Bruno Jakob Born 1954 in Zurich, Switzerland

Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland

Bruno Jakob was born in Switzerland in 1954. After studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule Basel and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the artist relocated to New York in the 1980s. Bruno Jakob has developed a body of work based on the premise that painting materials do not need to be visible in order to be real. Jakob appropriately names one of his on-going series Invisible Paintings. Bruno Jakob works on his paintings in a very traditional manner. He uses paintbrushes, different waters, and steam to draw on canvases, paper, and walls. He is interested in pinning down thoughts and impressions. During his career, the artist has intensively explored the painting process and meta-painting, which examines and questions painting itself and the means of painting.  His paintings confront us with their representational nature, their objecthood, the haptic of the paper and the canvas or even the wall itself and are both political and poetic.

Bruno Jakob’s artworks are like vessels that may be filled individually by each viewer. A personal visual experience is central. The artist only provides subtle hints, giving us the titles of the works and the descriptions of material and technique. However, which picture becomes visible based on these declarations remains ambiguous.

Bruno Jakob's works have been exhibited internationally since 1988, particularly in his chosen hometown of New York. Works by the artist have been shown in countless solo and group exhibitions (including performative works - often performed with the Swiss artist and musician Hans Witschi), including Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland (2022/2015), Helvetia Foyer, Basel, Switzerland (2020), Deutsches Haus, New York (2019), Kunsthaus Zofingen, Switzerland (2017), Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, Switzerland (2016), Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland (2015), Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland (2012), Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland (2011) and MoMA New York (2010). In 2014, Bruno Jakob was awarded the Ricola Collection Prize, Laufen, Switzerland. In 2011, Bruno Jakob was invited to show two installations at the 54th Venice Biennale in the Arsenale and in the main pavilion (curated by Bice Curiger). Works by the artist can be found in the collection of the Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland, the Ricola Collection, Switzerland, the collection of the Kunsthaus Lichtenstein or the Art Collection of the Swiss Confederation, to name a few.