Contemporary Artist London – Paintings by Nikolaus Kriese
German contemporary artist Nikolaus Kriese creates large-scale paintings between abstraction and figuration. His works combine expressive color, fragments of writing, architecture and cultural references to explore the images and contradictions of contemporary life.
Working as a painter for more than 30 years, Kriese develops his independent artistic practice alongside international commissioned projects. He lives and works in Erfurt, Germany, and works internationally.
Contemporary Painting Between History and the Present
Kriese’s paintings move between personal experience and collective memory. Historical references meet contemporary images, fragments of language, urban structures and spontaneous painterly gestures.
Rather than following a fixed visual language, each work develops through layers of color, signs and associations.
Selected Works
STERNSTUNDEN DER MENSCHHEIT (2026) – OIL ON CANVAS · 200 × 200 CM
STERNSTUNDEN DER MENSCHHEIT brings together fragments of myth, history and the present. The title deliberately references Stefan Zweig’s collection of historical miniatures, but shifts its meaning: instead of celebrating heroic moments, the painting confronts the recurring tragedy of human conflict.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN (2026) – OIL ON CANVAS • 200 X 300 CM
HOW IT ALL BEGAN revolves around the idea of origin—the moment when light, energy and motion give rise to the first forms of order. The painting unfolds between two poles: a deep cosmic blue and a glowing red sphere reminiscent of a supernova, a stellar core or the beginning of a universe.
In Love (2026) – Oil on canvas • 200 x 300 cm
IN LOVE is a large-scale, hand-painted work built through layers of oil paint, drawing, writing and spontaneous marks. Love appears not as a romantic motif, but as an energetic state — intense, contradictory, charged and full of life.
LAZARUS (2026) – OIL ON CANVAS • 280 X 140 CM
LAZARUS does not appear as a figure in the traditional sense, but as an energetic field. A body is only suggested, dissolving into rays, lines and fragments. The form emerges through movement—present for a moment, yet already disappearing again.
London – Painting, History and Contemporary Culture
London brings together centuries of art history with an intensely contemporary cultural landscape. Museums, galleries, artists and collectors create a constant dialogue between established traditions and new artistic positions.
This relationship between history and the present also plays an important role in Kriese’s work.
Painting as a Layer of Memory
Images rarely exist in isolation. They carry memories, cultural references and fragments of earlier images.
Kriese uses painting as a space where these layers can collide — sometimes recognizable, sometimes abstract, sometimes reduced to a word, a gesture or a trace of color.
STERNSTUNDEN DER MENSCHHEIT – History as Contemporary Image
In works such as STERNSTUNDEN DER MENSCHHEIT, historical and cultural references become material for contemporary painting.
The work does not illustrate history. Instead, fragments of memory, language and visual culture are transformed into a new painterly space.
Large-Scale Contemporary Painting
Many of Nikolaus Kriese’s recent paintings are created on a large scale, often reaching two or three meters.
Their physical presence allows color, gesture and fragmented imagery to interact directly with architecture — whether in private collections, contemporary interiors or larger architectural environments.
About Nikolaus Kriese
Nikolaus Kriese, born in Erfurt in 1982, has been painting since 1995. His background includes artistic education at Kunstinternat Wettin and professional training as a theatre painter in Erfurt and Berlin.
Today his practice combines independent contemporary painting with international commissioned projects.
Nikolaus Kriese lives and works in Erfurt, Germany, and works internationally.
