ALEXANDER
WERTHEIM
Between
Grid
and
Gesture
10 July 2026
"For me, abstraction is a form of sign language. It can communicate ideas that extend
beyond the limits of spoken language." – Alexander Wertheim
"For me, abstraction is a form
of sign language. It can communicate
ideas that extend beyond the limits
of spoken language."
– Alexander Wertheim
In his exhibition with KÖNIG TELEGRAPHENAMT, FUGUE IN OXIDE, Alexander Wertheim presents a new body of paintings that explores the relationship between structure and spontaneity. Working increasingly with acrylic paint and brush rather than spray paint, Wertheim investigates the expressive potential of the brushstroke and the grid, bringing together two traditions that have long shaped the history of abstract painting.
The exhibition marks a significant shift in the artist's practice. While his compositions continue to revolve around intersecting vertical and horizontal lines, the visible presence of the brush introduces a new immediacy and vulnerability. Blurred contours, irregular spacing, splatters, and painterly gestures disrupt the apparent order of the grid, allowing it to emerge less as a rigid system than as a fragile framework held together by intuition.
In FUGUE IN OXIDE, Wertheim reflects on abstraction not as a retreat from meaning but as a visual language capable of communicating beyond words. His paintings inhabit the tension between freedom and control, intuition and system, asking what remains when painting is reduced to its most fundamental elements. In this interview, he discusses his recent shift in materials, his evolving understanding of abstraction, and why the unresolved dialogue between order and gesture continues to define his work.
Iron oxide pigments on the artist’s gloves.
KÖNIG GALERIE: You worked with spray paint for a long time but have increasingly shifted to acrylic paint and brushes. What prompted that change?
ALEXANDER WERTHEIM: In early 2025, I painted watercolors at home in London for several months. That experience helped me reconnect with the brush after years of spraying. For instance, I found it very helpful that I could mix the different colors that I’d use for a composition into in-between colors, which allowed me more flexibility in tonal transitions.
When I returned to my studio in Berlin, I felt that the spray paint in my work had almost become a kind of excuse, a sign of hesitation, a form of apology. So I decided to transition my practice to more traditional painting materials. For health reasons as well, I haven't missed using spray cans.
KG: Has changing your materials also changed your relationship to control and chance?
AW: Not really. Brushes are just as difficult to control as spray cans if you use them properly. I make a conscious effort to use the brush in a way that does nothing more than carry the paint onto the canvas, just as a spray can does.
KG: How does a new painting begin? Is there a fixed starting point, or does the work emerge through the process?
AW: Ideas for sketches can begin anywhere, for example, in a taxi on my phone, in the Notes app. I work on those sketches anywhere and at any time. In the studio, I experiment on paper in different formats until I begin working on larger canvases.
KG: Your paintings exist somewhere between grid structures and spontaneous gestures. What fascinates you about that tension?
AW: I experience system and intuition as contradictory forces that can be brought together in painting. In the studio, I spend most of my time asking whether a painting succeeds in expressing that tension or whether it drifts away into either order or chaos.
KG: You've spent a great deal of time thinking about what a painting can actually be. How has your understanding of painting changed over time?
AW: I used to think that good paintings also had to be intellectually clever. Today, I find that attitude arrogant and didactic. I believe that good paintings reveal their stories bit by bit, sometimes over long periods of time, as you get to know them better. I think paintings open themselves up to people in the same way that people open themselves up to one another.
KG: Would you describe abstraction more as a reduction or as an expansion of possibilities?
AW: For me, abstraction is a form of sign language. It can communicate ideas that extend beyond the limits of spoken language.
Photos by Alexander Wertheim © Courtesy of the artist
KG: You belong to a generation that grew up surrounded by a constant flood of images. Has that influenced your attitude toward painting?
AW: Maybe that overstimulation made me want to paint something that offers a clear point of entry for the viewer. In a way, the absence of backgrounds in my work may stem from that as well. But it's not something I consciously think about. It's more of a natural instinct of mine to strip the painting of everything unnecessary, which might lead to a certain clarity.
KG: In your recent work, the individual brushstrokes are very prominent. What does a brushstroke reveal about the person who makes it?
AW: Probably more than I'd like to admit.
Learn more about the artist in this podcast episode, held in German:
