‘Modern Freskos’: Paul Kuntze’s First Solo Exhibition in India at Black Cube Gallery

Style Essentials Edit Team
55 minutes ago
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Black Cube Gallery, led by Sanya Malik, opens December with Modern Freskos, the first solo exhibition in India by Berlin-based contemporary artist Paul Kuntze. Born in 1995, Kuntze brings a visual language shaped by history but not defined by it, looking closely at Baroque fresco traditions and translating them into a style that sits firmly in the present.

Kuntze’s work begins with a deep interest in the ceiling paintings of old churches and palaces — those large, theatrical expanses that once attempted to lift the viewer into another realm. He isn’t recreating them, and he isn’t interested in nostalgia. Instead, he pulls from the energy of those works: the movement, the open skies, the sense of drama. Onto that foundation he layers marks, gestures, and figures that come from a more intuitive, contemporary impulse. The result is a surface that feels suspended between eras, familiar in tone but clearly shaped by the hand of a young artist.

He describes his process simply: creating something that reminds the viewer of original frescos but leaving enough space — through abstraction and suggestion — for the viewer’s own imagination to take over. The tension between those two impulses, control and instinct, is what gives the paintings their presence. They feel settled yet slightly unsettled; structured yet loose. Some appear like fragments of ancient ceilings that have drifted down into the gallery. Others lean more heavily into abstraction, allowing light, colour and gesture to carry the conversation.

What makes this exhibition significant for Black Cube is the way Kuntze’s work speaks to the gallery’s ongoing interest in contemporary painters who draw from history without being bound to it. The pieces in Modern Freskos carry references to art history, but they also feel immediate — the kind of paintings that change slightly each time the viewer returns to them. There is motion in them, but not theatrics; memory, but not imitation.

The materiality of the works reflects this balance. Kuntze’s surfaces hold layers of paint, erasures, and visible corrections, making the works feel lived in rather than polished. They carry the rhythm of abstract expressionism, but with a quieter, more deliberate tone. The figures, where they appear, don’t anchor the composition as much as drift through it, becoming part of the atmosphere rather than the subject.

The exhibition also comes at an important point in Kuntze’s career. After beginning as a self-taught painter in 2019, he has moved quickly, developing a voice that is distinct without exaggeration. His ‘Modern Fresko’ series, launched in 2023, has drawn attention across Europe. He has exhibited in Vienna and Tuscany, taken part in residencies, and will soon present shows in the United States and Germany, including his first museum exhibition. His debut in India follows his participation at Art Mumbai 2025 with Black Cube Gallery, which introduced his work to collectors and curators here.

At Black Cube, the presentation of Modern Freskos emphasises both continuity and change. The works retain the sense of monumentality associated with their historical reference points, but the scale feels human and grounded. There is no attempt to overwhelm; instead, the paintings invite the viewer into a slower reading — noticing a shift in colour, a fragment of a figure, a quiet gesture at the edge of the canvas.

The exhibition reminds us that influence doesn’t need to be literal. Kuntze looks at the Baroque not to revive it, but to understand the mechanics of awe and expression, and then rebuild them in a vocabulary that belongs to his generation. The fresco becomes a starting point, not a template.

For Indian audiences, Modern Freskos offers a clear view into how young European painters are engaging with the weight of their own art histories. It also marks the beginning of Kuntze’s relationship with the region — one that is likely to evolve as he continues to exhibit internationally.

As a debut solo exhibition in India, this show signals both confidence and curiosity. Kuntze’s paintings carry a sense of the past but move decisively into new ground. They don’t aim to replicate the grandeur of historical frescoes; they aim to understand what made those works powerful, and then distil that feeling into a contemporary surface.

Modern Freskos is ultimately about translation — how an artist reads history and rephrases it in his own hand. At Black Cube Gallery, the works land with a quiet but steady impact, suggesting that the dialogue between past and present still has room to grow, especially in the hands of a painter who isn’t afraid to let intuition and structure coexist.