Dominik Sartor (b. 1979) is a Cologne based artist, whose work treads many of the traditional boundaries used to categorise art; playing on both abstraction and figuration, painting and sculpture, the digital and the material.
Sartor works in layers, building up his paintings gradually, often over many years. Old fragments of paint left over from previous works are collaged onto new works, extending the duration of the painting process even further. This experimentation is inspired by the Belgian artist James Ensor (1860–1949) and his pioneering painting technique, involving thick daubs of paint, scratched marks from palette knives and re-used canvases.
Just as Sartor creates the works gradually, the work reveals itself slowly to the viewer. The seemingly abstracted marks emerge as figures and landscapes. Sartor has also explored virtual space as a part of his process, using data programs to transform his works.
Sartor studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under the Danish artist Tal R (b. 1967), amongst others. Most recently, the artist was included in the group exhibition, hell is other people (if you’re lucky), at Kunsthalle Münster in 2026.