Upcoming Exhibition

Florian Krewer：Nice Dog

M WOODS 798, Beijing

02 December 2023 – 02 March 2024
Curated by Matthew Higgs, director and chief curator, White Columns, and Victor Wang, artistic & executive director, M WOODS Museum




M WOODS Museum proudly presents “Nice Dog,” the most comprehensive survey of the paintings of Florian Krewer (b. 1986, Gerolstein, Germany) to date, and the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Asia. The exhibition is a collaboration with the Aspen Art Museum, which showed the artist's first institutional solo exhibition in the United States earlier this year.With the New York night as his muse, Krewer paints all the vastness, liberation, and uncertainty it has to offer. Derived from lived experiences and fantasy, the artist creates a seductive world of magical encounters set against the staged backdrops of imagined landscapes and interiors. Primal needs, longing, and precarious interactions are depicted with the greater intention of revealing our collective vulnerabilities.

Exploring the last six years of Krewer’s career, the exhibition features new paintings alongside a selection of paintings from collections around the world. It charts Krewer’s journey since his 2017 graduation from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied under the artist Peter Doig. Krewer’s more recent paintings reflect the relentless and often anxious energy of New York, his newfound home.

In the museum’s galleries artworks are thematically and biographically gathered, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of a memory within a dream. In a significant context, Krewer's move from his homeland of Germany to New York City intersected with a turbulent period globally, marked by the unprecedented challenges of a pandemic. Notably, the incorporation of chained fences in his exhibition serves not just as a metaphorical barrier representing his own journey and the world's recent upheavals, but also as a transparent veil of the city, both guiding the viewer through the space while encapsulating the mood of Krewer's works from 2019-2022—a series deeply imbued with raw emotion, capturing the tension of a world in flux.





Exhibited in the urban sprawl of Beijing’s 798 district, the exhibition is punctuated by never-before-seen photographs by Krewer. These images, taken by Krewer, captures the off-beat pulse of city life, portraying figures in varying states of stress and release, ready for the night. Also on display will be a series of works on paper from 2019-2020 that capture raw and intimate moments in oil and graphite. Artworks are deliberately hung lower, fostering a more intimate connection with Krewer's characters that twist, merge, and engage with animals and shadows.

"Nice dog", the 2019 painting by Krewer, lends its title to the exhibition at M WOODS museum, adding a dimension of intriguing intimacy between humans and animals to the show. The dominant haunting figure in the painting, shrouded in black with only hints of facial features visible, emanates an air of solitude and contemplation, while the poised white dog at its feet offers a semblance of loyalty and perhaps protection. The vibrant cerise line that contours the dark figure adds depth, suggesting an unseen tether or a glimmering aura of protection. Much like "everybody rise" depicts moments of solace amidst a bustling cityscape, "Nice dog" captures a silent moment of introspection amidst dark chaos. Through Krewer's signature style of contrasting heavy tones and unruly figures, the painting, and by extension, the exhibition, encapsulates the intricacies of human connections that awaken at night and the dim-lit conversations between beings that blur the line between personal desires and societal expectations, revealing how solitude can sometimes converge with companionship.

The exhibition is guest curated by Matthew Higgs, director and chief curator, White Columns with Victor Wang, artistic & executive director, M WOODS Museum.

About the Artist

Florian Krewer’s work is held in important public collections worldwide. Recent solo exhibitions include light the ocean, Michael Werner Gallery, New York; everybody rise, Aspen Art Museum; Es liebt Dich und Deine Körperlichkeit ein Verwirrter, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; and ride or fly, Michael Werner Gallery, London. The artist is the 2022 recipient of the Prix Jean-François Prat awarded by the Bredin Prat Foundation, Paris, and currently lives and works in the South Bronx, New York.

About Aspen Art Museum

Located in Aspen, Colorado, USA, Aspen Art Museum is an artist-founded institution dedicated to supporting artists in the development of bold ideas to shape our museum and the field of art today. As an exhibition-focused, non-collecting museum, we are positioned to make strong commitments to meaningful exchange, both responding to—and driving—cultural change.

With special support from Michael Werner Gallery.