generated, rather than physical objects. Schenkel questions if the same becomes true for paintings.Will future generations understand a painting as more than a screen-like image? His use of materials like thin sheets of paper highlights this tension, as what appears digital is, in fact, created using techniques that stem back from the early Renaissance.The perception of reality and the interpretation of the painting is changed by the material aspects of the object itself and how we view them in today’s day and age.