Helmeted Towards Dawn.

The Dawnman cried as his face appeared on the moon,

stairs to the skies and red dog,

a fetid pile of grass and skins served for a couch.

Futile cousins, green shorts and fading sun,

deflated husband, armpit of the universe and blue sun,

dawn of the frog.

We live in caves and tunnels,

the Ether Breather,

Dawn-man, three sisters and yellow moon (lost).

Helmeted Towards Dawn.

Federica Schiavo Gallery is pleased to present Helmeted Towards Dawn, Michael Bauer’s first solo show in Rome with a series of paintings on canvas created in the last two years. They range from bigger swirling, busy and rather psychedelic formats to more intimate smaller newer works.

“I think of the larger scale works from the last few years as functioning like a prequel to the smaller works for this show. Having placed the figures in my previous works in a whirlwind of entropy, they are now grappling with the results. Echoes from previous energies surround them, immersing them in a space that is slowly fading. Left by themselves, they are now lonely wanderers but with a sense of peace and by getting colder, it might also get warmer again.” (Michael Bauer)

When the artist, who has been collecting early SF novels, created these new small works, he was immersed in the books of authors like Clark Ashton Smith, Samuel Delaney, David Bunch and Jack Vance, particularly his Dying Earth cycle.

“There is a certain warmth and calm that emanates from these “dying earth” stories, the idea of "the last man", which always had a welcome impact on me. By imagining empty landscapes, by imagining the last breaths of their visitors, there is a feeling of peace (at last). Things will end and that is after all a welcome thought.” (Michael Bauer)

Michael Bauer was born in 1973, Erkelenz, Germany, and lives and works in New York.

Selected exhibitions include Lyles & King, New York, NY; Half Gallery, New York, NY; Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin, IT; HOTEL, London, UK; Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, CH; Lisa Cooley, New York, NY; Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and Alison Jacques Gallery, London, UK. His works are held in collections worldwide including the Hort Collection, the Saatchi Collection, Sammlung Boros, and the Zabludowicz Collection.

Bauer collaborated with Charlie Hammond and Raynes Birkbeck and is a member of the experimental music group Ylmaz House Band (with Robert Kraiss and Florian Gass).