Reflections / New Territory
August 14, 2026 – September 25, 2026
Nico Sawatzki, Christopher Kieling, Raphael Paulun
E30 Gallery
The E30 Gallery in Nordend is currently Exhibitions two Exhibitions that reflect the gallery's breadth and focus on young, contemporary art.
“Reflections” brings together new works by Raphael Paulun (b. 1990). The exhibition focuses primarily on his self-portraits, which are characterized by a calm, focused visual language. Paulun consistently works with his own image—he is present in all of his works and uses the self-portrait as the starting point for his painterly exploration.
The motifs arise from personal memories and processes of inner reflection. Paulun repeatedly combines these with philosophical questions and art-historical references, which are subtly woven into the composition of the images.
His paintings are characterized by a limited color palette, precise composition, and a deliberate approach to the materiality of oil paint. The result is a body of work that aims less for immediate impact than for a lasting, quiet presence.
Paulun studied at Alanus University and was a master student of Prof. Andreas Orosz. During this time, he developed a distinctive artistic voice that combines precise observation with technical mastery. For him, painting is a means of engagement—with his own image as well as with fundamental questions of perception and existence.
Nico Sawatzki & Christopher Kieling – “Neuland” The second exhibition, titled “Neuland,” brings together works by Regensburg-based artist Nico Sawatzki and Berlin-based artist Christopher Kieling.
Christopher Kielings (*1988) creates his current works through the interplay of digital and painterly processes. His starting point is often art-historical imagery, particularly from the Renaissance—such as Titian’s *Magdalene*—which he transfers into 3D software, models, and refines. Fragments of these digital constructions form the basis of his paintings.
The motifs deliberately straddle the line between figuration and abstraction. Familiar elements are alienated, broken down, and reassembled, bringing the isolated detail into focus.
Kieling combines precise digital design with controlled, painterly execution. Using oil paint, he overlays clear forms with flowing elements, thereby creating pictorial spaces that appear both structured and open.
He studied graphic design at Central Saint Martins College in London—a background that has shaped his clear yet deliberately ambivalent visual language.
Nico Sawatzki (b. 1984) transforms painting into a state of limbo between memory and perception. Drawing on his background in street art, he uses acrylic and spray paint to create multi-layered pictorial spaces in which construction and dissolution, proximity and distance, light and twilight are in a state of constant flux. His works appear as atmospheric landscapes without a fixed location—open to interpretation, sustained by intense color and a subtle spatial tension.
Through an elaborate layering process, he creates surfaces that he builds up, compacts, and then breaks down again. It is precisely this movement between applying and deliberately removing layers of paint that lends his works an extraordinary depth and a personal style. Although landscapes can be recognized in many of his works, Sawatzki is not interested in depicting them, but rather in their emotional resonance, moods, fragments, and memories.
Born in Regensburg, the artist has been working as a freelance artist since 2012 and is represented internationally through Exhibitions inclusion in collections, including in the U.S., Canada, and South Korea. Today, his painting combines the directness of his urban roots with a precise, poetic visual language that occupies a unique, unmistakable position between abstraction and memory. The E30 Gallery in Nordend is currently Exhibitions two Exhibitions that reflect the gallery’s breadth and focus on young, contemporary art.
“Reflections” brings together new works by Raphael Paulun (b. 1990). The exhibition focuses primarily on his self-portraits, which are characterized by a calm, focused visual language. Paulun consistently works with his own image—he is present in all of his works and uses the self-portrait as the starting point for his painterly exploration.
The motifs arise from personal memories and processes of inner reflection. Paulun repeatedly combines these with philosophical questions and art-historical references, which are subtly woven into the composition of the images.
His paintings are characterized by a limited color palette, precise composition, and a deliberate approach to the materiality of oil paint. The result is a body of work that aims less for immediate impact than for a lasting, quiet presence.
Paulun studied at Alanus University and was a master student of Prof. Andreas Orosz. During this time, he developed a distinctive artistic voice that combines precise observation with technical mastery. For him, painting is a means of engagement—with his own image as well as with fundamental questions of perception and existence.
Nico Sawatzki & Christopher Kieling – “Neuland” The second exhibition, titled “Neuland,” brings together works by Regensburg-based artist Nico Sawatzki and Berlin-based artist Christopher Kieling.
Christopher Kielings (*1988) creates his current works through the interplay of digital and painterly processes. His starting point is often art-historical imagery, particularly from the Renaissance—such as Titian’s *Magdalene*—which he transfers into 3D software, models, and refines. Fragments of these digital constructions form the basis of his paintings.
The motifs deliberately straddle the line between figuration and abstraction. Familiar elements are alienated, broken down, and reassembled, bringing the isolated detail into focus.
Kieling combines precise digital design with controlled, painterly execution. Using oil paint, he overlays clear forms with flowing elements, thereby creating pictorial spaces that appear both structured and open.
He studied graphic design at Central Saint Martins College in London—a background that has shaped his clear yet deliberately ambivalent visual language.
Nico Sawatzki (b. 1984) transforms painting into a state of limbo between memory and perception. Drawing on his background in street art, he uses acrylic and spray paint to create multi-layered pictorial spaces in which construction and dissolution, proximity and distance, light and twilight are in a state of constant flux. His works appear as atmospheric landscapes without a fixed location—open to interpretation, sustained by intense color and a subtle spatial tension.
Through an elaborate layering process, he creates surfaces that he builds up, compacts, and then breaks down again. It is precisely this movement between applying and deliberately removing layers of paint that lends his works an extraordinary depth and a personal style. Although landscapes can be recognized in many of his works, Sawatzki is not interested in depicting them, but rather in their emotional resonance, moods, fragments, and memories.
Born in Regensburg, the artist has been working as a freelance artist since 2012 and is represented internationally through Exhibitions inclusion in collections, including in the United States, Canada, and South Korea. Today, his painting combines the directness of his urban roots with a precise, poetic visual language that occupies a unique and distinctive position between abstraction and memory.