Jann Holstein

Jann Holstein is a painter living and working in Berlin. He studied fine art at HBK Braunschweig and UDK Berlin.

The starting point of his paintings are pour-overs of oil and water colors on canvas. Through chemical and physical processes, an organic background is created, on which the painting is later built. The pour-overs, only partially painted over, create decomposition effects, that is evocative of the decay of historical...

Jann Holstein is a painter living and working in Berlin. He studied fine art at HBK Braunschweig and UDK Berlin.

The starting point of his paintings are pour-overs of oil and water colors on canvas. Through chemical and physical processes, an organic background is created, on which the painting is later built. The pour-overs, only partially painted over, create decomposition effects, that is evocative of the decay of historical photographs. On the other hand, are the very bright colors. Being more reminiscent of neon gases or chemically produced colors than real sceneries. The sketches for each painting are created digitally with image processing programs. The source material ranges from historical photographs to social media recordings, which are put together in collages on the PC. Due to these different elements and influences, it remains unclear to which time the motifs belong; they form an own time structure. Everything is fleeting and decomposing.

“I feel, going back and forth between digital sketch and physical canvas, is an opportunity to create a connection between old and new media. It's about the transfer of photography and the digital into the medium of painting. "