Jürgen Partenheimer

The poetically abstract oeuvre of the German artist Jürgen Partenheimer (*1947 in Munich, DE) stands in the great tradition of modernism, from which he consistently develops his work. In various forms of artistic expression – painting, sculpture, works on paper, artists books and text - he combines minimalist formal vocabulary with lyrical content. His work is characterized by an extraordinary relationship of line and form that invite to free association and trust the world of imagination. While avoiding the narrative, Partenheimer explores in his art a mental, geographical, historical and political space for a new correlation beyond sensual perception. Thus, Partenheimer could be described as a cartographer of imaginary worlds: he creates a universe in which the work of art becomes legible as a sign and event within a metaphysical, spiritual reality. For Partenheimer, abstract art is not self-referential, but opens up the possibility of transforming the movement of thought into a visible form. This unique approach was defined by the artist as "metaphysical realism".

Jürgen Partenheimer was represented internationally as early as the 1980s with participations at the Biennales of Paris (1980), São Paulo (1981) and Venice (1986). Solo exhibitions of the artist's work have been held by the National Gallery Berlin (1988), the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (1997), the National Museum of Fine Art, Beijing (2001), the CGAC in Santiago de Compostela (1999 and 2004), the S.M.A.K. in Gent (2002), the Pinacoteca do Estado in São Paulo (2004), the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham and the Kunstmuseum Bonn (both 2008), and most recently at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Gemeente Museum Den Haag, The Falckenberg Collection-Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (all 2014) and the Musée Ariana, Geneva (2016). Jürgen Partenheimer has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, the University of California, Davis, the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the Royal College of Art, Edinburgh, the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Until 2011 he held a guest professorship for painting at the Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel.


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