Wild at Heart

With "Wild at Heart", Gustav Sonntag presents intense, urban and mostly large-format paintings that unfold their effect across all three floors of the exhibition. In his painterly narratives, he encourages reflection on passion, obsession, addiction, hope, resignation and other aspects of life.

As soon as you enter the exhibition on the first floor, his painterly virtuosity becomes clear - the eye loses itself with pleasure in the countless details of the pictures. Gradually, the backgrounds of a precarious everyday life unfold. In the basement, the atmosphere thickens, the intensity increases - the narratives become heavier, the colors darker. Space and time threaten to topple - the artist succeeds in visualizing ecstasy and aching disillusionment at the same time. The works are intense and almost dizzying. The staircase to the top offers a way out: on the upper floor of the exhibition, the colors, style and themes become lighter and more thoughtful. Matter recedes and gives way to transcendence.

This exhibition is a journey through different levels of existence. It is passionately controversial without being moralizing. Because one thing is certain: even if we close our eyes to it, this world remains in all its wildness. To quote David Lynch: "If you really have a wild heart, then you will fight for your dreams. You can't run away from love ..."

Gustav Sonntag (*1994 in Berlin) lives in Leipzig and works on the grounds of the Baumwollspinnerei. In the last two years he was based at the Künstlerhaus Dresden. In 2022, he completed his studies at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig with a diploma in painting/graphics in Christoph Ruckhäberle's class. Recently, his work has been shown in numerous galleries and at art fairs, as well as in institutional exhibitions, such as the Stadtgalerie Kiel, the National Museum Bucharest (Romania, Dissonance Platform 3, 2024, 2025), Potsdam (Gegen den Strich - Gen Z in der Kunst, 2024) and the Drents Museum, Assen (Netherlands, Hotspot-Leipzig, 2025, 2026). He was awarded the Eb Dietzsch Art Prize for Painting and nominated for the STRABAG ART Award. His works can be found in the collections of the Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, the G2 Kunsthalle and the Hildebrand Collection.