Andreas Schulze: Special

A survey of paintings and sculptures tracing more than four decades of Andreas Schulze’s eccentric, genre-defying practice opens at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Andreas Schulze: Special is on view December 2 through March 15 and marks the German artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States.

Emerging in 1980s Cologne amid the rise of neo-expressionism, Schulze forged an unmistakable visual language outside any formal movement. His works blend abstraction and figuration with deadpan humor, transforming everyday objects into exaggerated, atmospheric scenes that echo surrealism, pop art and theatrical set design. The exhibition highlights this evolution across themes of domesticity, landscape and psychological reflection.

Visitors first encounter monumental canvases depicting enigmatic interiors, rooms animated by bulbous forms, stage-like vistas and luminous gradients that suggest both studio lighting and dream states. A grouping of three lamp-like sculptures introduces the artist’s interest in anthropomorphic objects. In another gallery, large-scale landscapes teem with hybrid flora and organic shapes, each painting constructing its own offbeat narrative. The exhibition also features Schulze’s celebrated automobile paintings from the late 1990s: cartoonish, unbranded cars that are at once familiar and absurd, often exhaling plumes of spray-painted exhaust as a playful meditation on interiority and excess.

Together, the works illuminate Schulze’s ability to reimagine the everyday with wit, curiosity and painterly invention. Andreas Schulze: Special is organized by ICA Miami and curated by Alex Gartenfeld, Irma and Norman Braman Artistic Director, and Amanda Morgan, Associate Curator.