The Hamburg-born artist JAN VOSS (born 1936) has had a formative influence on the contemporary French art scene of Paris since his move in 1960. His work reflects a fascination with the linear, the line being a thematic thread running throughout his entire oeuvre. Jan Voss’s experimentation with diverse techniques and materials engendered, as of the 1980s, an evolution from two-dimensional painting to a three-dimensional formal language. This is, of course, most notable in his reliefs, wherein he arranges wooden and paper elements into visibly tactile collages. Lines and symbols intertwine and overlap, with linearity emerging as a plastic, interlacing element with which Voss conjoins his folded, monochromatic paper reliefs.
His compositions are filled with spheres of color intermingled with interstices revealing the underlying white of the primed canvas. The colors and shapes coalesce into the figural, into cartoon-like stick figures which both sprout from and dissipate into the lines themselves. Composition and decomposition, chaos and order, rhythm and repose reveal themselves in equal measure.
Voss’s international recognition was cemented in 1968 by his participation in Documenta 4 in Kassel. This comprehensive solo exhibition is DIE GALERIE’s second presentation of the artist, and features approx. 50 pieces (including works on canvas, collages and reliefs) created over the past recent years.
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