THROUGH THE HYBRID CANVAS WITH JOHANNES BRUS

MEET THE ARTIST

Johannes Brus’ unique technique and style open a portal into fantastic worlds of meaning where the familiar is alienated and the alien becomes familiar.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHANNES BRUS TEXT BY IŞIL AYDEMİR

Born in Germany in 1942, Johannes Brus is a veteran artist who used photography and sculpture as a metaphor for Germany’s post-WWII transformation. He fictionalised a dark period, which crippled his country and the rest of the continent, with fantastical elements from his imagination. This was also a way for him to re-live that period repeatedly, through the production process. Graduating from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), together with the likes of contemporaries, Anna and Bernhard Blume, Sigmar Polke and Gerard Richter, Brus represents a generation of tutors that adopted a revolutionary approach to the academy. Exuding black humour and irony, Brus is known for making the audience re-think the history of modernity and the human condition, through a combination of archaic myths and diverse, hybridised representations of nature and culture.

Indigenous cultural elements from remote locations Brus visited, throughout his life, also find a place in his art. Some significant non-European iconographies identified with his style include animal figures, such as horses, ibis, elephants, rhinoceros, etc. The figures can be considered attempts at depicting these remote ethnic identities and cultures, which circulate intercultural networks, through the artist’s references to archaic myths and ancient belief systems. For example, Brus’s deer and humans with antlers remind us of shamanic legends. The striking visual codes in such works become representations of cultural phenomena and reinforce our understanding of the historical roots of these creatures. Symbolic representations amplify our perception and understanding of animals. The diversification and concentration of cultures spawns new social structures. Besides interaction between societies, animals play a leading role in demonstrating the imbalances in the power struggle between humans and nature. Brus reminds us of animal depictions in art history and encourages us to think collectively about the human past and present. In other words, Brus’s animal world seeks to reveal the diverse characteristics of the human condition, together with the cultural currents unique to our day.

THROUGH THE HYBRID CANVAS WITH JOHANNES BRUS

MEET THE ARTIST

Johannes Brus’ unique technique and style open a portal into fantastic worlds of meaning where the familiar is alienated and the alien becomes familiar.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHANNES BRUS TEXT BY IŞIL AYDEMİR

Born in Germany in 1942, Johannes Brus is a veteran artist who used photography and sculpture as a metaphor for Germany’s post-WWII transformation. He fictionalised a dark period, which crippled his country and the rest of the continent, with fantastical elements from his imagination. This was also a way for him to re-live that period repeatedly, through the production process. Graduating from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), together with the likes of contemporaries, Anna and Bernhard Blume, Sigmar Polke and Gerard Richter, Brus represents a generation of tutors that adopted a revolutionary approach to the academy. Exuding black humour and irony, Brus is known for making the audience re-think the history of modernity and the human condition, through a combination of archaic myths and diverse, hybridised representations of nature and culture.

Indigenous cultural elements from remote locations Brus visited, throughout his life, also find a place in his art. Some significant non-European iconographies identified with his style include animal figures, such as horses, ibis, elephants, rhinoceros, etc. The figures can be considered attempts at depicting these remote ethnic identities and cultures, which circulate intercultural networks, through the artist’s references to archaic myths and ancient belief systems. For example, Brus’s deer and humans with antlers remind us of shamanic legends. The striking visual codes in such works become representations of cultural phenomena and reinforce our understanding of the historical roots of these creatures. Symbolic representations amplify our perception and understanding of animals. The diversification and concentration of cultures spawns new social structures. Besides interaction between societies, animals play a leading role in demonstrating the imbalances in the power struggle between humans and nature. Brus reminds us of animal depictions in art history and encourages us to think collectively about the human past and present. In other words, Brus’s animal world seeks to reveal the diverse characteristics of the human condition, together with the cultural currents unique to our day.

THROUGH THE HYBRID CANVAS WITH JOHANNES BRUS

MEET THE ARTIST

Johannes Brus’ unique technique and style open a portal into fantastic worlds of meaning where the familiar is alienated and the alien becomes familiar.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHANNES BRUS TEXT BY IŞIL AYDEMİR

Born in Germany in 1942, Johannes Brus is a veteran artist who used photography and sculpture as a metaphor for Germany’s post-WWII transformation. He fictionalised a dark period, which crippled his country and the rest of the continent, with fantastical elements from his imagination. This was also a way for him to re-live that period repeatedly, through the production process. Graduating from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), together with the likes of contemporaries, Anna and Bernhard Blume, Sigmar Polke and Gerard Richter, Brus represents a generation of tutors that adopted a revolutionary approach to the academy. Exuding black humour and irony, Brus is known for making the audience re-think the history of modernity and the human condition, through a combination of archaic myths and diverse, hybridised representations of nature and culture.

Indigenous cultural elements from remote locations Brus visited, throughout his life, also find a place in his art. Some significant non-European iconographies identified with his style include animal figures, such as horses, ibis, elephants, rhinoceros, etc. The figures can be considered attempts at depicting these remote ethnic identities and cultures, which circulate intercultural networks, through the artist’s references to archaic myths and ancient belief systems. For example, Brus’s deer and humans with antlers remind us of shamanic legends. The striking visual codes in such works become representations of cultural phenomena and reinforce our understanding of the historical roots of these creatures. Symbolic representations amplify our perception and understanding of animals. The diversification and concentration of cultures spawns new social structures. Besides interaction between societies, animals play a leading role in demonstrating the imbalances in the power struggle between humans and nature. Brus reminds us of animal depictions in art history and encourages us to think collectively about the human past and present. In other words, Brus’s animal world seeks to reveal the diverse characteristics of the human condition, together with the cultural currents unique to our day.

POSITOPIA

17

OUT NOW

is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.

Address

Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey

+90 212 232 4288

contact@212magazine.com

POSITOPIA

17

OUT NOW

is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.

Address

Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey

+90 212 232 4288

contact@212magazine.com

POSITOPIA

17

OUT NOW

is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.

Address

Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey

+90 212 232 4288

contact@212magazine.com