CHANDLER: Galleries sharing the wealth

Three institutions take part in show of Burgert's works

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 13, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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In the spirit of collaboration, three area art institutions are exhibiting paintings by one artist this fall, a move designed to pool resources and show different aspects of his work.

The artist is Berlin-based Jonas Burgert, whose visit began as a commitment to give a talk as part of the Denver Art Museum's Logan Lecture Series.

But then the wheels began to turn, and through the good offices of several people involved in the contemporary art scene here (from DAM curator Gwen Chanzit to collectors Kent and Vicki Logan), Burgert now is taking part in a residency at the University of Denver and has a show at DU's Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, with paintings on view at MCA/Denver and the DAM. Oh, and there's a catalog that incorporates these endeavors.

The act of being collegial is a virtue, but what counts here is the work, and Burgert's must be lauded for its inventiveness, its luminosity, its attention to art historical references and its strong emphasis on telling a story, in scenes that are evocative and elusive at the same time.

So it makes sense that the work at DU would convene under the title "Enigmatic Narrative." To install these six large paintings (and a small self-portrait in pencil), gallery director Dan Jacobs has tightened up the space, bringing coherence to the exhibition and allowing a curtained-off space to one side to serve as Burgert's studio.

Each painting is marked by Burgert's smart sense of color, especially his use of almost Day-Glo or toxic greens and oranges as markers in scenes that call up the dark areas of the psyche and the dangerous aspects of the street. They manage to be bleak yet humane all at once. That includes the 2006 Bergung II (Rescue II), with its revelatory content and compositional references to a wealth of religious and history paintings, as well as the ritualistic parade of souls in the imposing 2007 Staub, Stolz und Nichts (Dust, Pride and Nothingness). A beggar watches, a zebra kneels down, as a ragtag bunch follows a child marked in the green of renewal.

Meanwhile, Christoph Heinrich, the Denver Art Museum's Polly and Mark Addison curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, included a work newly acquired from Burgert in "Focus: The Figure," a full reinstallation of both contemporary floors in the Hamilton Building.

The 2007 Tempel (Temple) is another portrait of an urban landscape, in this case a tableau that centers on an overflowing, tagged dumpster. A figure standing in the garbage seems to be more than an overseer, instead a godlike creature who watches as a miniature clown, a grayed-out spirit and a man wearing a bird's head (and carrying a fish) appears to be foraging on the ground.

Perhaps the most impressive of the three installations - and certainly the grandest - is the current home for the monumental Zwieter Tag Nichts (Second Day Nothing).

Set in a light-filled corridor of MCA/Denver steps from the Damien Hirst exhibition, Zwieter Tag Nichts calls up a mining operation in hell, in which a green liquid is being harvested by an army of humans and imps. Part Hieronymus Bosch, part Escape From New York, it is a masterpiece of figuration, suggestion and pain.

The conjunction of the netherworld (imaginary and real) and a skill for mediating complexities and contradictions demonstrate Burgert's masterful approach to painting. At first I thought three separate viewing opportunities might be a bit much. Actually, though, it's not enough.

Mary Chandler is the art and architecture critic. chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2677

Jonas Burgert

* What: Work by the German artist

* Victoria H. Myhren Gallery: "Jonas Burgert: Enigmatic Narrative," solo show through Nov. 23; University of Denver, 2121 E. Asbury Ave.; 303-871-3716, du.edu/art/myhrengallery.htm

* MCA/Denver: The painting Zwieter Tag Nichts (Second Day Nothing), through March 1, 1485 Delgany St.; 303-298-7554, mcartdenver.org

* Denver Art Museum: The painting Tempel (Temple) is part of "Focus: The Figure," through mid-2010; Hamilton Building, Modern and Contemporary Galleries, 100 W. 14th Ave.; 720-865-5000, denverartmuseum.org

* Of note: Jonas Burgert speaks at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Denver Art Museum's Lewis Sharp Auditorium as part of the Logan Lecture Series. Fees apply.

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