Bruno Jakob: Again and Again and Again

Galerie Peter Kilchmann

Rämistrasse, Zurich

Bruno Jakob

Again and Again and Again

April 26 – June 1, 2024

Opening: Thursday,  April  25, 6-8pm

Rämistrasse 33, Zurich

Galerie Peter Kilchmann is pleased to announce the solo exhibition Again and Again and Again / Pump the Cyber Space by Bruno Jakob (born 1954 in Switzerland, lives and works in New York) at the gallery in the Rämistrasse 33. This is the artist's sixth solo presentation at the gallery; the very first has taken place 30 years ago in 1994 as part of the exhibition ''The Third Hand'', showing three positions. Jakob has remained committed to his artistic approach which he has followed over forty years, He has remained consistently true to his unmistakable artistic approach for over forty years, establishing himself as one of the most important Swiss artists today. 

The artist would have preferred if there wasn’t a press release for this exhibition at all. Instead it is crucial for him to let his oeuvre speak for itself, to tell the viewers as little as possible about his art in advance - in this way the content can be inscribed into the works by those experiencing them through a performative gesture (or even be created in the first place). For example, our press release for the exhibition ''Bruno Jakob: My Paintings'' from 2006, had a gap between the title and the text, according to the artist's wishes.

Again and Again and Again / Pump the Cyber Space shows new works on paper, painted with water, energy and brain waves as well as new paintings and a 24-hour performance. Since the late 1970s, Bruno Jakob has been exploring the idea of the invisible, the unfinished, the provisional, the precarious and the ephemeral - all aspects that are still part of his painting today. The use of unusual, even immaterial painting media or media that fade again after the brush has been applied, such as various types of water, steam, energy, brainwaves, love, pain, emotions and sound, are characteristic for the artist: colour and colour pigments, for example, are nowhere to be found in his ongoing series of self-proclaimed Invisible Paintings. This results in viewers looking at seemingly empty, naked, untreated or apparently unfinished painting surfaces.

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. Daily movements, such as the everyday movement through landscapes and cityscapes, have recently gained importance in the creation of his works. The titles of the works play a central role and lend them a narrative level. Although Jakob paints figurative or abstract motifs with brushes, these are often transparent to the human eye - after the act of painting, which is often carried out as a performance - and therefore become invisible, blur or fade over time. At the centre of his work are the sensations of each individual and not a definite understanding of his works: hence the need for a blank, unwritten sheet of paper instead of an exhibition text.

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.

For further information please contact Fabio Pink (fabio@peterkilchmann.com)