EXHIBITION: JULY 30 – OCTOBER 10, 2010

OPENING RECEPTION: THURSDAY, JULY 29, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Art Matters!
Conversation between artist Sergej Jensen and
AAM Director and Cheif Curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson

Thursday, July 29, 5:00 p.m.
Members-only walkthrough and conversation between Sergej Jensen and AAM Director and Chief Curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson

Thursday, August 12, 6:00 p.m.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture Gary Garrels in conversation with AAM Director and Chief Curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson about the work of Sergej Jensen

Sergej Jensen’s poetic artworks provide a fresh approach to minimalist painting. Constructed from a wide range of textiles, the artist uses additive and subtractive physical methods like bleaching, fraying, or sewing to stand in for the traditional gestures of pure painting. Through these processes, Jensen creates breathtakingly fragile and quiet abstractions that become contemplations of the history and reuse of his chosen materials, and conjure a network of visual and visceral associations from the stains, holes, cracks and other traces of use that in turn become the primary pictorial elements. His application of pigments, diamond dust, thread, wool, and bleach become part of the treatments whose effects—in some cases—can take years to fully realize. Jensen’s works are installed within the pre-existing conditions of each individual gallery space. As such, interior design elements such as rugs, couches, or other repurposed domestic objects combine to create a total and unexpected environment for the viewer.

This is Berlin-based artist Jensen’s first U.S. solo museum exhibition. It is organized in collaboration with the Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and includes over 25 paintings. It will be accompanied by a monographic catalogue co-published by both institutions, with essays by Aspen Art Museum Director and Chief Curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson and an interview with the artist by Kunst-Werke Institute Curator Susan Pfeffer.

Sergej Jensen lives and works in Berlin. His work has been exhibited in major international group exhibitions, including: Of Mice and Men, Berlin Biennial (2006), and the São Paulo Biennial (2004). Solo exhibitions include: Pinakothek Der Moderne (with Henrik Olesen), Munich (2008); Schmoll, Kunsthalle Bergen, Norway (2008); Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2008); Nomadic bags and bag faces, The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2007); Kunstverein Bremerhaven, Germany (2004); and Kunstverein Braunschweig (with Stefan Müller), Germany (2003).

Sergej Jensen’s AAM exhibition is co-organized by the Aspen Art Museum and the Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. The AAM presentation is funded in part by the AAM National Council with additional funding provided by Marcy and Leo Edelstein, and Theodor and Isabella Dalenson. General exhibition support provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Exhibition lectures are presented as part of the Questrom Lecture Series.