Bruno Kurz

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Bruno Kurz (2016)

Bruno Kurz (* 1957 in Langenargen on Lake Constance ) is a German painter . He prefers to work on a reflective surface such as metal. He creates paintings full of luminosity and depth - wide fields of color with vague landscape associations. In addition to painting, his work includes large-scale room installations shaped by light.

Life

Bruno Kurz spent his childhood in Kressbronn on Lake Constance . He was born as the eldest son of locksmith Rupert Kurz (* 1933) and his wife Gertrud Kurz (1934–2007).

At the boys' secondary school in Lindau, Bruno Kurz first got ideas for oil painting in an art group, led by his math teacher. After graduating from high school as a Primus at the Technical High School in Friedrichshafen , he first began studying engineering, which was interrupted by completing his community service. He then went on a one-year voyage to Israel and Rhodes. It was there that the first collection of paintings was made and his decision to study painting became definitive. After his return, Kurz studied from 1980 to 1981 at the Free Art School in Stuttgart with Gerd Neisser , from 1981 to 1986 at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe with Per Kirkeby and Max G. Kaminski .

Bruno Kurz has been dealing with light and color in a special way since his youth. During his apprenticeship, he made extensive trips to Southern Europe and India (1983/84 and 1986/87), later to Mexico and Canada . The experience of nature, new worlds of color and light lead to numerous experiments with materials of the subsurface and the colors, and large picture cycles are created. In 1998 he traveled to Northern Europe for the first time with a project grant on the subject of “Heimat”, visiting the Outer Hebrides , the Oakland Islands, the Scottish Highlands and Bergen in Norway . Celtic symbols with their typical connection of circle and cross, the Irish-Scottish monasticism with its connections to Lake Constance and impressions of nature form the basis for a large project exhibition with extensive installations in the hometown of Kressbronn on Lake Constance. From 2000 the landscape experiences had an impact on a new series of images: for over ten years he worked on his cycle Hebrides , in which the horizontal layers of filigree color fields that were typical for him emerged for the first time; they become groundbreaking for his future painterly work. Since 2013 the artist has been traveling increasingly to Iceland and Greenland .

Bruno Kurz in the studio, 2016

Bruno Kurz lives and works in Karlsruhe . He can be seen at solo and group exhibitions in galleries in Germany , Canada and Switzerland and has one artist shows at international art fairs.

Awards

Works in collections

Lux, 2016
Polar Night, 2016

architectural art

  • 2004 Redesign of the originally baroque main hall in Palais Bretzenheim Mannheim with return to the original volume with the removal of a false ceiling that was inserted in the 1950s (client: State of Baden-Württemberg, State Property Office and Building Construction Office Mannheim)
  • 2004 Design of the front of the meeting room in the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim, (Client: State BW, Oberfinanzdirektion Stuttgart)
  • 2004 University of Freiburg, clinical center, competition participation

Room installations

Bruno Kurz had his first studio in 1986 on the premises of IWKA (Industriewerke-Karlsruhe-Augsburg) in Karlsruhe . Alongside Georg Schalla, he is one of the founders of the artist group KUNSTRAUM IWKA and campaigned for the preservation of the huge industrial halls on this site. The exhibition series Last Work Reports IWKA I and II , which he helped to organize, was one of the most important activities for the maintenance of the Hall A building (today the Center for Art and Media (ZKM)). But the artists could not prevent the demolition and sale of the site - in December 1986 the city of Karlsruhe had the entire area including gigantic room installations destroyed together with the halls. For their total work of art KUNSTRAUM IWKA, the group of artists received a project grant from the Kunstfonds Bonn in 1986, combined with a documentation exhibition in Bonn.

For a blue waterlily (female side), Marstall, Rastatt Castle, 1996

Bruno Kurz created large room installations in his first studio on the IWKA site . He wanted to give the huge industrial building an adequate counterbalance with large-scale works of art and installed oversized, geometric foil sculptures that reflected the sunlight falling through the shed roofs (installation Kunstraum IWKA , 1987): “Rain puddles that had been created by the leaky roof threw back large reflections and gave the artist further impulses for his work. In 1988 he first used water as a plastic material in space. The clarity of the installations that have emerged since then results from these early architecturally monumental spatial experiences. His installation of all colors in the baroque halls of Ettlinger Schloss was later spectacular . "

Blue salon with a view of the green salon, Ettlinger Schloss 2003

Inspired by the names “Green, Blue and Red Salon” with their corresponding tapestries, he installed colored foils on the windows of the halls and created a sequence of colored light. Despite all the freedoms that prevail in three-dimensional space - the formal, aesthetic and conceptual means of his installation work have clear analogies to painterly work.

Teaching

In addition to free painting, Bruno Kurz also took on various lectureships. From 1993 to 1997 he taught drawing at the Karlsruhe University of Education , from 2002 to 2008 for painting at the European Art Academy Trier, and from 2001 to 2007 for experimental painting at the Landesakademie Schloss Rotenfels. The art historical analysis and the practical implementation of various approaches to painting with laypeople is also important to him. Since 1984 he has been a member of the teaching team at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe .

Abstract landscape painting

North Passage, 2016

Based on the composition of a classic landscape painting, Bruno Kurz creates meticulously structured color landscapes that no longer relate to a real place, but rather reflect moods - floating between standstill and energetic dynamism. “The quiet basic mood of his works results from their unity, from the restraint in form and color as well as from the deliberately unspectacular of his picture themes: landscape and color space. Despite these subdued harmonies, Bruno Kurz's works are real bundles of energy. ”Emphasized horizontal lines and surfaces can optically extend beyond the frameless picture edge into infinity and, with vertical color gradients, form a perpetual motion machine in which the opposite directions of movement are balanced - up to the apparent Quiet.

This impression is underlined by the choice of the square as the format. The square has been applicable since Kazimir Malevich as an absolute form of abstract painting of the 20th century and continued with Bruno short way into landscape painting. It is not addressed as such in his work, but gives the imaginary horizons and changes in direction of the color gradients between sky, water and earth an almost archaic force. The square creates an unusual section of these color landscapes, while at the same time it focuses on the permanent oscillation between the states of aggregation.

Energy fields and directions of movement are kept geometrically and concentrated like a cross, the symbol of the unity of extremes, synthesis and measure. Time and space are linked in it. Most of Kurz's pictures are based on this formal element of art history as a subcutaneous structure. It is subliminally recognizable in its individual geometric components, vertical and horizontal lines, in metal hatching or in the brushstroke and reinforces the meditative aura of the painting. Square and cross double the force that arises here and how calm works but always remains in motion: both in the different incidence of light and reflections as well as in the view of the beholder. The consequent reduction and abstraction of the forms and elements creates an unfathomable, almost sacred depth.

colour

Twilight, 2016

In addition to strict formal aesthetics , Kurz also deals with the materiality of the selected materials. The painter experiments with different dyes and bodies, combining synthetic elements, pigments , inks, acrylic, water and oil paints or resins and fillers to create unusual combinations and layers of color.

Bruno Kurz in the studio, 2016

The materials are used in such a way that they repeatedly achieve new effects and amazing visual impressions. The eye of the beholder can dive deep into the color landscapes and encounter extreme contrasts, from mirror-smooth, translucent glazes to relief-like, plastic ribbons of color. Multiple levels and layers of paint shine through under the apparently two-dimensional surface, which are worked out in a long process of painting over and changing the finest structures. The transformation of the conventional canvas image into a color space floating in front of the wall is the result of years of preoccupation with the three core themes of color - material - light.

Material and light

Weather lights, 2016

For Bruno Kurz, painting does not start with the color, but with the selection of the ground, the painting surface. For him, it can be made of a wide variety of materials, such as wood, canvas, silk or paper. For a few years now, the artist has been making increasing use of sheet metal, the surface of which he processes and changes in the studio with grinding machines, among other things. In this way, light and color are later absorbed and reflected differently. The first horizontal gradients arise in the original material and influence the color scheme and color gradient from the ground up. Many work titles (such as Lichtfänger or Temple Lights ) illustrate the spiritual direction of Kurz's oeuvre: the orientation towards the phenomenon of light. The geometric lines of the application of paint or the material form the basic structure inherent in the work of every new work. Within these lines, Kurz works on the subject of light through repeatedly composed and varied color and material arrangements.

“There is no right light for my pictures,” emphasizes the painter, every incidence of light, every change of location of the viewer leads to a different situation, new shades and color surfaces emerge - his work seems to be constantly changing. The fact that it nevertheless exudes an unexpected calm is the result of the greatest formal reduction and concentration. At Kurz, light does not make any representational visible, but instead, in addition to the play of colors, refers to the possibility of internal insight and the ability to cognize. In this way the painter creates the conditions for meditation . His pictures offer vanishing points and spaces of silence: "In the hectic world, silence is the spectacular."

Web links

Commons : Bruno Kurz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Galleries (selection)

Catalogs

  • Morgenland II , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Kressbronn cultural community on Lake Constance 1992
  • Temporary art - a research , ed. v. Künstlerhaus Berlin 1993. ISBN 3-89479-036-9
  • fragments , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Wessenberg Gallery of the Museum Konstanz and Bruno Kurz 1993
  • FOURMAL FIVE ON SIX MOLD THREE , exhibition catalog for the installation with Hubert Kaltenmark, ed. v. Kunsthalle Prisma, Arbon am Bodensee, Switzerland 1994
  • for a blue waterlily , exhibition catalog for the installation in the Kunstverein Rastatt, ed. v. Art Association Rastatt 1996
  • Mannaz , exhibition catalog for the installation in the art space Artaque, ed. v. Bruno Kurz 1998
  • Bildwechsel 4 , exhibition catalog, ed. v. Municipal Gallery Karlsruhe 2000. ISBN 3-923344-48-1
  • The labyrinth or the art of walking , ed. v. Ilse. M. Seifried, article by Voré Haymonverorlg (A) 2002. ISBN 3-85218-400-2
  • Hebrides , catalog for the solo exhibition, work cycles: BeLiv 1995–1997, Tears of God 1998–2000 and Hebrides 2001/2002, ed. v. Bruno Kurz, 2003. ISBN 3-925521-94-1
  • Bruno Kurz - Indian diary, a travel diary , ed. v. Epikur Gallery, Wuppertal 2003
  • -all colors only- , exhibition catalog for the room installation in Schloss Ettlingen, ed. v. Ettlingen Museum 2003
  • Licht Passagen , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. SüdWestGalerie, Niederalfingen / Aalen 2006. ISBN 3-937295-51-8
  • Land up, Land down , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, Verlag Swiridoff 2004. ISBN 3-89929-018-6
  • 20th century painting , inventory catalog Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, ed. v. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, editor: Siegmar Holsten, Michael Imhof Verlag, p. 219, illus. P. 220. ISBN 978-3-925212-82-6 (museum edition), ISBN 978-3-86568-671-8 (book trade edition .)
  • TRANSLUCENT , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Galerie Fetzer, Sontheim Brenz 2009. ISBN 978-3-937295-98-5
  • 99.9% and more , artist group projects »in front of« the ZKM, exhibition catalog, anthology, author / editor ZKM / Peter Weibel (ed.), Pages: 28, 37, 46, 47, 49–52, 66, 67, 70. ISBN 978-3-928201-37-7
  • LICHTFÄNGER , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Galerie Wesner, Konstanz 2009. ISBN 978-3-937295-99-2
  • PERLUCEO , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Galerie Alfred Knecht, Karlsruhe 2009. ISBN 978-3-941850-00-2
  • TRANSLUCENT HORIZONS , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto 2012. ISBN 978-1-927447-02-4 , National Library of Canada
  • TRANSFIGURED - The High Bright Night of Bruno Kurz , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto 2014. ISBN 978-1-927447-14-7 , National Library of Canada
  • Encounters with afar , pictures: Bruno Kurz, sculptures: Thomas Reifferscheid, exhibition catalog, ed. v. gallery arthea, Mannheim 2016
  • Water, clouds, wind , elementary and weather phenomena in works of the Würth Collection, Kunsthalle Würth, Swiridoff Verlag 2016. ISBN 978-3-89929-338-8
  • INTEGRAL: THE AMBIENT PAINTINGS OF BRUNO KURZ , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto 2017. ISBN 978-1-927447-26-0 , National Library of Canada
  • BRUNO KURZ, Wandering The Sublime , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto 2019. ISBN 978-1-927447-35-2 , National Library of Canada

Press

  • Petra Kollros: I have a clue of something great. New travel pictures by the Karlsruhe painter Bruno Kurz in the Mock Gallery . In: Ulmer Nachrichten, September 1988
  • Gerhard Schaugg: In the field of tension between panel painting and object . In: Bodensee-Hefte 10/91
  • Christian Hanussek: Walk-in painting. Images and objects by Bruno Kurz . In: Kultur-Blätter, 13–26. February 1993
  • Anke Humpeneder: Change and transience in fragments: wood prints and a room installation by Bruno Kurz . In: Landshuter Zeitung / Feuilleton, March 13, 1995
  • Cristina Karlstam: Inom och utom ramarna Installation och Maleri. Arbeten av Bruno Kurz. In: Upsala Nya Tidning, Culture, Sweden, March 23, 1996
  • Christiane Lenhardt: Monet's "water lilies" as a symbol for the dualism principle of being . In: Badisches Tagblatt, Geistige Welt, March 16, 1996
  • HM: Marstall is being transformed into an artificial garden. Installation artist and painter Bruno Kurz turns his model into reality . In: Baden's latest news, 08/14/96
  • Christiane Lenhardt: “Water Lilies” project is growing. Room installation by Karlsruhe artist KURZ is created in the Marstall . In: Badisches Tagblatt, August 8, 1996
  • Michael Hübl: Dark attracts the viewing experience, installation by Bruno Kurz . In: Baden's latest news, June 24, 1998
  • Author unknown: On the lifting of the borders. Bruno Kurz shows the work cycles “Hebrides” and “Tears of God” in the Brötzinger Art gallery . In: Pforzheimer Zeitung, September 10, 2001
  • Susanne Marschall: Slow pictures in timeless space. The Karlsruhe gallery Alfred Knecht shows works by Bruno Kurz. In: Baden's latest news, January 18, 2003
  • Susanne Marschall: Poetic dreams, sensual colors. Installations by Bruno Kurz and Adrian Flores in Ettlinger Schloss. In: Baden's latest news, August 17, 2003
  • Michael Hübl: Where the perception starts to wobble: The painter Bruno Kurz and his installations in reflections . In: Baden's latest news, January 19, 2006
  • Wolfgang Nussbaumer: Painting that strives for silence . In: Schwäbische Post, Ostalb-Kultur, March 28, 2006
  • Author unknown: Light works by Bruno Kurz. Alfred Knecht Gallery. In: Klappe auf, January 2007
  • Ulrike Düwell: Depth and transparency. Pictures and color objects by Willis Meinhardt and Bruno Kurz in the Freiburg gallery artopoi. In: Badische Zeitung, March 4, 2008
  • Florian Weiland: Can flowers lie? A tour of the 8th Art Bodensee . In: Südkurier, August 2, 2008
  • Marita Kaischke: Calm in the square, "Translucent" opened in the Fetzer gallery . In: Heidenheimer Zeitung May 28, 2009
  • Lena Naumann: Abstract Impressionist, on painting by Bruno Kurz , cover story in Mundus, issue 3/2010, Munich 2010
  • Vita von Wedel: Every brushstroke has to be right . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Art Market, p. 53, May 8, 2011
  • Joachim Schwitzler: The composition does it. Karlsruhe artist Bruno Kurz impresses with his exhibition in the Wesner Gallery . In: Südkurier, No. 239, October 15, 2011
  • Bruno Kurz: I don't want to convey any content . In: Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, December 10, 2013
  • Stephen Dillon: Bruno Kurz Turns Stark Icelandic Landscapes into Vibrant Color Field Paintings , Artsy Editorial, Oct 9th, 2014
  • Donald Bracket: Transfiguration - The high, bright night by Bruno Kurz , text on the painting by Bruno Kurz, Vancouver 2014 (translation by Harald Smykla, London 2015)
  • Thomas Maschijew: Bruno Kurz - Text for the Mollwo Gallery - Contemporary Art, undated
  • Kirsten Ernst: Where art meets - at art Karlsruhe 2015, April 2, 2015
  • Susanne Mathes: Virtuoso playing on the light chord keyboard . In: Kornwestheimer Zeitung, April 28, 2017
  • S. Weber: Atelier visit to Bruno Kurz , Eichendorff-Gymnasium Ettlingen, October 23, 2018

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.frei-kunstschule.de/
  2. ↑ Hebrides , catalog for the solo exhibition, work cycles: BeLiv 1995-1997, Tears of God 1998-2000 and Hebrides 2001/2002, ed. v. Bruno Kurz 2003. ISBN 3-925521-94-1
  3. ↑ http://www.sparkassenstiftungen.de/stiftungen/s-bc-pro-arte/stiftungs-startseite/
  4. ↑ http://www.ka-news.de/region/karlsruhe/Ehemaliges-IWKA-Gelaende-wird-zum-Verkauf-ausgeschritten;art6066,138548
  5. ↑ http://www.kunstprojekte.de/
  6. ^ Sabine Heilig, art historian. In: Bruno Kurz. Lichtpassagen , catalog for the solo exhibition, ed. v. SüdWestGalerie, Niederalfingen / Aalen 2006. ISBN 3-937295-51-8
  7. ↑ http://www.murgtal.org/Media/Attraktionen/Akademie-im-Schloss-Rotenfels
  8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de
  9. ^ Sabine Heilig, art historian. In: Bruno Kurz. Light passages
  10. ↑ Gallerist Cyprian Brenner. In: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Qh7_GovOM Youtube: Bruno Kurz. Light & color
  11. ↑ http://www.mundus-art.com/produkt/ausgabe-32010-kopieren/
  12. ↑ http://www.rnz.de/kultur-tipps/kultur-regional_artikel,-Bruno-Kurz-Ich-will-keine-Inhalte-transportieren-_arid,18612.html
  13. ↑ https://www.artsy.net/article/editorial-bruno-kurz-turns-stark-icelandic-landscapes-into
  14. ↑ http://www.galerie-cyprian-brenner.de/?seite=110&sp_id=5124&moremenu=Arbeiten,Video,Biografie,Auslösungen,Werksbeschreibung,Ausstellungen,Sammlungen,Mitememberschaften&moresection=3
  15. ↑ http://www.mollwo.ch/Kurz/text.html
  16. ↑ http://www.european-news-agency.de/kunst_kultur_und_musik/wo_sich_kunst_trifft_auf_der_art_karlsruhe_2015-61024/
  17. ↑ http://www.kornwestheimer-zeitung.de/inhalt.kornwestheim-virtuoses-spiel-auf-der-lichtakkord-klaviatur.21ee12a5-09cf-4484-a9d5-69295affbb70.html
  18. ↑ https://www.eichendorff-gymnasium.de/single-post/2018/10/23/Atelierbesuch-bei-Bruno-Kurz
personal data
SURNAME In short, Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Langenargen