Fueled by complex emotions such as regret, shame, loneliness or anxiety, I focus on what dwells inside the mind and explore how the body is able to physically externalize or conceal it. Fleeting or lingering, I try to capture diaristic moments that occur between thought and action or self-censored non-action.
Through alternative approaches to portraiture and figuration, my work attempts to dismantle and/or reassemble identity by breaking down private and public space. This often surfaces conceptual or formal tensions from contradicting dualities. By rejecting and eliminating the common labels of self-definition like occupation, race, or sex, I play with the notion of an ever-changing identity. The non-permanence is natural yet chaotic and inconsistent. The dialogue that vacillates between these evolving, unstable states fascinates me.
Doll or animal-like creatures function as vessels in conceptual spaces where memory, imagination, emotion, perception and often misinformation collide freely. Remotely separated by the picture plane, the characters have a distant vulnerability. They are lost, perhaps in thought, or struggling with the confusion of their domesticated, social, political or nonsensical confines. Their lack or unrealistic sensory organs adds to their closed off or self-involved appearance. The figures reflect a human consciousness and confront the viewer directly, encouraging an exchange of our own projections onto theirs.
My process is organic – an improvisational call & response that takes place between forceful color and gestural, Abstract-Expressionist brushstrokes that carry individuality and spirit. The girlishly charged colors and topographies undercut the solemnity adding whimsy to the ominous and liberation from the constraints.
The resulting work may read as naïve or provisional, but the tension created by letting my work appear incomplete by certain standards is both interesting and crucial. Provisionality in painting is not only reenergizing the medium but also reflecting the ambition and attention span of my digital generation. Free of lofty expectations, painted images can simply imitate the moments of immediate urgency.
My paintings are occasionally punctuated by political awareness in response to current socioeconomic issues. More specifically, these visual and poetic reactions originate from the division of class, our post-crash economy, gender inequality, environmental decay and the Western view of reality.
- Jan Brugger
Through alternative approaches to portraiture and figuration, my work attempts to dismantle and/or reassemble identity by breaking down private and public space. This often surfaces conceptual or formal tensions from contradicting dualities. By rejecting and eliminating the common labels of self-definition like occupation, race, or sex, I play with the notion of an ever-changing identity. The non-permanence is natural yet chaotic and inconsistent. The dialogue that vacillates between these evolving, unstable states fascinates me.
Doll or animal-like creatures function as vessels in conceptual spaces where memory, imagination, emotion, perception and often misinformation collide freely. Remotely separated by the picture plane, the characters have a distant vulnerability. They are lost, perhaps in thought, or struggling with the confusion of their domesticated, social, political or nonsensical confines. Their lack or unrealistic sensory organs adds to their closed off or self-involved appearance. The figures reflect a human consciousness and confront the viewer directly, encouraging an exchange of our own projections onto theirs.
My process is organic – an improvisational call & response that takes place between forceful color and gestural, Abstract-Expressionist brushstrokes that carry individuality and spirit. The girlishly charged colors and topographies undercut the solemnity adding whimsy to the ominous and liberation from the constraints.
The resulting work may read as naïve or provisional, but the tension created by letting my work appear incomplete by certain standards is both interesting and crucial. Provisionality in painting is not only reenergizing the medium but also reflecting the ambition and attention span of my digital generation. Free of lofty expectations, painted images can simply imitate the moments of immediate urgency.
My paintings are occasionally punctuated by political awareness in response to current socioeconomic issues. More specifically, these visual and poetic reactions originate from the division of class, our post-crash economy, gender inequality, environmental decay and the Western view of reality.
- Jan Brugger
