Installation view of Die Versenkung, 2016 at Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin. Photo courtesy of Galerie Eigen + Art.

Painter Neo Rauch’s current exhibition at Berlin’s Galerie Eigen + Art is named after one of the paintings in the show, titled “Die Versenkung.” The German word fittingly translates to submerging or sinking, as the painting depicts a man being carried to a tomb. In the background, another figure is facing his own judgement, while casting a subtle glance at the man being lowered to his grave. He thus acts as witness to an event he is apart from in the moment yet connected to inevitably.

Rauch gained notoriety in both the German and international contemporary art scenes for his style of painting that elicit large feelings in the midst of often fragmented personal and political histories.

In this current show, Rauch explores the separate yet dependent relationship between the servant and the master, the actor and stander-by, the potent and the powerless.

The work Der Former (2015) for instance, exemplifies this ideas as it shows Rauch’s melding of several layers of history and narrative while also including himself in the painted scene. The canvas shows the artist’s studio with the painter inside of it, holding a sword rather than a paintbrush, in a romantic gesture of joint introspection and exterior concern.

See more images from the show below:

Neo Rauch, Die Versenkung, (2015). Courtesy of Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin.

Neo Rauch, Der Former, (2015). Courtesy of Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin.

Neo Rauch, Gummiland, (2015). Courtesy of Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin.

Neo Rauch, Der Bewunderer, (2016). Courtesy of Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin.

“Neo Rauch, Die Versenkung” is on view at Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin until July 2.