Michael Behrens

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Michael Behrens, portrait, 2012
Michael Behrens, Seaforms 268, 2018, 136 × 86 × 19 cm
Michael Behrens, Seaforms 31, 2012, 67 × 104 × 17 cm
Michael Behrens, Seaforms 298, 2019, 124 × 54 × 20 cm
Michael Behrens, Seaforms 259, 2017, 70 × 36 × 13 cm
Michael Behrens, Seaforms 54, 2012, 56 × 84 × 20 cm

Michael Behrens (* 1973 in Düsseldorf ) is a German sculptor who works with the medium of glass . He works internationally, especially in Europe and North America .

Life

Michael Behrens, grew up in Neuss , lives and works in Düsseldorf. He studied from 1999 to 2003 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht , where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 2003 .

In 2004 and 2007, Behrens was the project manager of the Ethiopian Reflections in Addis Ababa ( Ethiopia ), where he supervised various seminars. In 2008 and 2009 he was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Architecture for plastic design at the Technical University of Darmstadt (TU).

Behrens takes part in international art fairs every year, including Art Palm Beach ( Florida , USA), Form Miami (Florida, USA), SOFA Chicago ( Illinois , USA), Pan Amsterdam (Netherlands), Art Breda (Netherlands), Art Vienna (Austria), Art & Antique Hofburg (Austria) and Art Münster (Germany). His works are in public collections such as the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, the Ernsting Foundation ( Kurt Ernsting ) in Coesfeld , the Imagine Museum in Saint Petersburg , the Novotný Museum in Nový Bor , the MusVerre in Sars-Poteries and the Seven Bridges Foundation in Greenwich / Connecticut included.

plant

Michael Behrens began his artistic work in 2002. If Behrens' early sculptural work primarily deals with the internal structure of the sculptures , the later Seaforms already show an increasing abstraction of the external contours. In his Phoenix series , the artist devotes himself entirely to the abstract form of the object. The relationship between external form and content is of particular importance in Behrens' work .

Series

"Phoenix"

In Phoenix , sculpture as an artistic product plays a major role, with the material durability of the object in all its plasticity coming to the fore. By deliberately avoiding color in the classic sense and the interplay of convex and concave surfaces in black and gold , Behrens creates high-contrast works made of crystal .

"Seaforms"

In the Seaforms series , Behrens embodies the sensory experiences he has gathered over decades and experiences above and below water. The resulting works seem like products of nature , shapes and structures are the focus and define the dynamic aesthetics of the sculptural objects. The concentration on a few colors and the cell structures that result from the fusion of the glass sections used are characteristics of Behrens' Seaforms series. To a large extent, he is concerned with questions of design . The outer forms of his sculptures have something deliberately random about them, which is reinforced by the fine, relief-like, crinkled modeling of the edges and the interplay between the matt and the polished.

"Landscapes"

In addition to glass objects, Michael Behrens also creates two-dimensional works. Here, too, nature serves as a starting point: he abstracts satellite images and images from maps for his wall objects.

technology

Behrens made all of the sculptures in his Düsseldorf studio, which also houses the melting furnaces specially made for him . Each work goes through several production phases: the sculptural work on the rigid foam model, the production of the melt molds, the placement of the processed glass sections in the melt mold, the actual melting and cooling process and the final treatment by grinding , polishing and / or sandblasting . The production of a single sculpture usually takes several months.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions
  • 2019: Barbara Achilles Foundation, Hamburg, Germany
  • 2019: Continuum Gallery, Königswinter, Germany
  • 2017: Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA
  • 2017: Etienne Gallery Oisterwijk, Netherlands
  • 2015: Sikabonyi Gallery, Vienna, Austria
  • 2014: Etienne Gallery Oisterwijk, Netherlands
  • 2012: Continuum Gallery, Königswinter, Germany
  • 2010: Van Loon Gallery, Vucht, The Netherlands
  • 2008: Ernsting Foundation, Coesfeld, Germany
Group exhibitions
  • 2019: Schantz Galleries, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, USA
  • 2019: Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
  • 2018: Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
  • 2018: Fondazione Giorgio Cini , Venice, Italy
  • 2016: Ernsting Foundation, New Additions 2015, Coesfeld, Germany
  • 2016: Plateaux Gallery, London, Great Britain
  • 2015: Sandra Ainsley Gallery, Toronto, Canada
  • 2014: Novotný Museum, Nový Bor, Czech Republic
  • 2013: Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
  • 2010: Museum Kunstpalast , Düsseldorf, Germany
  • 2012: LWL - Museum, Glashütte Gernheim, Germany
  • 2010: Museum Kunstpalast , Düsseldorf, Germany

literature

  • Literature by and about Michael Behrens in the catalog of the German National Library
  • Michael Behrens, Phoenix & Seaforms. Continuum Gallery, 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820728-0-7 .
  • Helmut Ricke: Underwaterworld & Icebergs - Michael Behrens & Peter Bremers. Exhibition catalog. Ernsting Foundation, Coesfeld 2008.
  • Recent acquisitions of glass sculpture at the Glasmuseum Hentrich. Hentrich Glass Museum, 2008.
  • Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk: Michael Behrens. In: The Burlington Magazine, No. 1275, Vol. 151, June 2009, pp. 394f.
  • GLASpekte - Artists from North Rhine-Westphalia in dialogue with works from the Hentrich Glass Museum. Museum Kunst Palast Foundation, 2010.
  • E-Merge 2010 - A Showcase Of Rising Talents. In: Kiln-Glass, Bullseye Glass, 2010.
  • Rotation SiO2 - 200 years of Gernheim glassworks. LWL-Industriemuseum and Klartext Verlag, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0774-4 .
  • Helmut Ricke: Seaforms & Landscapes - Michael Behrens. Continuum Gallery, 2012, online catalog
  • Helmut Ricke: Inspiration from the Deep Sea and Outer Space. In: Neues Glas, No. 3, 2012, pp. 36–43.
  • Ferdinand Hampson: Studio Glass Evolving. In: American Art Collector, No. 109, 2014, pp. 171–174.
  • Andre Sikabonyi: Seaforms & Landscapes. In: Vernissage, 35th year / 324, 2015, pp. 14-17.
  • The Creative Process - 43rd International Catalog. Habatat Galleries, 2015, ISBN 978-1-928572-07-7 . Online catalog
  • Who would have thought that! Ernsting Foundation Alter Hof Herding, Coesfeld-Lette, 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-053374-7 .
  • Insight - 44th International Invitational Award Exhibition. Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak MI 2016, ISBN 978-1-928572-05-3 .
  • Next - 45th International Invitational Award Exhibition. Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak MI 2017, ISBN 978-1-928572-06-0 .
  • Solid thoughts. Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak MI 2017, ISBN 978-1-928572-07-7 . Online catalog

Web links

Commons : Michael Behrens  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ artprize.org
  2. ↑ michael-behrens.com
  3. ↑ burlington.org
  4. ^ Ferdinand Hampson: Studio Glass Evolving. In: American Art Collector, No. 109, 2014, pp. 173–174.
  5. ↑ Michael Behrens - Phoenix & Seaforms. Continuum Gallery, 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820728-0-7 , p. 4.
  6. ↑ Michael Behrens, Phoenix & Seaforms. Continuum Gallery, 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820728-0-7 , p. 8.
  7. ↑ Michael Behrens, Phoenix & Seaforms. Continuum Gallery, 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820728-0-7 , p. 12.
  8. ↑ Helmut Ricke: Michael Behrens. In: Neues Glas, No. 3, 2012, ISBN 978-3-9820728-0-7 , pp. 36–43.
  9. ↑ Seaforms & Landscapes - Michael Behrens. Interview with Dr. Klingenberg. Etienne Gallery, 2014.
  10. ↑ Helmut Ricke: Michael Behrens. In: Neues Glas, No. 3, 2012, pp. 36–43.
personal data
SURNAME Behrens, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf