GHENT.- Kristof De Clercq gallery presents the first solo exhibition by Jürgen Partenheimer in Belgium since his comprehensive show at S.M.A.K. in 2002.
The title of the exhibition, memoria, alludes to the phenomenon of time as memory, as awareness, where time should be understood as utopian time in contrast with the common notion of chronological time. Memory as vision.
The works in the exhibition, covering a time span from 1989 to 2018, are mainly works on paper, of which the earliest work is entitled memoria (1989). The works on paper, with the subtle addition of three paintings, give insight in the wide range of Partenheimer’s oeuvre. In his artistic approach, which is formally based on drawing, music, philosophy and literature play a leading role.
A remarkable body of works is “One Hundred Poets”. This project, seen as work in progress, is a dialogue between visual art and poetry. It takes one-hundred poets / poetesses, represented by one poem only, based upon Partenheimer’s own personal choice of authors who have accompanied and inspired him during the past decades. The subjective impulse for each chosen poem expresses a congenial feeling. It is the intuitive awareness of the movement of thought and its symbolic meaning, the fractal nature of its complexity, whose utmost emotion is stimulated in the text as much as in the image. Language as score, inwardness and psyche is transformed into imagery.
With this project, Partenheimer points to the equal relevance of different artistic genres in his oeuvre while simultaneously paying tribute to his favourite poets.
Jürgen Partenheimer was born in 1947 and lives and works in Germany and Italy. He is one of the most remarkable philosophical and literary contemporary artists, whose work is renowned for its minimalist and poetic language. Early in his career he gained international fame at the Biennials of Paris, Venice and São Paulo. Partenheimer has exhibited worldwide, including solo exhibitions at Musée Ariana, Geneva (2016); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Deichtorhallen-Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg and Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2014); Mies van der Rohe House, Berlin (2011); IKON Gallery, Birmingham and Kunstmuseum Bonn (2008); Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo (2007 and 2004); National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2000); S.M.A.K., Ghent (2002); IVAM, Valencia (1998); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1997); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (1993); Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf and Hamburger Kunsthalle (1990) and Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1988).
Selected group exhibitions among others at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery Washington; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Singapore Art Museum; Musée d´Art Contemporain, Nizza; Sahra Hildén Museum, Tampere; Galeria Nacional de Arte Moderna, Lisbon; Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Madrid; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn and Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
His work is included in permanent collections among others at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; MoMA, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Metropolitan Museum, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington and Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
