Lot 394 | "Verräter"

BURGERT, JONAS
1969 Berlin

Title: "Verräter".
Date: 2005.
Technique: Oil on untreated cotton.
Measurement: 300 x 281cm.
Notation: Dated and signed verso: 2005 Jonas Burgert. Here additionally titled. Once more signed bottom: Jonas Burgert.


Provenance:
- Produzentengalerie Hamburg

Exhibitions:
- Kunsthalle Tübingen/Kunsthalle Krems 2010/2011

Literature:
- Schreiber, Daniel J./Wipplinger, Hans-Peter (eds.): Jonas Burgert - Lebendversuch, Cologne 2011, ill. p. 93 (here dated 2004)
- Heil, Axel/Schoppmann, Wolfgang: Most wanted - The Olbricht Collection, some recent acquisitions, Cologne 2005, p. 221, ill. p. 68

Burget's monumental painting from 2005 recalls a wall on which people have left their marks. There are various ornaments on it which are also known from architecture, but a continuous design cannot be determined. Rather, they are fragmentary remains that do not refer to a concrete culture. There are references to Arab and European as well as Celtic influences. The implementation of symbols of ancient cultures plays a major role in the artist's work. Even in Burgert's early, abstract works there are always references to ancient Greek, Egyptian and Arabic ornamentation.

It is typical of Burgert to let the sceneries in his works play in undefined and timeless places and to provide the viewer with only a very reduced selection of clues, which are also mutually exclusive in their chronological classification. The reason for this is Burgert's intention to trigger a process of self-reflection in the viewers, and the artist sees these processes as timeless and spaceless. The white wall in the work "Traitor" seems like an imaginary mirror that reflects the emotions of the viewer. The viewer relates each detail of the image to his or her own personal experiences. While putting the individual pieces of the puzzle together, the viewer is confronted with his inner self. This is percisely the fascination of this work. On an almost illusionistically designed ledge in the wall sits a small monkey dressed in two orange sashes with black crosses. With its mouth open, it looks directly at the viewer and thus represents an active, challenging element in the picture. The depiction of animals is typical for the time, but starting in 2003 the subjects became increasingly figurative. At first Burgert began to include animals in his works, later also people.