Sebastian Burger’s practice walks a fine line between representative and abstract painting. The starting point for his work consists of stylized imagery, often composed in a manner akin to collage, alternating precisely executed illusionism with two-dimensional representation. His work bears the influence of the legacy of surrealism and magic realism, as well as the metaphysical painting of Giorgio de Chirico, who has become a center of interest for a strong current of the emerging generation of young artists.”In my practice, I explore themes like the integrity of the human body, it’s physicalness and the construction of identity through materiality, textures, and surfaces. Furthermore, there are references and hints towards high and low brow art, art history, fashion as well as sexuality and violence. I am trying to create works that look back at their observers, draw them in with delicate textures and gradients but at some point may almost repulse them through the harshness of shapes, forms, and colors. I see my paintings as sediments of meaning derived from a multitude of references which may not seem logical at first but start to make sense through an intuitive approach. I think this ambivalence is what can keep a work of art interesting over a long period of time. Aluminum panels as the main support for my oil painting give the work a very clean almost industrial look-and-feel which augments the aforementioned themes
Sebastien Burger is the recipient of the 2012 – 2013 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin. His work has been featured in solo shows including 2018 ‘Sugar on my Tongue’, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig, DE; 2017 ‘A Song from under the Floorboards’, Grand Tour Studio, Milano, IT (Cat.) Solo presentation at DAMA, Turin, IT (with Galerie Tobias Naehring); 2016 ‘Through a Glass, Clearly’, with Stefan Guggisberg, G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig, DE (Cat.) ‘Birth of Serpents’.
Recent group shows include: 2018 ‘Innenleben’, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig, DE ; ‘Works on Paper’, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig, DE; 2017; New Bretagne, Essen, DE; ‘Mount Analogue’, Platform, Stockholm, SE ‘Collection No 7’; INTERIOR and the collectors, Lyon, FR; ‘Group show’, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig, DE; ‘Neuzugänge zeitgenössischer Kunst im Kunstfonds’, Vertretung des Freistaat Sachsen beim Bund, Berlin, DE 2016 ‘NAK Benefiz Auktion’, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, DE ‘The Talking Lamp’, Kennington Residency, London, UK ‘States of Flux: The Token’, Swimmingpool projects, Frankfurt am Main, DE ‘Drive’, Tomorrow Gallery, New York, US ‘La domaine enchanté’, Galleria Acappella / Museo Apparente, Naples, IT 2015 ‘Wahrheiten – SØR Rusche Sammlung’, Museum Abtei Liesborn, W.-Liesborn, DE ‘Die phantastische Linie’, Kunstverein Talstrasse, Halle/Saale, DE ‘Werkschau 2015’, WERKSCHAU, Alte Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, DE.
Sebastian Burger’s residency is made possible through the ongoing studio partnership with Residency Unlimited with support from Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum fuer Moderne Kunst – Frankfurt / Oder. Image: Sebastian Burger, Tom, 2017, Oil on Aluminium, 80 × 60 cm