See you next tuesday is a new gallery in Basel (Switzerland), located next to Messe Basel, the home of Art Basel. The second exhibition at the gallery is a solo show of Helen von Burg. On view are her latest works, as well as pieces from her most recent artistic practice. In addition to paintings, textiles, and weavings, the exhibition features an in-situ installation, a new work that Helen von Burg conceived especially for the space. The exhibition runs until March 2, 2024.
Helen von Burg (*1959, Fribourg) lives and works in Basel. She trained at the Basel School of Design (1978-1980) and studied painting at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan (1985-1989). She also trained as a theatre painter at Stadttheater Basel (1981-1985). While studying in Milan, she was awarded the art prize of the R. & M. Bleyler Foundation, Basel. Apart from multiple solo and group exhibitions, she has been awarded many public art projects. Von Burg is collected by and represented in numerous private and public art collections.
Helen von Burg: Das Eine im Anderen – The One in the Other / See You Next Tuesday, Basel (Switzerland). Vernissage, January 8, 2024.
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Press text (excerpt):
see you next tuesday is delighted to present its first solo show of Helen von Burg. On view are her latest works, as well as pieces from her most recent artistic practice. In addition to paintings, textiles, and weavings with various material properties and colors, the artist is also interested in architectural challenges, which she translates into an in-situ installation. On view in DAS EINE IM ANDERN / THE ONE IN THE OTHER is a new work that the artist conceived especially for the space.
Installative harmony is von Burg’s ultimate goal. She works with the mood created by the reverberations of colors in the room and aims to promote a relationship between the pictorial object and its surroundings—without losing sight of the object. In her artistic practice, color and rhythm are the main protagonists, where hue, material, technique, and size vary. Just as different as the dimensions of the colored areas are the contrasts between unlikely color combinations. Depending on the changing perspective of the viewer in the space, pictorial elements begin to vibrate, thus creating plasticity and evoking mental afterimages.
“Stripes of color intertwine and interweave with other color stripes, moving ever closer to the textile without being textile art. Helen von Burg’s pictures seek fixed orders through basic geometric schemes. Or rather, these compositions seek their own order, their own special rhythm, their own rules—subtly and often illusionistically interweaving the orders of painting and fabric, materiality and patterns, and color matter and color tone. Always conceptually structured, process-oriented, and reflected in the technical awareness of artistic creation, in the knowledge of the textile effect, into which a sensual, intuitive color component is always generated. Yes, Helen von Burg’s ‘interweavings’ play somewhere between tactile materiality on the one hand and a visually refined regularity on the other hand, with a freedom of regularity that offers varying perspectives when viewed from different angles.” (Eva Buhrfeind, in: Solothurner Zeitung, 19.3.21)
Helen von Burg’s way of working could not be put into words more beautifully and precisely. Without repeating herself, quoting, or copying her own work, the artist has remained true to her approach and her artistic practice over many years. With a love for experimentation, curiosity, and a passion for the diversity of textile materials, she constantly develops new approaches and creates works that seek new, unmistakable forms in shape, structure, and effect.
“Pictures are manifested and condensed perceptions of reality. I do not create a world of forms and illusions, but of forces. It is about an inexplicable reality, a dynamic force, a great silence, a timeless stream of movement that makes itself known when you turn inward. Each picture develops its own rules. Overlapping rhythms and color tones lead to ambiguous situations. The conscious experience of simultaneity, relativity, and contradictions challenges and attracts me. Art fascinates when it is filled with power and intuition.” (Helen von Burg, 2023)
Helen von Burg (*1959, Fribourg) lives and works in Basel. She trained at the Basel School of Design (1978-1980) and studied painting at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan (1985-1989). She also trained as a theatre painter at Stadttheater Basel (1981-1985). While studying in Milan, she was awarded the art prize of the R. & M. Bleyler Foundation, Basel. Apart from multiple solo and group exhibitions, she has been awarded many public art projects. Von Burg is collected by and represented in numerous private and public art collections.
About the gallery:
see you next tuesday aims to broaden the visibility of art that challenges outdated narratives, structures and hierarchies. The program is based on a collaborative curatorial approach and an ambition to building an inclusive art environment and market. Represented are international artists from different generations, cultural backgrounds, and approaches to media who share the engagement with social, political and cultural realities and respond to societal challenges with aesthetic consciousness.
The gallery provides a platform for investigation and introspection, linking positions of the past to work by contemporary artists. This comprehensive approach underscores connections and affinities between artistic practices and hopes to transcend generational boundaries. The focus is placed on feminist and intersectional positions.
