ZURICH.- Häusler Contemporary Zürich presents exclusive insight into Jürgen Partenheimer’s ongoing project «One Hundred Poets». It is based on the artist’s personal selection of 100 poems, visualized in his unique imagery. He thus points to the equal relevance of different artistic genres in his oeuvre while simultaneously paying tribute to his favorite poets.
Jürgen Partenheimer (*1947, Munich) is known for his contentual interpretation of abstraction, which he calls »metaphysical realism«. It finds its expression in a complex oeuvre of drawing, painting, sculpture and installation. Furthermore, collectors and admirers of his work are familiar with his affinity to poetry and literature and also with the artist’s own writings. In our exhibition, Partenheimer now again provides insight into the development of his work series «One Hundred Poets» that he first presented at our Munich gallery in 2016. The drawings and paintings from this collection are based on a dialogue between visual art and poetry. Furthermore they are an indirect homage to Japanese artist Hokusai who at the beginning of the 19th century had dedicated his work to a similar project based on a renowned anthology of Japanese poetry.
Starting point of Partenheimer’s group of works are 100 selected poems by as many authors of world literature that the artist particularly values. Among them are well known figures such as Francis Ponge, Paul Celan or Hannah Arendt, but also lesser-known names such as Yoshimasu Gozo or Nicolas Born. In his project, Partenheimer follows a subjective inner process of transformation, inspired by the language’s impulse. The imagination thus reflects the poem’s linguistic perception and concurrently expresses a new creation in its extension. With his abstract pictorial language which keeps the search for meaning, shaping and dissolution in constant flow, the artist succeeds in visualizing what remains unsaid in the written word.
Our exhibition affords again the experience of the artist’s complex creative process thus offering an exclusive insight into the fascinating work in progress of »One Hundred Poets«. --Deborah Keller, Häusler Contemporary
Jürgen Partenheimer counts among Germany’s leading contemporary artists. His work is part of major international collections. Partenheimer gained international acclaim in the 1980ies when he participated in the Biennials of São Paulo, Paris and Venice. Since then, numerous renowned institutions held solo presentations of his work, among others the National Gallery in Berlin, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, S.M.A.K. Gent, Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, IVAM in Valencia, the State’s Pinakothek of São Paulo, the Contemporary Art Galler in Vancouver, or the National Museum of Fine Arts in Beijing. In 2015 the Musée Ariana in Geneva – one of Europe’s most renowned museums for ceramics – dedicated a solo exhibition to his work.
