Jan Albers

Jan Albers – The Symbiosis of Painting, Materiality and Space

Jan Albers is one of the pioneering figures of a generation of artists who radically question and break with the classical understanding of painting, redefining it entirely within the interplay between materiality and spatial installation. His works operate in a fascinating grey area: they transcend the two-dimensionality of the classical canvas and challenge the viewer’s visual habits.

In particular, his characteristic ray paintings – which Albers captures directly on paper with precise dynamism or stages as large-scale wall drawings – exert an enormous visual pull. In these works, line, form and architecture merge into an impressive hybrid entity, somewhere between a large-scale sculpture and a vibrant painting.

His so-called perforated pictures call for an even more physically intense dialogue. These multi-layered portraits and reliefs employ perforations, effects of depth and materialised destruction – a technique that lends the works an almost aggressive, raw power whilst simultaneously imparting a fragile complexity.

A first milestone in his recognition by museums was the joint exhibition at the Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen in 2008, which he staged together with Jens Ullrich. Albers not only took on the role of exhibitor, but also staged the presentation as an independent, site-specific Gesamtkunstwerk.

Since then, we have been documenting the artist’s journey on film. Over the course of our long-standing collaboration, we have had the privilege of filming his work on several occasions at the VAN HORN Gallery in Düsseldorf, as well as during his major solo exhibition at the Von der Heydt Museum in 2015. In numerous interviews, he has provided us with deep insights into his artistic practice.

Our archive also contains interviews and video footage of his solo exhibition in 2009 at Van Horn Gallery and his overview show in 2015 at the Kunsthalle Barmen in Wuppertal.