David Ostrowski: The Critic Cat. Kunstverein Heilbronn

David Ostrowski creates paintings that operate in the tension between restraint and poetic expression. Suggestion and elaboration engage in a dynamic interplay. He works in series, with the “ F” series standing out as a defining body of work. At first glance, their pared-down surfaces appear minimalist, yet they are permeated by layers and areas of density that record a complex, multi-layered process. The book and exhibition for the Kunstverein Heilbronn address the concept of self-referential critique and the critical demands placed on one’ s own artistic production. The title – borrowed from an American cartoon series of the 1990s – evokes the figure of the relentless critic while turning that critical gaze inward. As Hans-Christian Dany writes: “ David’ s movement is not a case of unadulterated escapism. The paths by which he finds his exit remain visible, just like the misery from which they lead. Moreover, these escapes are reminiscent of somersaults rather than dramatic stunts, eschewing the ambition of skillful acrobatics. In the act of tumbling, David prefers to transform the fangs of a ‘ false life’ into a set of rubber Dracula teeth, bouncing them up and down on the floor like a rubber ball until they morph into a provocation of the self – one that allows him to keep painting.”

Hans-Christian Dany (*1966) lives as artist and writer as well as art critic in Hamburg, and has long been on vacation from what he is supposed to be doing. Like so many who do not know what to do with themselves, he writes, and is doing books. David Ostrowski (*1981 in Cologne) lives and works in Cologne. From 2004– 09 he studied at the Dü sseldorf Art Academy under Albert Oehlen. Ostrowski is a professor of painting at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. His solo exhibition at Kunstverein Heilbronn is currently on view through end of August 2026. Further solo exhibitions include The Perimeter, London (2026), Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe (2025), Sprü th Magers, New York (2024), Fig., Tokyo and Ramiken, New York (both 2023), Sprü th Magers, Berlin (2021), Lady Helen, London (2020 Avant-Garde Institute, Warsaw). Matthia Loebke (*1963) is an artistic director of the Kunstverein Heilbronn, is curator and publishes monographic catalogs, among others about Georg Baselitz, Martin Creed, Gü nther Fö rg, Georg Herold, Markus Lü pertz, Olaf Metzel, Anselm Reyle, Michael Schmidt, Michael Venezia, Silke Wagner. In Cologne at the late 1980s she was an assistant to Donald Judd and gained her doctorate on Dan Flavin.