This year, HEITSCH Gallery is taking part in the renowned Art Karlsruhe with two solo shows: With Antonio Marra and Eike König, we are pleased to present two artists who could not be more different and who nevertheless share a temporary zeitgeist.

Marra, who comes from Milan, is known for his multi-perspectivistic OP Art works, which have not only been discovered by lovers of form and color for many years. The famous Architecture Biennale in Venice also came across the Offenbacher by choice and made him an art knight by participating this year in Venice.

How did he do it? In addition to his unique look, it is also the sometimes more, sometimes less hidden messages of his works that convince the art world: Always questioning society (not critical!), his art is about interpersonal coexistence in the age of social media, about an apparently never saturated meritocracy and sustainability in any form. What is important to him: “The word sustainability has been misused in recent years. It only appears in connection with the environment. That is of course important. But first and foremost we should be sustainable with ourselves, the people. The environment will also benefit from this.”

The Berlin enfant terrible of the graphic design scene, Eike König, picks up a similar thread: with his painted graphic satire, he was one of the highlights at this year’s Art Wynwood in Miami. His goal? Point out the untameable capitalism with wit and surprise and bring famous brands onto the carpet. his style? You could describe it as “mind branding” or as digital pop art. Similar to Warhol in the 70s, König uses a handful of logos and advertising motifs and recontextualizes them completely.

This recontextualization has already brought him collaborations with fashion giants such as Chanel or Nike or even car manufacturers such as Volkswagen.

That he himself lives as a kind of paradox, on the one hand satirically making fun of capitalism and branding, while at the same time selling his art for quite a lot of money? “I like that.”