Jenny Brosinski‘s (b. 1984) minimalistic abstract paintings reflect an artistic language reminiscent of automatic writing, which is built up from individual stories on big canvases. The Berlin-based artist follows a reductivist approach to painting by restricting the creative gestures on canvas. Her paintings directly engage the viewer with the concept of deconstruction by demonstrating deftly uncoordinated compositions that “deliberately reveal traces of use, whereby the nature of their materiality is brought to the foreground”, as the painter highlights herself.
Words: Yannis Kostarias
- Jenny Brosinski, Smells like a Chicken, Exhibition View, 2017, Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Courtesy the artist, Photo © Danilo Donzelli
Minimal mark-making, apparent brushworks and spray-painted compositions make her artworks characterised by spontaneity in appearance, while maintaining their mindfully balanced components in an alluring visual expression. Brosinski puts a clear emphasis on the idea of deconstruction by highlighting a painting methodology expressed through a chromatic anguish that determines almost all her paintings. Showcasing a process-oriented philosophy, the idea of deconstruction offers herself a great lesson.
- Jenny Brosinski, If I holler let me go oil, spray paint on canvas, 230 × 190 cm, 2016, Courtesy the artist
The artist aims to derive benefits from the materials she uses, such as linen and cotton. She exploits their textual qualities on canvas in order to reveal deeper and more emotional reactions from the viewers. Brosinski adopts an approach to painting that envelops together both intellectual and distinctively personal rules. At first glance, her paintings introduce new forms of communication between irregular lines, childish squiggles, colours looking like stains, abstract marks or even famous cartoons. On top of that this uncomfortable visual allegory suggests a sharp-witted, effective and energetic juxtaposition on canvas elaborating the artist’s emphasis on materiality, raw arrangements and simplistic shapes. In this respect, Brosinski creates a painting and then deconstructs and reconfigures it, eventually developing new possibilities based on the first creative arrangement.
- Jenny Brosinski, From the perfect start to the finish line oil, spray paint, coal, olive oil and dirt on canvas, 90 x 70 cm, 2017, courtesy the artist
Jenny Brosinski lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She has received both her bachelor and masters degrees from the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin. Her paintings have been exhibited in many countries around the world, including Belgium, Germany, Italy and Denmark.
In her interview with ArtVerge, Jenny Brosinski shares her approach on art issues and provides some interesting answers about her daily life. Check it out!
http://jennybrosinski.com/
- We´re up all night to get lucky oil, olive oil, chlorine, oil stick, graphit, carbon paper on canvas, 162,5 x 130 cm, 2016, courtesy the artist, Photo: Danilo Donzelli
ArtVerge: Can you tell us about the process of making your work?
Jenny Brosinski: There are different kinds of possibilities to create a painting, I like the moments when I get surprised by paint – and sometimes by myself – I guess that´s really important for my working process. I love to react on something – and often I like to destroy, to lose control. My working process is characterized by stretching and unstretching the canvas and by working on the wall and on the floor. My work is process-oriented and minimalistic. Compositionally it receives my work an openness in their reduction – I love to put the colors into the great emptiness of the canvas. Each trace I put on the canvas is a painterly assertion, developed from my experience as well as from speculation at the same time. – Also, the canvas changes materiality with getting washed/dried. The canvas changes its nature. A kind of recoding of its own materiality – like a metamorphosis – but in the end it becomes a painting again.
AV: How would you define your work in few words (ideally in 3 words)?
JB: Process, decision, expression
AV: Can you name any artists you, lately or generally, take inspiration from?
JB: Albert Oehlen, Franz Kline, Sergej Jensen and Helen Frankenthaler.
- Jenny Brosinski, Donald oil, spray paint and dirt on canvas, 95 x 75 cm, 2017, courtesy the artist
AV: When was the latest video you watched on social media and had an impact on your mood? Which one?
JB: Yesterday I watched Maya the Bee with my little son – it was about an apple-worm that became a butterfly… you asked for my latest video, right?! (lol)
AV: Creating a new painting is a solitary process. If this applies to you, when you concentrate on a new artwork does it affect your social life at all?
JB: Solitary process. (lol) Well said. I work in waves. There are different parts of my working process which require different parts of me. I guess that´s one reason why I mostly paint more than six paintings at the same time. For me it´s nearly the same with social life, it also needs a special kind of attention and wants parts of me – I def need to separate it from my studio day.
AV: How do you know when a painting is finished?
JB: It stops talking to me in a way. It´s getting calm – in a good way.
- Jenny Brosinski, Smells like a Chicken, Exhibition View, 2017, Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Courtesy the artist, Photo © Danilo Donzelli
AV: What about the place where you work? What’s your studio space like, and how does it affect your process?
JB: My Studio is a nice, bright place at the 3rd floor of an old factory in Berlin-Wedding. There are many other artists on the ground floor– but also many people doing totally different things. 1rd floor for example there is a hostel, there is a mosque and an international food-supermarket…. it is a very lively mixture, which I love very much. But in my studio, I enjoy being able to escape. – do you mean INSIDE my studio? I love it bright, with daylight and I don´t like too many brushstrokes on the wall – in my studio you´ll always find a sofa or a bed. The ambivalence between inside and outside seems important to me.
AV: Which exhibition did you visit last?
JB: My last exhibitions were Dan Colen´s „Sweet Liberty“ at Newport Street Gallery and „Boom for real“ Jean-Michel Basquiat at Barbican. Both in London where I am actually based because of my cultural exchange stipend of the federal state of Berlin.
AV: What do you hope audiences will take from your work?
JB: Because I am a slow person in a way – I hope that my work will work in that way to the viewer too. It should also look good tomorrow 😉
- Jenny Brosinski, I wish nothing but the best for you oil, coal, on canvas, 205x 195, 2017, courtesy the artist
AV: What does your mum think about your art?
JB: She loves it – but she´s my mum!
AV: Are you a morning person or a night owl?
JB: A morning person – I love to paint with daylight!
AV: Is the glass half empty or half full?
JB: Half full! But that could be a prob too – depends on your perspective, and what you have to drink!
AV: Which are your plans for the near future?
JB: Becoming rich and famous!
…but if that should unfortunately take longer – I am an impatient person – I am happy to have my life as it is – with good solo and group exhibitions in nice galleries and institutions… and family, friends, artists and galleries behind me – who believe in me and promote me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/3qOlFnj_dB/?taken-by=jenny_brosinski
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZZy15_huZ5/?taken-by=annarummagallery
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