Galerie Sara Lily Perez is pleased to present Chronostasis, a duo exhibition featuring Berlin,based artists René Wirths and Wolfgang Flad. Borrowing its title from the phenomenon of “chronostasis” , a temporal illusion in which the first moment of perception is strangely prolonged, as in the stopped,clock illusion when a clock’s second hand seems frozen at first glance, the exhibition stages a conversation about time, stillness, and the act of seeing. Through Wirths’ paintings and Flad’s sculptures, Chronostasis explores how art can suspend time’s passage, illuminating instants that usually evade conscious notice.

​

Wirths and Flad approach the theme of suspended time from complementary angles. René Wirths presents large,scale oil paintings that arrest everyday objects in a state of extraordinary focus. Against pristine solid backgrounds, objects such as a lighter, a coffee can, or a glass  hover in detailed isolation, depicted with such exactitude that they appear tangible. Wirths works strictly from life, eschewing photographs or digital projection, often devoting months to a single canvas in a meticulous observational process. This intensive duration is itself a rebuttal to the haste of contemporary life: “In an ever,accelerating age, in a digitized and networked world, we retreat to a contemplative space, our studio, to engage with the world around us alone and analog, as it were, and to reflect ourselves in it. Wirths endows them with presence and weight. The viewer encountering these works experiences a subtle distortion of time; the longer one gazes, the more the object seems to both sharpen into clarity and slip into abstraction, revealing the gaps and perplexities in our perception. In Wirths’ still lives, time stands still: each object occupies an extended now, inviting contemplation of its form, history, and the act of perception itself.

​

Wolfgang Flad, by contrast, makes time palpable through three,dimensional forms that capture motion in suspension. His sculptures, primarily crafted from wood and mixed media, incorporate upcycled paper pulp from shredded art publications, material imbued with fragments of art history. These elements are shaped into sinuous, abstract structures that seem to twist and grow organically, often suspended from ceilings or walls. Their forms evoke interconnected tree branches or mammal bones, possessing an “inherently naturalistic quality” and echoing patterns from neurons to celestial orbits.

Despite their dynamic curves, each piece captures a moment of arrested energy. As Flad describes, his work centers on “the main motive of freezing the movement of a huge, spontaneous, and dynamic gesture.” Polished, geometric surfaces contrast with rough, fibrous edges, merging stillness and growth within a single form. This tension suggests a metamorphosis paused in time. The reclaimed paper adds a temporal depth, past narratives compressed into new, living shapes. In this way, the sculptures embody what Flad calls a “hidden life within,” where stasis pulses with latent transformation.

​

Chronostasis creates an immersive meditation on how we experience time. The gallery space becomes a realm of slowed perception: paintings that freeze fleeting moments in meticulous detail are juxtaposed with sculptures that capture the arc of movement mid,swing. Viewers are encouraged to slow down and engage in active looking , to dwell on details and forms, and to become aware of their own sense of time passing (or pausing) as they move through the exhibition. The dialogue between two very different mediums highlights intriguing commonalities. Both artists, in essence, ask us to reconsider what we normally take for granted: Wirths does so by turning a split,second glance at a common object into a prolonged encounter, while Flad does so by revealing motion and growth halted at an evocative standstill. In both cases, the artworks produce a sensation akin to chronostasis, that uncanny elongation of the present moment.

FEATURED ARTISTS 

RENÉ WIRTHS​

​​​

René Wirths (b. 1967, Waldbröl, Germany) is a painter whose work explores perception, materiality, and the act of seeing. He studied at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he was a master student of Wolfgang Petrick. Known for his precise, realistic depictions of everyday objects, Wirths paints directly from observation, without the aid of photography. His objects, isolated on neutral backgrounds, invite viewers to experience the tension between objectivity and emotion, presence and absence. Wirths lives and works in Berlin, and his paintings have been exhibited widely across Europe.

Read more​​​​​​​

WOLFGANG FLAD

​

Wolfgang Flad (b. 1974, Reutlingen, Germany) is a sculptor who investigates the relationship between nature, material, and transformation. He studied textile design at the University of Applied Sciences in Reutlingen and fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. Flad’s biomorphic sculptures and wall reliefs are crafted from wood, papier-mâché, and recycled materials, often recalling organic forms like roots, corals, or cells. His works evoke growth, fluidity, and renewal while engaging with themes of ecology and sustainability. Flad lives and works in Berlin and has exhibited internationally, with works held in major museum collections in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United States.​

​

Read more