The Affenfaust Gallery in Hamburg is currently hosting "Dreams Are My Reality," a group exhibition that uses Richard Sanderson's 1981 hit song from the film La Boum as a springboard into explorations of dreams, hopes, and magical thinking. Running since December 2025 and continuing through January 17, the show features three artists—Björn Holzweg, Elmar Lause, and Marc Burckhardt—whose works collectively open a portal to an in-between world where things are not as they seem, yet appear strangely true. The exhibition serves as the gallery's final show of 2025, offering visitors a contemplative space to consider the blurred boundaries between imagination and reality.
Marc Burckhardt's contributions stand out for their unique fusion of Renaissance techniques with contemporary subject matter, creating timeless works that defy easy categorization. The painter and illustrator, who divides his time between Austin, Texas and Bremen, has developed a distinctive style that references masters like Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Diego Rivera while incorporating influences from American underground comic legends Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton. His work has attracted an impressive roster of collectors including fashion designer Ralph Lauren, media personality Oprah Winfrey, and the late musician Johnny Cash. Burckhardt's pieces, such as his enigmatic Vanitas painting, appear simultaneously ancient and futuristic, puzzling artifacts that could exist in any era.
Elmar Lause, a Hamburg-based artist, constructs his poetic and humorously absurd cosmos from everyday objects and found materials, supplemented by painting and collage techniques. His approach transforms mundane items into gateways to alternative realities, described by gallery organizers as being "like a laugh during a dream that you cannot explain later." Lause's work Dämmerung exemplifies his ability to infuse ordinary materials with mysterious significance, creating installations that feel both familiar and disorienting. His practice demonstrates how discarded items can be reanimated to explore themes of memory, transformation, and the surreal aspects of daily life.
Björn Holzweg provides a contrasting vision through his charcoal and pencil drawings that depict forest animals in hunting scenes, transporting viewers far from urban environments into vast, silent wilderness spaces. The Hamburg artist's monochromatic works whisper of liminal zones between dream and reality, where natural instincts and human imagination intersect. His detailed renderings of wildlife suggest narrative possibilities while maintaining an atmosphere of quiet contemplation, offering an escape from contemporary city life into more primal, mysterious territories. The drawings evoke a sense of timeless observation, as if capturing moments from an ongoing mythological cycle.
The exhibition is accessible to the public free of charge at the Affenfaust Gallery, located at Paul-Roosen-Straße 43, with viewing hours on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 2 to 6 PM. This accessibility aligns with the gallery's mission to make contemporary art available to broad audiences. The show's timing and presentation reflect a broader cultural moment where audiences seek immersive experiences that provide respite from daily pressures while stimulating intellectual and emotional engagement. The intimate scale of the gallery allows for close examination of the intricate details in each artist's work.
Featured in Plan7, the cultural supplement of the weekly Hamburg newspaper, the exhibition exemplifies the city's vibrant contemporary art scene. Plan7, which publishes 28 pages of cultural recommendations every Friday, highlights how smaller galleries like Affenfaust contribute to Hamburg's cultural ecosystem. As the exhibition approaches its closing date, it continues to draw visitors intrigued by its promise of magical encounters and dreamlike contemplation, demonstrating the enduring appeal of art that challenges our perceptions of what is real and what is imagined.
