Leon Vohl
creative studio // art // creative studio based in stuttgart_baden-württemberg_germany // 071107110711 // Lat: 48.784171° (N) Lon: 9.178921° (E) // E: 513143.183 N: 5403478.984
interdisciplinary art studio - working on the boundaries of critical thinking // radical statements // beauty and esthetics
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Digital Lookbook
Art Series Presentation
Leon Vohl
03.06.1993 in Filderstadt . GER
University of Stuttgart
Masters degree in Architecture and Urban Planning (M.sc.)
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Born in Stuttgart in 1993, I completed my secondary education at the Waldorf School am Kräherwald, graduating with the Abitur. In 2012, I began studying architecture at the University of Stuttgart, where I developed a strong interest in conceptual and cross-disciplinary design approaches. Already during my studies, I understood creative work not as a discipline-bound method, but as a tool to question, reflect, and transform political and social realities. Art became an essential part of my thinking—an instrument for critique and exploration beyond conventional narratives.
During my Bachelor studies, I completed an internship at Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten in Bregenz, Austria, where I worked in the competition department and deepened my understanding of architecture as a medium for conceptual and strategic design. I completed my Bachelor’s degree with a special award for my final project "Ekstase/Ecstase/Exstase", developed at the Institute for Architectural Design and Theory (IRGE) under Prof. Markus Allmann, in collaboration with the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture (IGMA) led by Prof. Dr. phil. Stephan Trüby.
Alongside architecture, I pursued interdisciplinary studies that shaped my creative identity. At the Institute of Design and Graphics (IDG) under Prof. Sybil Kohl, I received extensive training in life drawing, freehand drawing, and artistic composition. These foundational studies gradually evolved into conceptually driven painting and drawing, as well as several works in sculpture, including the development of a spatial installation measuring 7 × 4 × 2.5 meters. This early and intensive engagement with diverse creative disciplines became the initial spark for my ongoing and evolving artistic practice, which today centers on painting, drawing, and the intersection of space, image, and theory.
I continued my academic journey with a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Planning (M.Sc.) at the University of Stuttgart, graduating with receiving recognition for academic excellence. My work consistently focused on the relationship between built space and societal structures, seeking methods that respond to complexity rather than simplify it. In a world marked by constant acceleration, media saturation, and fragmented narratives, I see creative work as a means to engage with contradiction, to make visible rather than resolve, to navigate the space between clarity and uncertainty.
Since completing my studies, I have worked in the field of concept development and visual communication at emenes, a film and media studio in Stuttgart, where I contributed to projects at the intersection of narrative, space, and visual design. I am currently employed part-time at Studio Cross Scale, an architecture office also based in Stuttgart, where I work in the areas of competition and conceptual strategy. Parallel to this, I maintain an independent artistic practice, primarily in painting and drawing, in which I continue to investigate spatial, social, and emotional conditions through visual form.
My work positions itself in the tension between structure and disruption, past and present, rationality and intuition. Whether through architecture, film, or visual art, I seek to develop projects that do not provide answers but open spaces for critical engagement, reflection, and ambiguity. For me, art is discourse, critique, and possibility—a place where contradiction becomes a generative force, and interpretation takes precedence over explanation. It is an invitation to think, feel, and challenge, and perhaps, in doing so, to unsettle the expected.
Art Series
/// LAYER PAINTINGS E02 . 2025
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"Layer Paintings E02"
Painting . Photography
2025
Oil Pastel . Charcoal . Ink . Acrylic paint and digital laser print on transparent tracing paper
Hand signed by the artist . titled . numbered . dated - verso
These works capture the dynamic interplay between abstraction, movement, and layered perception. The compositions evoke associations with aerial photography - maps of unknown territories, shifting borders, or fragmented urban landscapes. The overlapping layers create a sense of depth, as if looking down onto a complex, multi-dimensional terrain where information is constantly rearranged.
The dark, structured areas recall industrial zones or satellite imagery of dense cityscapes, while the bold color fields suggest coded markings, like zones on a strategic map. Fine black lines, intersecting grids, and scattered symbols hint at infrastructure: roads, pipelines, data networks. Some areas resemble ruins or eroded landscapes, as if time itself had imprinted its traces onto these surfaces. The blurred shadows and distortions add to this ambiguity - are we seeing a physical space, or a mediated reconstruction of it?
Yet within this layered structure, another dynamic emerges: the artwork begins to reproduce itself. Through the reflections in the transparent material, fragments of the drawings reappear, slightly distorted, slightly shifted, but still recognizable. Like an image caught in an infinite hall of mirrors, the forms echo and reconfigure themselves, generating new, self-similar structures. The artwork no longer exists as a fixed composition but as an evolving system - one that mirrors the digital world, where
information constantly generates new versions of itself, no longer tied to an original.
This recursive process, where elements duplicate and modify themselves, reflects the nature of contemporary media, where images and data are endlessly reproduced, circulated, and repurposed. Meaning is no longer singular but fluid, shaped by continuous interaction and transformation. Like a digital algorithm that processes and reconfigures data in an infinite loop, these works take on a life of their own - self-perpetuating, dynamic, and resistant to finality.
The act of photographing these shifting compositions introduces another layer to this cycle. Photography, traditionally seen as a means of capturing and preserving a moment, here functions both as a pause and as a continuation. The image freezes a transient constellation of reflections, colors, and lines, momentarily arresting the process of self-replication. Yet, paradoxically, this capture also becomes another reproduction, integrated into the digital sphere, where it can be endlessly disseminated, altered, and reinterpreted.
In this accelerating cycle of transformation, these works embody a fundamental tension: between movement and stillness, between the organic unpredictability of the handmade and the systematic self-replication of the digital. They reveal the paradox of contemporary perception - where everything exists in perpetual flux, and where even the act of documentation becomes part of an endless process of renewal and reinterpretation.
Art Series
/// LAYER PAINTINGS . 2025
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"Layer Paintings"
Painting . Photography
2025
Oil Pastel . Charcoal . Ink . Acrylic paint on transparent tracing paper
Hand signed by the artist . titled . numbered . dated - verso
In an era where information is endlessly reproduced, fragmented, and reassembled, these artworks capture the fleeting nature of perception in a world saturated with digital stimuli. They exist in the interstitial space between painting, photography, and installation - drawings and color fields on transparent surfaces, set in motion, transformed by light and shadow, and frozen in time through the photographic lens. What emerges is not merely an image but an event, a moment of suspended flux.
The visual language is rooted in abstraction but deeply informed by contemporary information culture. The layers of translucent material, overlapping lines, and amorphous color fields evoke the overwhelming density of the modern media landscape. These images are distilled echoes of news reports, social media fragments, and digital ephemera - abstracted remnants of a constant data flow. Just as no single image can be fully grasped in its entirety, no singular narrative emerges. Instead, the works embody a perpetual process of synthesis, conflict, and coexistence.
Yet these works resist interpretation as pure data. They are not infographics, nor do they provide clear references or stable meaning. Instead, they operate as visual traces - fragments of a digital information society transposed into an abstract visual form. The layering of transparent materials generates shifting spatial relationships, where images dissolve and reconfigure with every change of perspective. This fluidity mirrors the instability of contemporary narratives, where facts and interpretations are in constant motion, overlapping and contradicting one another.
At times, the compositions feel technical, almost mechanical, as if echoing the logic of digital processing. At other moments, the organic irregularity of the hand-drawn lines reintroduces an unmistakably human element - a reminder that, beneath the flood of algorithmically curated information, there remains an individual act of selection, abstraction, and transformation. The interplay between precision and uncertainty, clarity and obscuration, reinforces the paradox of contemporary perception: we are surrounded by data, yet meaning remains elusive.
There is an inherent tension here: on the one hand, the works embrace the logic of contemporary media, where meaning is constructed through endless layering and recombination. On the other hand, they assert a kind of presence that defies digital erasure. The blurred edges and shifting transparencies mirror the instability of perception in the digital sphere, yet the physicality of their process reclaims a form of authenticity lost in purely virtual images.
These works do not reject the digital but rather engage in a dialogue with it. They visualize the complexities of a world where the boundary between the tangible and the virtual has dissolved - where perception is shaped by screens, where information is both ephemeral and omnipresent, and where images no longer possess a singular origin but exist in a constant state of transformation. By freezing a transient moment of visual flux, they serve as both a meditation on and a resistance to the infinite
reproducibility of the digital image, reminding us that even in an age of total simulation, material presence and human gesture still hold power.
Art Series
/// COINCIDENCE AND CONTRADICTION . 2024
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"Coincidence and Contradiction"
Grand Palais, Paris in 2025 . Galeria Azur, Berlin in 2024
Painting . Photography
2024
Spray paint on transparent plastic sheets
Fine art pigment print on "Hahnemühle PhotoRag". mounted on 2mm aluminium Dibond, museum glass, custom made wooden frame
Hand signed by the artist . titled . numbered . dated - verso
At the intersection of painting, sculpture, and photography, this work unfolds on both a painterly and spatial level. Spray paint on translucent plastic foil forms the foundation, arranged in three-dimensional space and exposed to light, shadow, and natural forces. The true artwork is not the painted material itself but rather its photographic documentation, capturing the interplay of chance and control, artistic intent, and unpredictable external influences.
_Coincidence: Chance as an Artistic Strategy:
The title Coincidence and Contradiction reflects a duality—coincidence as both randomness and simultaneity. Gestural marks interact with uncontrolled forces, as wind reshapes the foil, light filters through layers, and colors merge and separate. More than just a frozen moment, the work traces an ongoing process shaped by layering, interaction, and transformation.
_Contradiction: The Tension Between Surface and Space:
A contradiction emerges where surface and space, materiality and immateriality, structure and chaos coexist. The foil, sculpturally deformed, shifts painting into a spatial form, yet the final artwork remains the photograph—a medium that transforms three-dimensionality into a new image space. This process does not resolve but embraces fluidity, allowing painting to become sculpture, sculpture to merge into photography.
_Palimpsests of Perception:
These images function as visual palimpsests, where textures, structures, and natural elements overlap. Condensing time, movement, and external influence, the compositions reveal an ever-changing reality. The unpredictable is not treated as disruption but as a creative force, where coincidence, contradictions, and friction generate new possibilities.
_Embracing Complexity
With Coincidence and Contradiction, the work extends beyond artistic processes, reflecting broader dynamics of contemporary reality. In an increasingly complex world, shaped by external forces beyond control, the question arises: How can these conditions be made productive? Rather than resisting instability, the process engages with it, generating a visual language through the interplay of control and chance, order and disorder. Creativity does not emerge from stability, but from tension,
disruption, and negotiation—a process that does not merely expose the unpredictable but reinterprets it as a potential for transformation and new perspectives.
Art Series
/// SPRAY PAINTINGS . 2023
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"Spray Paintings"
Painting
2023
Spray paint . charcoal . oil pastel . acrylic paint on canvas
Hand signed by the artist . titled . numbered . dated - verso
These works function as visual palimpsests - surfaces where traces of past gestures, present interventions, and future possibilities coexist. Rather than following a linear progression, time is condensed into a single plane, where layers accumulate, erase, and transform each other. Forms are partially obscured, fragmented through overlapping structures, resisting a complete or fixed reading. This interplay of visibility and concealment mirrors the way we perceive history - not as a continuous narrative, but as an accumulation of ruptures, reinterpretations, and omissions.
Fragmentation emerges as a central aesthetic strategy. Through the collage-like layering, elements remain only partially visible, interrupted by new forms that shift their meaning. This method reflects the way information and memory function in contemporary society - constantly recombined, filtered, and recontextualized. What we perceive as a coherent whole is often constructed from fragments, shaped by the limits of perception and the interference of new inputs. The works embrace this instability, allowing past and present to merge in unpredictable ways, resisting closure or finality.
Absence becomes an active force in this process. What is hidden, removed, or negated does not signify loss but rather creates new space for interpretation. This is not merely a void, but a productive absence - a counterpoint to the oversaturation of visual and informational stimuli in today’s world. The unseen plays as crucial a role as the visible, forcing the viewer to engage with the gaps, to read between layers, to acknowledge that meaning is not given but constructed through interaction.
In this way, the works challenge traditional notions of historical continuity. Events do not follow a strict order but collide, overlap, and shape each other in ways that defy prediction. The structured and the accidental coexist, mirroring the forces that drive both personal and collective narratives. This dynamic, unresolved tension becomes the foundation of an aesthetic that does not seek to control or clarify but rather opens space for flux, chance, and reinterpretation - suggesting that our understanding of history, identity, and the future itself is always in motion.
Art Series
/// TRACES . 2023
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"Traces Paintings"
Painting
2023
Spray paint . oil pastel . acrylic paint on paper
Hand signed by the artist . titled . numbered . dated - verso
I work with layers - of paint, time, and information. Spray paint allows me to navigate the fine line between control and unpredictability, between deliberate composition and the raw interference of the medium itself. In my paintings, I do not depict but rather extract; I do not construct but allow forms to emerge.
The process is akin to collage, though instead of cutting and reassembling materials, I build them up through overlapping gestures. Fragments of the visible world, such as remnants of nature or traces of the environment, dissolve into abstraction. What remains are shadows of their origin, transformed through the act of painting into something ambiguous and in flux.
I am interested in coexistence, in the interplay of structure and dissolution, clarity and obscurity. Colors bleed into each other, and surfaces shift between density and transparency. Sharp edges intersect with blurred transitions, suggesting both precision and erosion. The simultaneity of these contrasts is central to my work, revealing multiple, sometimes conflicting, layers of information within a single composition.
Art Series
/// RE-THINKING . 2021
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"Re-Thinking"
Painting
2021
Spray paint . oil pastel . acrylic paint on paper
Hand signed by the artist . titled . numbered . dated - verso
In these works, I explore the oscillation between surface and line, between structure and dissolution. Black and white are not merely contrasts; they become forces shaping the perception of space, depth, and ambiguity. Sharp, defined planes engage in a conversation with fragile, meandering lines, creating a dynamic tension that refuses to settle. Dimension and perspective are central themes, yet they do not adhere to conventional logic. Instead, they unfold as surreal, shifting constructs - inviting the viewer into an ambiguous spatiality where solidity is questioned, and depth emerges only to be fractured elsewhere.
At the heart of this work lies a dialogue - a visual interplay between elements that seem at once opposed yet deeply intertwined. Surfaces assert themselves with weight and presence, while lines carve through them, challenge them, sometimes yielding, sometimes disrupting. There is no hierarchy; neither element dominates the other. Instead, they move together in a shifting exchange - at times in harmony, at times in discord. This dialogue is not static; it is shaped through movement and process. The paintings emerge through different speeds of execution, alternating between precise control and untamed release. Some marks are deliberate, almost surgical in their accuracy, while others are expansive, gestural, and forceful. The act of making itself becomes a form of improvisation - an intuitive response to what has come before, much like two jazz musicians engaged in an evolving conversation. A bold, dark shape enters, and a delicate line responds. A sweeping gesture cuts across the surface, and a quiet, intricate mark lingers in its wake.
These works explore the relationship between presence and absence, mass and void. Black planes dominate the space, yet they do not fully contain it. They define and interrupt, they assert and dissolve. The surrounding lines, in turn, react - sometimes reinforcing, sometimes destabilizing the structure. The balance between what is solid and what is open, what is weighty and what is fragile, remains in flux. Space itself is not passive but an active force, shaping and being shaped by the elements within it.
This dialogue extends into the imagery itself. Do the bold, black planes anchor the composition, or do they disrupt the fragile web of lines? Do these elements stand in contrast to one another, or do they respond and adapt? Just as depth appears to take hold, it is questioned. Just as space seems defined, it dissolves. This tension is not meant to resolve but to keep the image in flux, an ongoing negotiation between opposing forces.
There are moments where the works suggest landscapes, yet these remain elusive, ungraspable. What appears as a horizon line becomes an abstract fracture. What seems like architectural structure dissolves into gestural traces. The imagery resists a fixed interpretation, instead offering an ever-changing field of possibilities. The interplay of force and fragility, density and openness, movement and stillness, creates a rhythm that keeps the composition alive.
Rather than dictating a single reading, these paintings create a space of negotiation - where forms, gestures, and rhythms continuously redefine each other. This is not a static world but one that exists in flux, where elements remain in constant, restless conversation.
