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11 November – 20 December, 2016
1301PE is pleased to announce its second exhibition with Düsseldorf-based artist Jan Albers. Albers belongs to a young generation of conceptual artists who develop their work beyond the periodically supposed end of painting and is widely considered as one of the central positions of abstract contemporary art. Following Albers' critically acclaimed solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven and the Von Der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal in Germany, this exhibition presents new wedge pieces, 'chainsaw massacres,' as well as his hydraulically pressed automobile pieces.
"Even if the attitude is that painting is over, I still keep on working on the idea of doing something new, by avoiding oil paint on canvas." – Jan Albers
Known for his process of 'constructive deconstruction,' Albers generates his hybrid three-dimensional wall pieces by reinterpreting materials from the fields of both construction and classic sculpture, such as polystyrene, wood, steel, concrete and bronze. Oscillating between sites of destruction and repair, his object-pictures are testament to the alchemical procedures of transformation, deformation and fragmentation. Positive and negative forms shift into one another, triggering tricks of vision and destabilizing modes of perception. While exploring and scrutinizing the language of abstract modernism, Albers' work is nevertheless closely tied to his own biography and the environment that surrounds him – sometimes reminiscent of distant planets, mountain massifs or urban architecture. It is through this so-called 'heavy-duty beauty' – as art historian and critic Belinda Grace Gardner has described it – that Albers confronts the richness but also contradictions of the contemporary world we live in.
Jan Albers (b. 1971, Wuppertal, Germany) grew up in Namibia and studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He lives and works in Düsseldorf. Major solo exhibitions have been held at the Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (2016); Kunstpalais Erlangen; Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal (both 2015); Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Dueren; Kunsthalle Giessen (2013); Langen Foundation, Neuss (2012). Selected group exhibitions include Transfer Korea-NRW, Seoul, South Korea; The end of the line: attitudes in drawing, organized by Hayward Touring, UK; Optical & Visionary Art since the 1960s, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX and Memorial Gallery at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; and Non-stop beautiful ladies, Marfa, TX. Albers was awarded the 2006 Pollock Krasner Foundation Award.
