Jonathan Bragdon
17 - 20 Sep 2015
© Jonathan Bragdon
"Consciousness Portrait #90"
from the series "Consciousness Portraits", begun Nov. 6, 2012
Graphite on paper
29,7 x 21 cm / 11 2/3 x 8 1/4 in.
"Consciousness Portrait #90"
from the series "Consciousness Portraits", begun Nov. 6, 2012
Graphite on paper
29,7 x 21 cm / 11 2/3 x 8 1/4 in.
JONATHAN BRAGDON
abc 2015 - "Consciousness Portraits"
17 - 20 September 2015
Contemplative observation, as practiced by Jonathan Bragdon, is hard work, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and also physically, and from it emerge drawings that will bring the interplay of these dimensions immediately into view.
Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, 2014
Berlin – Aurel Scheibler will contribute a solo presentation of a series of drawings, entitled “Consciousness Portraits” by the American born, Amsterdam-based artist Jonathan Bragdon, to this year’s abc.
Bragdon ́s “Consciousness Portraits” are small-scale works (each 29,5 x 21,8 cm) developed by repeated loops of self-interrogation. They evoke the sensation of being at once the perceiver and the perceived, thus moving from reflection to consciousness itself. This solo presentation includes over 100 pieces, and the series is an ongoing exploration, which continues to develop and expand.
On his frequent travels through Europe, and to Switzerland in particular, Bragdon casts the landscapes he encounters as interrogators of his inner life. The resulting dialogues find their way into his graphite on paper drawings. In 2013 Aurel Scheibler opened a solo exhibition of Bragdon‘s drawings entitled “Landscape”, which first presented work from the „Consciousness Portraits“ series. It marked the beginning of an artistic journey in which the observation and experience of the Dutch dunes and the Swiss mountains, two locations which have become veritable habitats to the artist, were combined on paper with spiritual and emotional contemplation and inquiry.
This year‘s abc will provide the opportunity to examine the contemplations of the artist, compiled over two and a half years, and to explore the arc of his artistic interaction with landscapes, in their topographic and metaphysical realms. As Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer describes: “Bragdon brings contemplating and drawing into harmony with each other by graphically recording contemplating and contemplating graphic recording”.
Jonathan Bragdon (b. 1944, USA) studied Philosophy of Art and Studio Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. Since 1979, he has lived and worked in the Netherlands and spends most of his summers in Bex, Switzerland, in close proximity to the Dents du Midi mountain range. His work is represented in numerous collections including that of the Stedelijk Museum, the Dutch PTT, the Teylers Museum, and the Klüser Sammlung in Munich. It was included in the artist Nora Schattauer‘s recent gift to the Kunstmuseum Bonn. Aurel Scheibler published the exhibition catalogue “Jonathan Bragdon – Tekeningen” on the occasion of the solo exhibition “Landscape” in 2013. A selection of “Consciousness Portraits” were on view at the 2013 Werkleitz Festival, Halle and will be shown in the exhibition “Augen weit zu” at the Kunsttempel, Kassel (with Eli Content and Friedrich Block, curated by Friedrich Block) from 3 - 27 September. From December 2015 Bragdon‘s work will be presented in the year-long group exhibition “Die Kräfte hinter den Formen” which will travel from Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, to Kunstmuseum Krefeld, and Kunstmuseum Thun. His oeuvre is the subject of a comprehensive solo show at the Kunstmuseum Appenzell in 2016.
abc 2015 - "Consciousness Portraits"
17 - 20 September 2015
Contemplative observation, as practiced by Jonathan Bragdon, is hard work, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and also physically, and from it emerge drawings that will bring the interplay of these dimensions immediately into view.
Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, 2014
Berlin – Aurel Scheibler will contribute a solo presentation of a series of drawings, entitled “Consciousness Portraits” by the American born, Amsterdam-based artist Jonathan Bragdon, to this year’s abc.
Bragdon ́s “Consciousness Portraits” are small-scale works (each 29,5 x 21,8 cm) developed by repeated loops of self-interrogation. They evoke the sensation of being at once the perceiver and the perceived, thus moving from reflection to consciousness itself. This solo presentation includes over 100 pieces, and the series is an ongoing exploration, which continues to develop and expand.
On his frequent travels through Europe, and to Switzerland in particular, Bragdon casts the landscapes he encounters as interrogators of his inner life. The resulting dialogues find their way into his graphite on paper drawings. In 2013 Aurel Scheibler opened a solo exhibition of Bragdon‘s drawings entitled “Landscape”, which first presented work from the „Consciousness Portraits“ series. It marked the beginning of an artistic journey in which the observation and experience of the Dutch dunes and the Swiss mountains, two locations which have become veritable habitats to the artist, were combined on paper with spiritual and emotional contemplation and inquiry.
This year‘s abc will provide the opportunity to examine the contemplations of the artist, compiled over two and a half years, and to explore the arc of his artistic interaction with landscapes, in their topographic and metaphysical realms. As Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer describes: “Bragdon brings contemplating and drawing into harmony with each other by graphically recording contemplating and contemplating graphic recording”.
Jonathan Bragdon (b. 1944, USA) studied Philosophy of Art and Studio Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. Since 1979, he has lived and worked in the Netherlands and spends most of his summers in Bex, Switzerland, in close proximity to the Dents du Midi mountain range. His work is represented in numerous collections including that of the Stedelijk Museum, the Dutch PTT, the Teylers Museum, and the Klüser Sammlung in Munich. It was included in the artist Nora Schattauer‘s recent gift to the Kunstmuseum Bonn. Aurel Scheibler published the exhibition catalogue “Jonathan Bragdon – Tekeningen” on the occasion of the solo exhibition “Landscape” in 2013. A selection of “Consciousness Portraits” were on view at the 2013 Werkleitz Festival, Halle and will be shown in the exhibition “Augen weit zu” at the Kunsttempel, Kassel (with Eli Content and Friedrich Block, curated by Friedrich Block) from 3 - 27 September. From December 2015 Bragdon‘s work will be presented in the year-long group exhibition “Die Kräfte hinter den Formen” which will travel from Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, to Kunstmuseum Krefeld, and Kunstmuseum Thun. His oeuvre is the subject of a comprehensive solo show at the Kunstmuseum Appenzell in 2016.