Louis Schreyer (b. 1994, Germany) is a German-Austrian multidisciplinary artist based between London and Berlin. Following a foundation year at Central Saint Martins, he studied at London College of Communication (BA) and completed an MA at the Royal College of Art. With a background in film and photography, his practice spans painting, installation, and moving image.
His work serves as a mirror, inviting people to reflect on themselves and the world around them. Often beginning from a place of warning or critique, his practice aims to shift perception, encouraging a deeper, more questioning engagement with reality. Grounded in critical theory, Schreyer examines the psychological impact of capitalism, mechanisms of control, the power of language, and the mediation of geopolitical conflict.
At the core of his motivation is a desire to understand and confront the conditions that allow war and violence to persist.
His work seeks to engage this space, fostering awareness without blame, and asking what responsibility looks like, for both artist and audience, in a world shaped by inherited systems and fragile moral narratives.
His concept-led approach treats medium as context, carefully chosen not only to frame the subject, but to shape how it is experienced. Whether through installation or emotionally charged, expressive painting, he uses form to guide perception and redirect attention.
Though grounded in theory, his painting process is instinctive and guided by feelings. Working between abstraction and figuration, and between drawing and painting, he allows recurring symbols and a personal visual vocabulary to surface freely. The conceptual groundwork often recedes in the act of making, giving space for emotion to guide the composition, in what it has been described as "radical tenderness".
Research and reflection give way to a physical, intuitive act of making, an informed improvisation that channels thought into form. His works often carry multiple layers, visually and conceptually, inviting the viewer to pause and encouraging a slower mode of looking that rewards attentiveness and presence. Through this process, he opens a space for contemplation to see beneath the surface and to experience perception with renewed attention and care.
More recently, his practice has focused on reframing the present, dissecting contemporary realities in order to explore how the idea of the future can obscure our ability to see the present clearly. He examines human experience from a number of standpoints, engaging with spiritual truth and the future as a way to reorient the now. In doing so, he works to interrupt the illusion of inevitability, offering a subtle yet insistent invitation to see the present more truthfully.
(Text: Marco Galvan)