Andreas Jaeggi “Blue Period” at Gallery Spruetzhuesli in February 2003
Steffan Biffiger
Exactly one hundred
years after Picasso, a painter comes along and entitles his exhibition with a
wink “Période Bleue”, instead of calling it simply “Blue
Paintings” or “Paintings In Blue”. Obviously, it is important
to Andreas Jaeggi to call this newest working phase a “period”, the
expression meaning a limitation in time. It’s quite possible that in 40
years’ time some one will write similar phrases about Andreas Jaeggi as
Gertrude Stein did in 1938 when she commented on Picasso: “During this period
between 1901 and 1904, he painted the blue pictures. Harshness and reality made
him create these paintings on which everything he produced later was based.”
The idea of painting mainly in blue came almost by itself to Andreas Jaeggi:
one of his city impressions – a street scene from Dublin, Ireland – done not
unlike another painting which can be seen in this exhibition (“The Atlantis
Bar in Basel”), became totally blue through the artist’s search for
simplification. This particular painting fascinated Andreas Jaeggi so much that
he decided to develop this color as a aproject, exploring its various shadings
and themes.
It is a particular
thing, the color blue. During the times of the Egyptian pharaos, it was the color
of the gods. In the “evening land”, the European west, it only started
to be used from the 12th century on when it was finally possible to produce ultramarine
blue from the semi-precious stone lapislazuli. The resistance from the church
against this color only eased up when in religious painting the rule was firmly
established that Mother Mary’s coat should always be represented in blue,
the most expensive ultramarine there was. Only after 1600 did blue become one
of the primary colors. Later on, it’s general use slowly increased and consequently
became more and more popular. The flag of today’s European Community shows
blue as the ground color and most adults nowadays name blue as their favorite
color. In his book “About The Spiritual In Art”, Wassily Kandinsky
pointed out in 1920 the special effect of colored light on the entire body. He
noted “that color bears an enormous strength in itself. Hardly any research
has been done concerning this matter. This force is able to influence the entire
human body as a physical organism. Generally speaking, color is therefore a means
to influence the soul directly. Color is the key(board). The eye is the (piano)hammer.
The soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which makes the
human soul vibrate by purposefully activating one key or another.”
Let’s get
back to Andreas Jaeggi. The exclusive use of blue in his newest paintings leads
towards a particular effect because, normally, each color changes its value through
the neighbourhood of one or more other colors. A blue splash in the middle of
a red surface has a different appearance and value than the same blue in yellow
surroundings. For Jaeggi, blue gains incredible depth and yet, it moves towards
the onlooker after longer observation. The objects and the bodies become three
dimensional. They seem full of mystery. They shine from inside. What Jaeggi presents
to us are neither night pictures nor romantic scenes because they offer too much
resistance. It takes a certain time and effort until one can really “see”
the original work and experience its effect or – as Kandinsky would have said:
“until the soul begins to vibrate.”
Views of street scenes and houses – such as the “Atlantis”-painting
– radiate a great calmness due to the one color reduction. They are painted with
density and solid composition, even if the chosen angle is often dynamic. The
brush strokes are loosly applied and full of life. The contours have a mysterious
swing. The effect of these paintings can be explained by this opposition of quietness
and dynamics.
Andreas Jaeggi’s
nudes reflect the artist’s interest in representing the unclothed body.
He shows us the surface but searches to catch the charisma and to carefully depict
their eroticism. In some paintings, the bodies of two lovers seem to be transparent,
the couples penetrating each other and the two forms therefore become one harmonious
entity.
Remarkable and new are the still lifes by Andreas Jaeggi. The subject of the
still life, the representation of lifeless, unmoving and dead objects, started
to appear in western European painting in the 16th century. At first, still lifes
were probably part of a bigger scenic image and then slowly became an independent
genre. What the artists aimed at in the beginning was copying nature with a deceiving
realism and the pure joy of fully representing any given object. Later on, other
aspects took over: the artists took possession of motifs, colors and shapes.
They personalized the relationship between object and background. The simplest
object can become the reason for an artistic analysis.
As far as Jaeggi’s
still lifes are concerned, the same observations may be applied as to his city
impressions: there isn’t one line which doesn’t swing. There isn’t
one contour which is regularly drawn. Everything vibrates. What also enhances
the dynamics is the seemingly casually chosen angle and section of the depicted
view. The objects are unspectacular. They are taken from every day life and they
are not arranged. But one can feel the artist’s connection with these items:
they mediate a certain feeling of safety / security. On the other hand, they
can also be taken and actively used.
In order to judge
Andreas Jaeggi’s present artistic freedom and strength of expression, one
has to be familiar with the artist’s earlier work. These were almost photorealistic
renditions. They were pictures executed with great precision and stupendous artistry.
In the expressive and nervous way of painting his city impressions, Andreas Jaeggi
has moved away from from his earlier work, even if the knowledge of precise drawing
still is and always was the base of his artistic freedom. His latest work has
become even more free. The reduction to one single color as well as a further
dissolving of the drawing leads towards harmonious pictures that seem to be caught
almost mysteriously in a strange balance between calmness and dynamics.
