Narratives, pictorial motifs or structures are not intended to evoke fixed boundaries in the iconography of Birgit Jürgenssen (1949 – 2003): this series of sewn canvases by Jürgenssen—shown here for the first time—proves once again her multi-layered skills and way of thinking, creating an enhancement within the limitations and delimitations.
Photography, the constant in the work of Birgit Jürgenssen, serves in the presented series as the starting point and medium for her drawings created with needle and threads. Blurred black and white photographs from the photo-archive of the artist form, so to say, the embroidery design for Jürgenssen’s outlined schemes. The silhouttes are “traced”, marked or “continued” with the threads. The blurry and vague forms are emphasized and sharpened by the color. Jürgenssen translates the idea of the drawing into sewing and she shapes via subtle structures memorable works, that approach conceptually the traditional (the commonly feminine connotated handwork technique) and the sensual. Details and forms are enclosed, determined in order for their own fragments to simultaneously dissolve. The drawing sewn onto the photograph (mounted on canvas) creates a thorough network of lines that expands the two-dimensionality of the image plane into a three-dimensional structure.
Galerie Hubert Winter shows at the beginning of the year since 2006 a selection of unseen works from the estate of the artist. Started in 1988 and completed in 2003 this series combines in an impressive manner the focuses of Birgit Jürgenssen’s extensive oeuvre, namely photography and drawing.
Birgit Jürgenssen´s current and upcoming exhibitions:
Birgit Jürgenssen. Ich bin. Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany (November 10, 2018 – February 15, 2019)
Birgit Jürgenssen. Io sono. GAMeC Bergamo, Italy (March 8 – May 19, 2019)
Birgit Jürgenssen. I am. LOUISIANA Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (June 13 – September 22, 2019)