ARTGENÈVE 2024
SOLO PRESENTATION
RALPH BÜRGIN
ARTGENÈVE
BOOTH D43
January 25-28, 2024
Preview: January 24, 2024
It is our pleasure to announce our first participation at artgenève from January 24 to 28, 2024 and we look forward to showing a solo presentation of new paintings by the Basel based artist Ralph Bürgin (*1980 Basel, Switzerland).
Ralph Bürgin’s practice investigates such wide-reaching and universal themes as the human condition and the interaction of mankind and nature.
At the core of Bürgin’s practice lies the fundamental question if the act of painting still holds relevance today. As a painter he sees himself confronted with a near impossibility of male representation and choses to reflect on art historical cues ranging from the Renaissance to Romanticism and Modernism. The paintings that arise from this examination seem oddly familiar at first sight but reveal a significant shift upon closer contemplation. The role of the male has shifted from the classic depiction of active agent in an environment to contemplative observer and enabler. Bürgin’s figures seem to have overcome any urge to exert themselves upon their environment by force and seem to drift in a neutral state in reflection through the space they inhabit. Still very present through their monolithic dome or manneristic exaggerated features, they relinquish control or urgency. Bürgin’s practice asserts itself in the tradition of painting yet his interest lies in rerouting canonical modernism rather than breaking with the past.
As Chus Martinez writes in her essay for Ralph Bürgin’s solo exhibition “The Great Escape” at Livie Gallery: “Resemblance is the way style works. It creates an air, an illusion of sameness that helps us to connect the images. Ralph Bürgin adds his images by resembling certain styles to the past. Once there, he will be able to send a different message or just to reconsider the transmission chain of symbols and values that are entangled with the masculine.”
Ralph Bürgin
Die Nachkommen, 2023
oil on canvas
67 x 48 cm
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Ralph Bürgin
Salon bleu, 2023
oil on canvas
105 x 85 cm
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Ralph Bürgin
Shelter, 2023
oil on canvas
135 x 90 cm
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Ralph Bürgin
Ex Villa, 2023
oil on canvas
250 x 200 cm
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Ralph Bürgin
Twilight, 2023
oil on canvas
50 x 35 cm
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Ralph Bürgin
Der Sprung, 2023
oil on canvas
52 x 80 cm
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Ralph Bürgin
Departure, 2023
oil on canvas
150 x 170 cm
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Ralph Bürgin (*1980 Basel, lives in Basel, Switzerland) studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Zurich and Basel, where he graduated in 2018 with a Master in Fine Arts. The painter and sculptor lives in Basel and works in his studio in France (Alsace).
Ralph Bürgin was recently awarded with the Alexander Clavel Stiftung award in Switzerland, and his works have been on view at Kunsthaus Pasquart in Biel in 2022, as well as at Kunsthalle Zurich and Kunsthaus Baselland in 2023.
Recent solo exhibitions include The Great Escape at Livie Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, 2023 (with publication), Watching a Peaceful River at Galerie Barbara Seiler, Zurich, Switzerland, 2020, La place at Centre culturel suisse, Paris, France, 2019; and Pieces and Shadows at Kunstverein Diessenhofen, Switzerland, 2017. Ralph Bürgin’s work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including 2023 at Kunsthalle Zurich and Kunsthaus Baselland, 2022 at Kunsthaus Pasquart, 2021 at Wilde Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland; 2018 at Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, Switzerland; 2016 at Ping/Pong, Basel/Miami, Los Angeles, USA; 2014 in “Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt, Werkbeiträge 2013” at Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland.
In 2019, a publication was dedicated to the artist as part of the Cahier d’Artistes series published by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, with a text by Felicity Lunn. The artist has also realized several projects in public spaces, including Gasträume 2020 in Zurich, curated by Christoph Doswald, and “I, You, You, Me, We” at Heuwaage in Basel, Switzerland in 2022, initiated by Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt in collaboration with the Department of Construction and Transport.
Photos: Moritz Schermbach
Installation views: Annik Wetter