Robert Sebastian Berger
PAINTING PHOTOGRAPHS UNIVERS MUSIC 80s LITERATURE MOVIES
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R O B E R T   S E B A S T I A N   B E R G E R

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UNIVERS 2011

405

lieni




mind




representation




imagination





life





against




for





no




go




turn





meet




yellow




white




something

photographs

contemplatively

 
ARTWORK: Photo Artwork

SIZE: 100x70 cm

MATERIAL: Acrylglas Fineart Alu-Dibond

EDITION: Limited Edition 100

SIGNED: Yes

NUMBERED: Yes
 

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mirage
57

 
ARTWORK: Photo Artwork

SIZE: 100x70 cm

MATERIAL: Acrylglas Fineart Alu-Dibond

EDITION: Limited Edition 100

SIGNED: Yes

NUMBERED: Yes
 

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flimsiness
65

 
ARTWORK: Photo Artwork

SIZE: 100x70 cm

MATERIAL: Acrylglas Fineart Alu-Dibond

EDITION: Limited Edition 100

SIGNED: Yes

NUMBERED: Yes
 

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transparent
60

 
ARTWORK: Photo Artwork

SIZE: 100x70 cm

MATERIAL: Acrylglas Fineart Alu-Dibond

EDITION: Limited Edition 100

SIGNED: Yes

NUMBERED: Yes
 

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SAATCHI GALLERY LONDON

 

new beginning
0851

 
ARTWORK: Photo Artwork

SIZE: 100x70 cm

MATERIAL: Acrylglas Fineart Alu-Dibond

EDITION: Limited Edition 100

SIGNED: Yes

NUMBERED: Yes
 

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SAATCHI GALLERY LONDON

 

snow
2339

 
ARTWORK: Photo Artwork

SIZE: 100x70 cm

MATERIAL: Acrylglas Fineart Alu-Dibond

EDITION: Limited Edition 100

SIGNED: Yes

NUMBERED: Yes
 

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SAATCHI GALLERY LONDON

 

paintings

 
Oil on Canvas - Unique - 2003 - 120x90 cm

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Oil on Canvas - Unique - 2003 - 100x70 cm

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Oil on Canvas - Unique - 2003 - 30x40 cm

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literature

Beauty and anonymity, people and spaces, closeness and distance within his oeuvre, Robert-Sebastian Berger creates a synthesis of apparently contradictory pairs of terms. The young Cologne artist paints his often large-sized pictures in reduced colourfulness. However, this does not mean that they lack in liveliness. The motives which tend to be photo-realistic and the skillful intuitive implementation of paste-like brush strokes, bear witness to the autodidact s knowledge of his personal skills. The virtuoso style quickly wins the viewer over.

Despite the two-colour technique and the often only hinted at silhouettes of nude and portrait representations, we believe that we are capable of perceiving the main biometrical data of the models displayed.

In order to enjoy the aesthetics of the physical we are happy to take on the task of reconstructing the human appearance through our own visual experiences and with help of the key data obtained from the pictures.

Do these imaginations also correspond to reality? Are the associations created the same as those which were intended by the artist? Berger keeps us guessing as to whether we are dealing with exchangeable motives of advertising aimed at enticing the consumer or the viewer respectively, by means of their special eroticism, or rather with a sensitive individual whose unveiled physicality exposes an extracted character of the human soul arising from the spontaneous moment, not unlike snapshots.

Beauty can be seen as being relative. On the one hand, it is visibly reproducible, completely in the sense of pop art. On the other hand it can only be captured for a moment, one picture, already vanishing the moment we become aware of it.

Perhaps a visual trap or obvious inspiration from every-day life that floods us with images and forced upon ideals? In contrast to the historic development of photography, Berger s original idea of working with monochrome colours developed back to black and white, later blending in yellow and blue rendering the pictures warm and inviting by means of their effectualness.

The apparent regression at the beginning of his artistic creation is thereby remarkable: photographic painting, capturing reality as a photograph in oil and continuously reducing to basic allusions.

In his newer works, a picture series on September 11th, the project People 2003 , and his current exhibition Change located in the inner harbour of Duisburg, Robert-Sebastian Berger points us in the direction of a world in which the ability of experience would only be possible in this way by means of room installations or sculptures.

On the one hand, we are individuals in our environment, on the other hand, we are reflected viewers in the painting - the apparent anonymity of the pictures is a chance of identification, a further reason for taking another step closer to the works of Berger.

Throughout the many years of engaging himself in the various painting techniques, Berger has continuously developed the personal traits and strengths of his representations. This has meant that he has been able to give his attention to more subtle themes and ideas, which could also be increasingly recognised in his early work.

The aim is thereby not only to win over the viewer by means of a certain eroticism, an intended aesthetic, but also to enable him a latent impression of the motives of the relation between space and mankind in the physical form and the relation between time and mankind in transitoriness, beyond superficial complaisance.

To picture what cannot be pictured, meaning space, can only take place when bound by the object resp. the human body in Berger s pictures.

In this way, the young Cologner likes to take on the role of the staging creator, granting the people in his pictures a direct relationship with their environment by means of finely accented contouring as well as skillful positioning in space. An exciting task which Berger has continued in his new works which can be viewed at his current exhibition Change at the inner harbour of Duisburg in November / December of this year.

With the eye of a photographer, the painter focusses on people in town landscapes, shaped by industry, which he captures on the canvas with a fascinating technique. A type of painted photography that Robert-Sebastian Berger accomplishes using inverse colours, similar to that of a photo negative, has been applied in the Change series. An impression of estrangement is created, however the photorealistic picture illusion also develops a closeness to the viewer an exciting experiment with variable paramters, since each visitor to the exhibition will perceive the pictures in a different way ending unkown.

Mathias Stolz - Cologne
( bersetzung/Translation Andrew Payne - mgpartner.com )

 

biography

1968

born in cologne (germany) - Luxembourg citizen
Paternal grandmother - luxembourger
Maternal grandmother - francais
Father born in Santiago
Uncle born in Ascott - Great Britain
These European descent characterizes the work of the artist

1985

Residence in Ascott / England

1984-1990

experimental electronic music project "smilling rolls" - inspired by the Dusseldorf group "Kraftwerk"

1985-1990

experimental super 8 films

1988

university-entrance diploma

1989

several educational journeys through Italy, Spain, Austria, Scandinavia, South America, France, Low Countries and England

1990 -2000

study at universities

1991

educational journeys through South America

1992

development of a creativity-, study- and visualization technique

1993

publication in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung faz_logo_klein

1992-1997

assistant professor for integrated creativity-, study- and visualization techniques at German colleges

1993

publication in the daily newspaper Die Welt welt_logo_klein

1993

support by FOKUS, BDI and Daimler-Benz AG - september 1993 - new concepts of development - Haus L mmerbuckel mercedesbenz_klein

1993

further development of painting techniques, experiments with new materials and techniques

1994

development of archetypes to optimize information- and communication methods in cooperation with FOKUS - research group communication and social analysis

1994

publication in the daily newspaper Die Welt welt_logo_klein

1994

educational journey through South America - Chile and Argentina

1994

publications in specialized press amongst Prof. Dr. Biedenkopf bpw_klein

1994

educational journey through Africa - area around Kilimanjaro

1995

educational journey through Spain, France, Switzerland and Italy

1995

reduction on the two colors technique and specification on photorealistic elements in the paintings

1995

educational journey to England - several stays in London and Bournmouth

1996

educational journey through France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain

1997

educational journey through Switzerland

1999

special exhibition of young artists during the
ART COLOGNE art_n_klein

2000-2001

educational journey through Portugal and France
 

2002

educational journey through France - stay in Paris
- own studio

2003

opening of a studio exhibition in Cologne

2003

opening of an exhibition with the topic september 11th at the ART Fabrik Wuppertal report on ARD television 
ARD

2004

opening of an exhibition at the gallery B rgmann

2004

negative patterns - exhibition at the Duisburger basin designed by Sir Norman Foster

since 2005

human life stories
Cologne (Germany) - Lille (France)
London (Great Britain) - Paris (France)
New York (USA) - Tokyo (Japan)
Cologne (Germany) - Turin (Italy)
Kyoto (Japan)

2006

exhibition of young artists during the
ART COLOGNE - gallery B rgmann

2007

Saatchi Gallery - London
SAATCHI GALLERY LONDON

2007

exhibition/art project Montreux (swiss)

2007

exhibition/art project Cannes (france)

2007

exhibition museum peschkenhaus / moers     (germany)

2007 - 2011

Working in the Art-Studios (Cologne, Paris)

2010

Working in London

2011-2012

Creative projects => press reports
- German television VOX

- German television RTL

2011-2015

Saatchi Gallery - London
SAATCHI GALLERY LONDON

2015

ART EVENT - CANNES
FRANCE

2015

EXHIBITION - PARIS

2016

ART EVENT - MONTREUX (SWISS)

2017

ART EVENT - LUXEMBOURG (LUXEMBOURG)

2018

ART EVENT - COLOGNE (GERMANY)

2019

ART EVENT - COLOGNE (GERMANY)

2021

Virtual Art Event - LONDON (Great Britain)

2022

Virtual Art Event - LONDON (Great Britain)

2022

ART EVENT - CANNES
FRANCE

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