»papa, look«
| Edition | Original Art |
|---|---|
| Sujet | Portrait |
| Technique | Mixed Media |
| Height | 163.6 cm |
| Width | 144 cm |
| Length/Depth | 6 cm |
Medium/Technique: Mixed media (acrylic, oil, charcoal, spray paint) on canvas, stretched over a wooden frame in a custom-designed and custom-built artist’s board frame tailored to the work.
Year of creation: 2023
–One-off–
‘Papa, look’ is part of a three-part series of works nominated for the 2025 Ingeborg Siebert Prize, in which family relationships are explored from various emotional and perspectival angles.
At the centre of this work is a hunched figure surrounded by a whirlpool of papers that appear like splinters and increasingly constrict the body.
The composition conveys a sense of being overwhelmed and under emotional pressure, whilst the hunched posture suggests a state somewhere between self-protection and exhaustion.
The painted surface has been built up in several layers, with the paint partially scraped away and torn open. This treatment creates a raw, vulnerable materiality in which traces of pressure, violence, resistance and disintegration remain visible. Scratch marks, overlays and exposed layers of paint reinforce the impression of inner turmoil and lend the composition a physical urgency.
The expressive use of colour – characterised by intense red areas and cool contrasting surfaces – intensifies the tension between emotional escalation and exhaustion.
The handcrafted frame made of stained softwood transforms the painting into a deliberately designed object.
In my works, I use exclusively highly pigmented artists’ paints, which possess high luminosity and lightfastness. For each work, I design and build an artist’s frame myself, aiming to create an overall effect through a combination of craftsmanship and conceptual care.
Shipping:
The work is shipped stretched onto a stretcher frame and mounted within an artist’s frame – including a certificate of authenticity, the corresponding catalogue number and the artist’s signature on the front.
Dimensions without frame:
150 cm × 130 cm
Alexej Eisner
In his work, nostalgic, (post-)Soviet narratives are embedded within biographical elements of everyday life. In doing so, personal and collective memories of the traumas of Russian-German history are interwoven. Eisner presents figurative elements which, through expressive gestures, scraped surfaces and vivid colour schemes within a single composition, create alternating moments of clarity and decay, conveying a sense of authenticity and raw emotion.
Exhibitions (selection)
2025 – ‘What do we pass on and what do we keep to ourselves?’, Hase29 Gallery of Contemporary Art, Osnabrück.
2025 – ‘FATA MORGANA’, vanished Pop-Up Gallery, Osnabrück.
2025 – ‘skool session no. 17’, Alte Schule, Münster.
2025 – ‘good neighbours’, GALERIE ET, Versmold.
2025 – ‘PASSEN’, Contemporary Institute for Art and Thought, Berlin.
2025 – Annual Exhibition of Nominees, University of Osnabrück.
2024 – ‘My Horse Dog Doesn’t Want to Die – vanished’, Hase29 Gallery of Contemporary Art, Osnabrück.
2024 – ‘Beschreibendes’, Galerie Bel Étage, Gütersloh.
2024 – ‘Orte des Friedens #3’, Kulturbüro, Osnabrück.
2023 – ‘Working on the Future’, skulptur-galerie, Osnabrück.
2023 – ‘CAMPUS’, skulptur-galerie, Osnabrück.
2022 – ‘INDEX’, skulptur-galerie, Osnabrück.
2022 – ‘Artist’s Residence’, Atelierhaus Hasemauer, Osnabrück.
2021 – ‘3D’21’, skulptur-galerie, Osnabrück.
2021 – “European Media Art Festival”, Osnabrück.
2020 – “Grafikbörse”, Borken.
Awards/Scholarships
10.2025 – Germany Scholarship for outstanding achievement in the field of art at the University of Osnabrück
02.2025 – Nomination for the Ingeborg Siebert Art Prize in painting and printmaking
, October 2024 – Germany Scholarship for outstanding achievements in the field of art at the University of Osnabrück
, June 2024–May 2025 – Studio grant from the DaunTown art collective, Borgholzhausen.
2022–2024 – Studio grant, ‘Atelierhaus Hasemauer’, from the Felicitas and Werner Egerland Foundation, Osnabrück.
Other artworks by the artist
