JAN MUCHE + FRITZ BORNSTÜCK STÜCKE AUF PAPIER

Fritz Bornstück and Jan Muche live in Berlin as painters, draftsmen, and sculptors. Both studied at the University of the Arts, and they have maintained a friendship as artists for many years. Brought together by Alexander Ochs, they are being exhibited together for the first time, and more than that: for the paper positions, they created collaborative paper works. The background of this collaboration was the principle of the fair organizer to show only one image per exhibitor in the catalog, a principle that represented a 'no-go' for Bornstück and Muche.

Thus, works emerged that act as a complete synthesis of two entirely opposing visual languages:

Jan Muche engages with suprematist structures and architectural all-over compositions, while Bornstück likes to populate the universal composting ground of his 'Wastelands' with songbirds, giving it a narrative twist. The appropriation of each other's elements occurs playfully and lightheartedly: Bornstück's vines and birds overgrow Muche's architectures, creating entirely new associative spaces together. Muche's geometric elements not only form a solid foundation for the pictorial space but also almost mystically detach from Bornstück's narratives, leading a wonderfully cryptic life of their own, such as the notorious 'Party Diamond.'

In addition, ALEXANDER OCHS PRIVATE also presents solo positions of both artists.

Bornstück's pieces open a view into largely inaccessible, fallow terrain. They are compositions of overgrown remnants of a consumption- and celebration-driven throwaway society. The scattered and piled everyday objects could be seen as representatives of human presence and simultaneously as a (art) historical reference system. Freed from their original functions, the cubic forms of the bulky refrigerators and architectural structures lead the eye on winding paths into the pictorial space. In the depth of the images, dim blue and green tones give the works a weighty and melancholic stillness, while in the foreground, an overflowing entanglement of floral-ornamental and constructivist elements invites one to lose oneself in the image. The seemingly reclaimed landfills of pop culture now become new habitats for native and exotic songbird species, insects, and other creatures. In English, 'Brache' translates to 'Wasteland,' evoking entirely different associations.

Although his images appear very painterly at first glance, they are actually collages. Paper scraps soaked in pigment, threads, and glue play just as significant a role in the composition as more classical painterly gestures like brushstrokes and color gradients.

In his canvas paintings, Jan Muche also embraces the methodology of collage, which can be sensed in the background of his paper works. Strongly colored motifs reminiscent of the dawn of modernity, constructivism, and suprematism convey a sense of lightness 'in the now' through the translucent, watercolored application of color. In contrast to Bornstück, Muche does not intend to tell a story in his images. "An image," says the artist, "stands on its own; that's why it's an image."

Muche also sees himself as a 'recycler of the waste of modernity,' and it is here that the intended, also thematic connection with the 'pieces' of Fritz Bornstück comes into play.