JANOS SCHAAB

"It´s more difficult to leave out than to add"

Sep 08 - Oct 30, 2026

It’s more difficult to leave out than to add.

Hardly any sentence describes **Janos Schaab**'s artistic approach more aptly than this quote. His works are not created by constantly adding details, but through consistent reduction. Through this process of omission, Schaab develops a visual language that challenges the viewer’s gaze while simultaneously questioning the fundamentals of our perception.

Born in Hungary in 1960, the artist moves with ease between the visual worlds of Pop Art, Op Art, and Street Art. However, he does not simply adopt their characteristic forms of expression, but transforms them into an independent, distinctive visual language. His works explore the possibilities and limitations of our perception and address the constant shift between reality and illusion.

His works often draw on iconic motifs from the history of art, media, and everyday life. But instead of depicting them realistically, he reduces them to their essential visual characteristics. Portraits, figures, or objects are broken down into thousands of finely placed dots or lines until, seemingly, only their basic structure remains. Color, form, and contour merge into a composition that only fully unfolds in the eye of the beholder.

It is precisely this interplay between closeness and distance that lies at the heart of his work.

Forms the core of his work. Viewed up close, his paintings appear as abstract compositions of dots, lines, and graphic structures. As the distance increases, these fragments come together to form a surprisingly precise visual reality. 

What at first seems abstract becomes clearer; what seemed unambiguous begins to dissolve once again. As a result, the viewer becomes an active part of the work, because it is only through the viewer’s movement in space that the image comes into being.

In doing so, Janos Schaab examines not only the subject but also the process of seeing itself. His works navigate the tension between interior and exterior, construction and emotion, simplicity and complexity, figuration and abstraction. They reveal that perception is never static, but is constantly changing and always depends on distance, perspective, and experience.

Behind the apparent lightness of his visual worlds lies an exceptionally precise and, at the same time, highly complex working method. Each work is created through a lengthy process in which painterly discipline, mathematical precision, and artistic sensitivity come together. Despite their strictly structured compositions, they possess a remarkable vitality and emotional depth. With each new viewing, new details, connections, and visual effects are revealed.

A key to understanding his work lies in Schaab's in-depth engagement with architecture, the Bauhaus, and photography. His painting deliberately operates at the intersection of these disciplines. The farther the viewer moves away from the image, the more its effect resembles that of a photograph. Up close, however, the painting’s finely textured surface stands out, revealing the artisanal process behind its creation. Between these two poles, a fascinating dialogue unfolds about reality, illusion, and the possibilities of the image.

Janos Schaab is now considered one of the internationally recognized figures in contemporary art. His works have been exhibited worldwide in renowned museums, institutions, and exhibitions and are included in numerous public and private collections, including those in New York, Japan, Korea, France, Switzerland, and the Museum am Dom in Würzburg.

His art challenges us to constantly reexamine our own perspective. It shows not only *what* we see, but above all, *how* we see. That is precisely where the extraordinary power of his work lies: it makes the viewer an integral part of the painting.

Janos Schaab's works take time. In an age when images are often consumed only fleetingly, Schaab’s works come to life only when one consciously takes the time to linger over them. The viewer must move, adjust the distance, and engage with the act of seeing. That is what makes his art particularly relevant today.

Anna Maria Troner