About

About Fausto

Fausto (b. 1972, German Democratic Republic) grew up in East Berlin, where he received early artistic training under the DDR’s intensive cultural programs. Despite his talent, he pursued medicine after completing his Abitur, becoming a practicing physician. After years of working in hospitals, Fausto returned to painting in 2009, focusing primarily on oil as his medium. His work, deeply personal and often exploring themes of identity and sensuality, found early recognition in Berlin’s queer art scene. In 2023, he connected with the Tom of Finland Foundation, leading to an invitation for an art residency at Tom House, Los Angeles. During his residency (September–December 2024), Fausto developed his first solo exhibition, A House of Angels, which debuted in Los Angeles.

exhibitions:

TOM OF FINLAND ART&CULTURE FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 30th November - 1st December 2024, Indigo Hotel, Downtown LA

A HOUSE OF ANGELS, solo show during art residency at the TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION, Los Angeles, 22nd - 27th November 2024

TOM OF FINLAND ART&CULTURE FESTIVAL BERLIN 2024, My/June, Halle am BERGHAIN Rüdersdorferstrasse 70a Berlin

Maximilian Schmidbauer Gruppenausstellung, 2023 September, MIndeltalstrasse 32, Unteregg, Bavaria

TOM OF FINLAND ART&CULTURE FESTIVAL 2023, 2023 May, The Knast Söthstrasse 7 Berlin

ILLUSION, 2022 October, 28th, P7-Gallery - Prenzlauer Allee 7 Berlin

APELBAUM03, 2022 April, 28th, Anomalie Club Berlin

OSTERSPAZIERGANG, 2022 April, 15th - 22nd, P7-Gallery - Prenzlauer Allee 7 Berlin

INSTINCT.BERLIN, 2022 April, 14th - 23rd, Village - Kurfürstenstrasse 31 Berlin

SELF PORTRAIT, 2021 December, 17th 2021 - 2022 January, 17th, P7-Gallery - Prenzlauer Allee 7 Berlin

EXTINCTION, 2020 September, 9th - 13th, SchwuZ - Rollbergstrasse 26 Berlin

STRAHLKRAFT, 2014 November, 20th, Kammermusiksaal und Foyer der Philharmonie - Herbert von Karajan Strasse 1 Berlin

from the Fausto solo show at P7 Gallery, April 2022, Berlin:

With his life-hungry and colorful painting, Fausto illustrates personal impressions and experiences. His painting is honest and at times ruthless, both in the figurative style of painting and in the choice of subjects: in addition to landscape paintings, his focus lays on portraits of naked men, sometimes with erections, and on depictions of gay sex. In his pictures of men, Fausto portrays friends from his environment, from the gym or from Berlin parties. In the elaborately arranged sex scenes (recreated with models in the studio and painted during multiple sessions), he recreates his own experiences as he would consider them in “typical” representations of the Berlin subculture.

„That's just what I am really interested in. There is also no reason at all to sublimate gay sex – or sex at all – in painting through abstraction. I paint it exactly as I experienced it or as I see my model. I’m painting this because I think it's beautiful and because it's fun. Incidentally, each subject in a painting is deprived of its (pornographic) sharpness solely by the fact that it is painted. It would be wrong to assign these representations to a niche. They belong just as much in the general public eye as paintings of hunting scenes, battles or crucifixions. Painting – especially figurative, representational painting – is pure enchantment: each subject is detracted from its real context by painting and raised to a more neutral, artificial level, which makes it possible for viewers without personal reference to the object to appreciate the honesty of feeling in painting. A photo can't do that. As a photo, the same topic would simply be pornography.“

The landscapes also seem like intimate observations, lustful. The creative process is similarly complex: Fausto studies the landscapes on site while traveling in many drawings, watercolors and gouache studies. In the studio, an oil painting would be later derived from the documented impressions.

OSTERSPAZIERGANG is the first solo exhibition of the Berlin-based artist, who was born in 1972.