Matthias Dornfeld’s paintings of flowers, figures, and architectural structures in saturated colors recall 1980s German Neo-Expressionism. Exploring the territory where abstraction and representation overlap, Dornfeld revels in painterly excess, creating a unique visual language that questions the role of genre and visual cliché. “I’m interested in dealing with things that are so-called stupid, irritating, naive, or completely old-fashioned,” he has said. “I’m interested in a kind of honesty, directness, or transparency that comes from immediate acts […] in the way energy and attitude is made evident.”