Jonas Burgert Lebendversuch

To conduct an 'Experiment in Vivo' (Lebendversuch), is to consider something under real-life conditions. The title refers to a core notion in Jonas Burgert's work. The painter's visual narratives appear strange and enigmatic, but their emotional subtext is conveyed to the viewer directly. Burgert is able to condense the marks of painting, often on very large canvases, to human figures of great urgency that are physically experienced. Peculiar characters such as warriors, beggars, shamans or harlequins inhabit his stage-like pictorial spaces. Occasionally visitors in everyday dress have sneaked in, struggling to understand what is going on. Huge existential questions on the meaning of suffering, death, life, love, violence, and power are touched on, but find no answer or appeasement. The visual narrative is ultimately based on precise and detailed composition, executed with great craftsmanship. The blotchy and dripping application of paint time and again flows seamlessly into representations of traces, footprints and pots of paint. As such he makes painting the subject of his painting and simultaneously manages to create a world of illusion of the highest suggestive power. English and German text.