Jan Albers is among the artists for whom painting is actually no longer acute. And yet, he continues engaging in painting, and resorts to creating spatial works with the aid of metal, wood, polystyrene or ceramic pieces before overpainting these. Overall, his oeuvre is a „permanent construction site alternating between destruction and repair“ (Stephan Berg). Something only seems to be really useful for the artist when it is broken, compressed, perforated or at least partially devalued. Despite the invested energies – cut-up methods of perforation, dissection and fragmentation – the urge for clarity and precision always remains visible. „Contemplative compression and boisterous aggressiveness are inextricably intertwined with one another in his works“ (Belinda Grace Gardner). His space-consuming, abstract reliefs are sometimes reminiscent of photographs of distant planets or mountain massifs, and at other times of urban architectures or the formal reduction of American Minimal art. Jan Alber´s work is considered one of the central positions of abstract contemporary art. It provides an exciting response to the question concerning the future orientation of sculptural creation between abstract painting, mural and spatial object.

Exhibition Catalogue: Jan Albers – haLLuZinOgen for haLLuZinOgen, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, extract from the foreword by Dr. Viola Weigel.