Last update – review of the finissage with artist talk

Exhibition “Matter, Energy and Space” by Michael Burges at the KWS Biotechnikum ended on 20.8.2024

Michael Burges' works behind glass radiate an energy with their colorfulness that no viewer can escape. In his selection from the series “Reverse Glass Paintings”, “Virtual Space Works” and “Self-Emerging Paintings” at the KWS Biotechnikum, the internationally renowned artist visualizes relationships in color and form in a variety of ways, whereby his abstract painting objects do not interpret anything, but rather act and interact with light and reflection, with natural forms and structures. The glass pane breaks the surface of the picture, acting as both a separation and a portal. Their interplay with the light and the pictorial structures creates a visual sound, the sound of painting.

At the end of the exhibition, Dr. Bettina Ruhrberg, Director of the Mönchehaus Museum Goslar, and the artist gave a guided tour of the works. Visitors had the opportunity to ask questions in a small group and immerse themselves in the artist's applied techniques.

Even the vernissage impressed the participants. Michael Burges' works of art integrated themselves into the rooms and became part of the working environment for KWS colleagues and also fascinated visitors to KWS. The finissage was a glamorous end to this time together with Michael Burges' reverse glass paintings.

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Reverse Glass Paintings and Virtual Space Works by Michael Burges in the rooms of the KWS Biotechnikum

Burges' reverse glass paintings have anextraordinary color presence andaesthetic precision. But they do not interpret anything. They act and interact with light and reflection,with natural forms and structures,with physical processes, with the emergence of matter.They are a painterly analysis andsimulation of phenomena and thusan exploration of our perception.The pane of glass breaks the surfaces of the picture,is both a separation and a portal.In this respect, they are more like "painting objects",which, in their interplay with the light and thestructures create a kind of "visual sound"- the sound of painting.

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Virtual Space Work No. 49 – 2006
Mixed Media/Acrylglas 176 x 146 x 14 cm
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Reverse Glass Painting No. 07 – 2023
Acryl/Plexiglas/Aluminium 150 x 120 x 5 cm
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Reverse Glass Painting No. 20 – 2020
Acryl/Plexiglas/Aluminium 130 x 100 x 5 cm
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Self-Emergent Painting/ Reverse Glass No. 33 – 2022
Acryl/23,75 ct.Gold/ Plexiglas/Aluminium 130 x 100 x 5 cm

The motifs are all abstract in the traditional sense, i.e. they do not imitate any representational reality. The featureless colors and shapes are interwoven in a complex web of interactions, they are sometimes calm, some- times lively, and one might think that this alone would be the content of the picture. But far from it. The reverse glass paintings, or rather pictorial objects – because if you look closely, you will notice that they are all mounted on aluminum frames five centimeters thick and thus jut out from the wall – always refer to an extra-pictorial reality.

The artist – Michael Burges

Michael Burges was born in Düsseldorf in 1952 – was none other than the search for „what holds the world together at its core“, as Goethe‘s „Faust“ so beautifully puts it. Before learning the craft of painting as an assistant to the Bonn- based painter Douglas Swan, Michael Burges first studied sociology, ethnology and, above all, comparative religious studies. He was particularly interested in the connection between the religions of non-literate peoples and the emergence of science. Early forms of religious thought and scientific thought have long been known to be closely connected. With dances, sand and rock drawings, people tried to appease the gods in order to quell the forces of nature.