Bernhard Jott Keller

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BJK in the studio
BJK signed in mirror writing

Bernhard Jott Keller (BJK) (* 1950 in Lindenberg im Allgäu ) is a German painter. He is also active as a photographer, author and book maker. He lives and works freelance in a small hamlet on the Lech near Steingaden in Bavaria.

Life

Keller was born in Lindenberg in the Allgäu and grew up there. From 1970 he completed a teaching degree for secondary levels 1 and 2, including at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. From 1974 a second degree followed at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich , which he graduated with a diploma in 1980.

Keller became a master student of Karl Fred Dahmen , who through his criticism and suggestions aroused Keller's interest in the basics of informal painting . He also received a scholarship for the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, a scholarship from the Prinzregent Luitpold Foundation in Munich and a grant for debutants from the Bavarian Ministry of Culture.

In 1989 the artist Franz-J. Maria Weber was looking for J. in the name of Bernhard J. Keller as part of a postal art campaign. He sends him a total of 79 letters in which he fills Kellers J. from Josef to Jesbulla from letter to letter with increasingly abstract-sounding names in order to uncover the secret. Ultimately, Weber combined all real and unreal Js under the collective term "Jott", which Keller has had in the name since 1992.

plant

Keller often works in thematic work cycles and series in which he deals with real, personal situations, places and occurrences.

In 1982, Keller discovered mirror writing as a skill that had remained completely unknown to him until then , a typical skill of retrained left-handers, which he has since used without difficulty and with precise certainty as a means of expression in many works without ever having practiced it.

References to Informel , Écriture automatique and Expressionism can be seen in his visual works . Unconventionally, he combines elements of painting, drawing, collage, frottage, photography and writing on materials that often already bring their own previous histories with them. From the GDR paper bag, the Süddeutsche Zeitung to Karl Popper's literature pages discovered in the mountain stream , numerous finds are used in Keller's work. His work as a recycler in art is, among other things, an expression of his at times pronounced commitment to environmental, landscape and monument protection. Keller's works often resemble picture puzzles that invite the viewer on a journey of their own into the imagination.

In his publications he repeatedly enters into experimental collaborations with authors, whereby his images are juxtaposed with texts that have arisen associatively or used independently. This interplay of literature and fine arts often opens up an artistic dimension of its own.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions

  • 1981 "Diary from the Enge", drawings, traveling exhibition through German living rooms, a. a. Bonn, Ulm, Munich (exhibition catalog available, K)
  • 1982 "Weg aus der Enge", Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst, Detmold
  • 1983 "Wait a minute", watercolors and drawings at Kunstverein Coburg (K)
  • 1985 "Extending on paper", painting, gallery in the Zwinger, St. Wendel
  • 1986 "TURMturbulenzen", painting on cardboard, Institute for Modern Art, Nuremberg
  • 1988 - 91 "Storms and Silence", picture diary of a year, Gutenberg Museum, Mainz; Kunstverein Eislingen / Fils, Kunstverein Siegen and others
  • 1991 “Architectures on the Track”, Städt. Gallery on the market, Annaberg-Buchholz
  • 1993 "So close, so German and yet so far", Galerie am Weißen See, East Berlin (with E. Koenig)
  • 1994-98 “I. The mountain. And you? ”, Museum of the City of Füssen (K); Art Association Schrobenhausen; New City Museum Landsberg a. Lech; Kunstraum Riss, Samedan, Engadin / Switzerland and others
  • 1995 "So German, so close and yet so far", Schwabenakademie Kloster Irsee (m. E. Koenig) (K)
  • 1996 "Two painters - two visual worlds" (German-German encounter), Jagdschloss Glienicke Berlin (with E. Koenig)
  • 1997 "Lezzeb's & Rellek's", Studio H, East Berlin (with Chris Bezzel) (K)
  • 1999 "Two painters - two visual worlds" (painting / photography), Kulturwerkstatt Haus 10, Fürstenfeld Abbey (with E. Koenig)
  • 2008 "Banned Shadows" (photography), Stadttheater Landsberg am Lech (cooperation with M. Buchenberg)
  • 2009 "Zeitensprünge (1)", gallery by Fircks-Huth Leeder (with M.Buchenberg) (K)
  • 2010 "Zeitensprünge (2)", Kartause Buxheim (with M. Buchenberg) (K)
  • 2011 "Deus deest, dum volvitur orbis" (painting / photography), Upper Bavaria district in the Benediktbeuern monastery (with M.Buchenberg)
  • 2012 “Really fleeting, Venice's poetry of shadows”, Kulturforum Blaues Haus Diessen / Ammersee
  • 2012 “Really fleeting, Venice's poetry of shadows”, Palazzo Albrizzi , Venice

Group exhibitions

  • 1980 "German Artists in Paris", Goethe-Institut, Paris (K)
  • 1981 “The first years of professionalism”, Galerie der Künstler, Munich
  • 1981/82 "Berge 81", traveling exhibition of the German Alpine Club, Munich, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Ludwigshafen, Lindau in Lake Constance (K)
  • 1984 "Informal", Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
  • 1984 - 85 "1. National of the drawing “Augsburg and others
  • 1988/89 "New Art in Landsberg / Lech", New City Museum (K)
  • 1990 "Berge 90", Kempten Alpine Museum
  • 1991 "Symbioses of Image and Text", Siegerland Museum, Siegen
  • 1995 "Letteratur - From the letters", Yellow House, Flims, Switzerland
  • 1997 - 99 1st and 2nd Biennale Holzhausen / Ammersee (K)
  • 2002 "Der Berg", pictures, objects, installations, Kunstverein Heidelberg (K)
  • 2010 Zeitzeichen - Simultaneous: Art and Dialog (a nationwide exhibition initiative of the BBK), Kunsthalle Kempten (K)
  • 2011 "ABCDE ... The alphabet from A to Z", Mewo Kunsthalle Memmingen (K)
  • 2011 “Werkblock 11”, Kunsthalle Kempten

Publications (selection)

  • Diary out of tightness. Drawings with a text by Dieter Lattmann. Dussa Verlag, 1981, ISBN 3-922950-00-0 .
  • Wait a moment. Pictures with texts by Felicitas Frischmuth. Dussa Verlag, 1984, ISBN 3-922950-09-4 , out of print
  • Letter messages without a message. (Experimental Texts, Issue No. 11). University of Siegen, 1987.
  • Storms and silence. Picture diary of a year as a leporello with a text by Franz-Josef Weber. Dussa Verlag, 1989, ISBN 3-922950-18-3 .
  • I. The mountain. And you? Pictures, picture montages and installations with texts by various authors. Verlag für Moderne Kunst Nürnberg, 1994, ISBN 3-928342-40-1 .
  • Bernhard Jott Keller. Images and texts. Schwabenakademie Kloster Irsee, 1995, ISBN 3-9804600-1-0 .
  • Lezzeb's & Rellek's. Images with texts by Chris Bezzel. Editions Phi / Studio H / Galerie13, 1997, ISBN 3-88865-149-2 .
  • uselessly silver. Mountain thriller for lazy readers. Book on demand by Dussa Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-922950-46-9 .
  • Walks through Diessen am Ammersee. Thomas Raff, with photos by Bernhard Jott Keller. Dussa Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-922950-51-5 .
  • The unloved beauty. Watercolors with a poem by R. Ausländer. Dussa Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-922950-54-7 .
  • Time leaps (1). Work documentation with pictures by Keller a. Objects by M. Buchenberg. Dussa Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-922950-55-4 .
  • Time leaps (2). Work documentation with pictures by Keller a. Objects by M. Buchenberg. Dussa Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-922950-57-8 .
  • “Really fleeting • Davvero effimero - Venice's poetry of shadows.” Photographs. Dussa Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-922950-58-5 .
  • Venice's poetry of shadows. Photo art calendar 2012. Dussa Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-922950-59-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ General artist lexicon . De Gruyter.
  2. ↑ Bookmaker with passion. In: German General Sunday Gazette. May 19, 1985.
  3. ↑ a b Bernhard Jott Keller. on the occasion of the exhibition "So near so German and yet so far". Schwabenakademie Irsee, 1995, ISBN 3-9804600-1-0 .
  4. ↑ Johanna B. Sattler: The retrained left-hander. Ludwig Auer Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-403-02645-0 , p. 231 ff.
  5. ↑ Mirror writing - the "Leonardo phenomenon". on: linkshaender-beratung.de
  6. ↑ Bischof & Co or work on the mountain. In: The mountain. Heidelberger Kunstverein, 2003, ISBN 3-933257-99-9 , p. 394f.
  7. ↑ A recycler. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine. March 18, 1997.
personal data
SURNAME Keller, Bernhard Jott
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Keller, Bernhard J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Lindenberg in the Allgäu