In Glanz laicht, a woman with her metal headdress is poised on a luminous yellow stage with matching backdrop, the acid yellow sets a feeling of disturbance, something toxic and untoward is happening. Burgert plays with the nuances between warm and cold and pushes the colours to the extreme. Curator David Anfam wrote in the catalogue for Burgert’s major museum show at MAMbo Bologna, ‘It is hard to think of another contemporary who manipulates colour with a legerdemain comparable to Burgert’.
The figure, in her entirety, is entangled. From her metal crown, to her chain-like belt, strips of fabric are draped across her shoulder, wrapped around her hands, the captured birds, and accumulate in a tangled labyrinth at her feet. This enigmatic figure carry’s paint on her skin as though it is her costume, bold and bright, yet underneath her skin appears soft and calm – her gaze almost coy and tender, independent of the chaos surrounding her.
Paint is applied deftly to certain areas, the faces of his figures often portrayed in a realistic way, yet this reality is disrupted by sudden blotches of colour, giving rise to otherworldly blemishes. It is this juxtaposition of reality and irreality, representing the personification of human psychology, which Burgert explores through figurative painting.
Burgert creates work directly drawn from human relations and emotions rather than art historical or literary references, which he feels create a detour. The search for narrative is thwarted, he is not concerned with a particular subject – rather he wants to create a particular climate through his paintings and to awaken a sensation in the viewer. The picture is not supposed to be thought, but instead to be felt. As expressed by Bianca Laura Petretto in her text, Filigree of Desire, ‘Jonas Burgert’s work is dominated by restlessness, it abounds in imagination while conveying authentic inner realities and energy.’
Jonas Burgert was born in 1969 in Berlin, Germany where he lives and works. He graduated in 1996 from The Academy of Fine Arts (UdK), Berlin and in 1997 studied for the post graduate title Meisterschueler under Professor Dieter Hacker. Recent solo exhibitions include; Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, CHN (2021); ARP Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, DE; Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, CHN (both 2020); Produzentengalerie, Hamburg, DE; Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong, CHN (both 2019); Blain|Southern, Berlin, DE; Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong, CHN; Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna, AT; Museo D’Arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMbo), Bologna, IT; Hannover Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, DE (all 2017); Produzentengalerie, Hamburg, DE (2016); Blain|Southern, London, UK (2014); Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, DE; Produzentengalerie, Hamburg, DE (both 2013); Blain|Southern, Berlin, DE (2013); Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau, AT (2011) Kunsthalle Tübingen, DE (2010) and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, DE (2008). His work is in major public and private collections internationally including Denver Art Museum, Denver, US; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, DE; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, US and Rubell Family Art Collection, Miami, US.
Jonas Burgert
Glanz laicht, 2021
Oil on canvas
240 x 180 cm
