Robert Janitz. Des Dichters Fremde

Augustenstraße 63
July 17 – August 15, 2026

Opening – Robert Janitz is present
Friday, July 17, 2026, 6 pm – 9 pm

"Des Dichters Fremde" ("The Poet's Foreignness") revolves around states of searching. Heads appear repeatedly in the exhibition – seen from behind, introspective, abstract and yet marked by a strong human presence. Some are clearly recognizable figures, while others dissolve almost entirely into color, structure, and gesture. Hair-like structures run through many of the paintings, condensing into vibrating fields of lines or dissolving into painterly traces. These works are juxtaposed with paintings composed primarily of vertical or diagonal forms. They recall written characters, yet resist clear readability. It is precisely in their indeterminacy that the works unfold a quiet emotional intensity, offering space for personal associations and memories.

The foreignness referred to in the exhibition title appears not only as a spatial experience but also as an inner state of searching: for the self, for a sense of belonging, and for ways to communicate with others. These questions play a fundamental role in Robert Janitz’s work: reflection on the self and the attempt to engage with the world. They do not appear as opposites, but rather as different approaches to the subject matter.

Robert Janitz has been working for years with a mixture of oil paint, cold wax, and ordinary baking flour that he developed himself. As it dries, the material takes on a life of its own; color, surface, and luminosity shift and often only become visible the following day. The paintings thus emerge in part by allowing processes that resist complete control. Blues, pinks, and lavender tones run through many of the works, creating atmospheres that oscillate between intimacy, melancholy, and quiet contemplation.

Robert Janitz’s works open up spaces for reflection and self-examination. What they leave behind is less a message than an echo – something that cannot be fully grasped and therefore lingers in the memory.

Robert Janitz (born 1962 in Alsfeld, Germany) lives and works primarily in Mexico City. Works by him have been presented in numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including at Canada Gallery, New York City (2025) and König Galerie, Berlin (2023). He is included in the collections of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Goetz Collection in Munich, and the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, USA, among others. His works are currently on view in the group exhibition “Alemania en la Colección Franz Mayer” at the Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City.