The paintings of Tilmann Zahn are visions of decline and new creation. They address disappearance and decay as transformation processes of the living, which know no end and permanently bring forth something new. His works occupy a middle position between painting and object, oscillating between fragility and seemingly metallic, constructive architectonics. The color, the texture of the surface, the spatial effect, and the complexity of the many-limbed constructions are carriers of meaning in a language that deliberately avoids the all too unambiguous, which is why his works sometimes bear titles that include the word "hybrid" ("hybrid framework," "hybrid construction," "hybrid apparatus"). The Basel-based artist takes his inspiration from technical relics, industrial wastelands, or architectural structures that have often already lost their purpose and, by means of an elaborate artistic process, acquire a new, independent value in pure contemplation.
The physical presence and the extremely differentiated surface structures of his works make the artist's sensitivity to materiality intrinsically apparent. The way they are presented, almost floating at a distance from the wall, not only underscores the object-like nature of the works, but with their cast shadows also refers at the same time to the fleetingness and changeability inherent in every form, every creation and every being.