Currents 36: Dirk Skreber

German artist Dirk Skreber (born 1961) depicts natural disasters, catastrophic events and ominous scenes of vague but impending danger, but with a calm detachment that infuses his work with a peculiar tension. He has emerged as a prominent contemporary artist who explores seemingly contradictory ideas such as abstraction and figuration, beauty and calamity, through paintings, sculptures and video. His subjects reveal his fascination with the process by which everyday scenery and forms are transformed and take on a separate existence. There are aerial views of buildings submerged in floodwaters and scenes of cars crushed after accidents—a recurring image for Skreber in all three media. This fully illustrated catalogue features a carefully considered essay by Will Heinrich, an interview with the artist and exhibition installation photographs.