Olaf Quantius
German, b. 1970
Untitled (Orten 2), 2007
oil, aluminum lacquer on canvas
67 x 51 x 1 3/4 in. (170.2 x 129.5 x 4.4 cm.)

The Steven and Karen Berkowitz Collection

Olaf Quantius is a German contemporary painter known for atmospheric, often sparsely populated landscapes in which barns, huts, sheds, and other simple structures become psychologically charged subjects. He studied painting at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe from 1993 to 1999, becoming a master student in 1998. Quantius’s work frequently places modest architecture within ambiguous, unpeopled settings, using restrained color and carefully modulated surfaces to explore shelter, memory, isolation, and the relationship between human construction and the surrounding environment.