Achim Bertenburg

hudson breaks | 2014 | Oil on canvas | 80 x 100 cm

Achim Bertenburg (born 1954 in Solingen, Federal Republic of Germany) is a painter. His paintings result from an often protracted process of applying and removing paint. In this manner, he moves towards an objective, representable reality, but then distances himself from it again. Viewing these images has a similar effect – at first they seem abstract, then one has the sense of seeing something concrete. But the longer one looks, the more this sense disintegrates. The works resemble blurry photographs in which the viewer tries to recognize a recorded past, thus moving in the liminal space between poles of human perception: between being awake and asleep, remembering and not remembering, recognizing and not recognizing. Some of these paintings, especially those that resemble landscape views, are reminiscent of French or American romanticism. In his more recent works, the removal of paint with a sander takes on a more important role. Bertenburg’s violent application of the machine exposes fragments of previous states and layered colours. Achim Bertenburg lives and works in Bremen.

Works
Bloom | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 28,5 x 25,5 cm
Untitled | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 28,5 25,5 cm
Baroque | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 42 x 38 cm
Lass Blumen sprechen | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 41 x 38 cm
Lass Blumen sprechen II | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 46 x 48 cm
Lass Blumen sprechen III | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 47 x 43 cm
Untitled | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 46 x 41 cm
Picture of Flowers | 2019 | Öl auf Leinwand | 51 x 46 cm
Untitled | 2020 | Oil on canvas | 58,5 x 53 cm
Untitled | 2020 | Oil on canvas | 42 x 37 cm
Camp | 2021 | Oil on canvas | 40,5 x 50,5 cm
Die Entnahme | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 80 x 100 cm
Way Out | 2019 | Öl auf Leinwand | 47 x 41 cm
Der Adler ist gelandet | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 30 x 40 cm | Art collection of the city of Bremen
Der verlorene Traum | 2019 | Öl auf Leinwand | 170 x 150 cm
Walk on the Bright Side | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 91 x 110 cm
Finally Clarity | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 41 x 49 cm
Lands End | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 48 x 66 cm
The Researcher | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 56 x 51 cm
da sind sie also ganz sicher | 2018 | Oil on canvas | 91 x 110 cm
praxis | 2018 | Oil on canvas | 40 x 50,5 cm
Lieber falsch als nie | 2013/2018 | Oil on canvas | 50 x 60 cm
flash | 2018 | Oil on canvas | 66 x 60 cm
final cut | 2012/2018 | Oil on canvas | 160 x 180 cm
Untitled | 2018 | Oil on canvas | 49 x 45 cm
stilles gewicht | 2017-2018 | Oil on canvas | 90,5 x 80,5 cm
description | 2015 | Oil on canvas | 59,5 50 cm
distant animal | 2014 | Oil on canvas | 90,5 x 110 cm | Kunsthalle Bremen Collection.
pulse | 2014 | Oil on canvas | 177,5 x 155,5 cm
lichtscheinwahn | 2014 | Oil on canvas | 110 x 90 cm
reset | 2014 | Oil on canvas | 90 x 110 cm
we have to talk | 2014 | Oil on canvas | 200 x 230 cm
blank | 2013 | Oil on canvas | 66 x 58 cm
plain | 2013 | Oil on canvas | 56 x 48,5 cm
tropical dust | 2013 | Oil on canvas | 200 x 200 cm
Dann eben kein Wunder | 2014 | Öl auf Leinwand | 200 x 180 cm
dragon egg | 2013 | Oil on canvas | 60 x 70 cm
scene | 2012 | Oil on canvas | 50 x 70 cm
Untitled | 2012 | Oil on canvas | 60 x 50 cm
Mumbai | 2012 | Oil on canvas | 230 x 200 cm
Knot | 2010 | Oil on canvas | 230 x 200 cm
Nord | 2010 | Oil on canvas | 60 x 50 cm
Verdichtung | 2010 | Oil on canvas | 240 x 200 cm
Diagram | 2010 | Oil on canvas | 230 x 200 cm
Rigagrai | 2010 | Oil on canvas | 100 x 80 cm
Loop | 2010 | Oil on canvas | 230 x 200 cm
Spindle | 2010 | Oil on canvas | 80 x 60 cm
Iger | 2007 | Oil on canvas | 170 x 140 cm
Untitled | 2007 | Oil on canvas | 170 x 140 cm
Untitled | 2007 | Oil on canvas | 170 x 135 cm

CV

Solo Exhibitions

2021
Einige Bilder, die irgendwie zusammenhängen

2019
Galerie Bugliese-Levi, Berlin

2018
Final Cut, Galerie K´, Bremen

2016
im Interim (with Christian Haake), Galerie K', Bremen

2014
See the Sound, Künstlerhaus Göttingen
Hudson Breaks, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen

2013
Deep Light, Städtische Galerie, Gdansk, Poland

2012
wissen glauben, Produzentengalerie, Hamburg
Bertenburg und Carrière, Kunsthalle Bremen
Kaponier, Kunstverein Vechta

2011
Bertenburg, Weserburg - Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen

2008
Fluss. Malerei und Video, Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen
Sehkraft, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen

2005
Kanu. Bertenburg, Korpys / Löffler, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen

2004
Dream and Deed (with  Jutta Haeckel), Goethe-Institut Neu Delhi, India

1998
Achim Bertenburg und Horst Müller, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen

1997
Malerei, Kunsthalle Bremerhaven
Kunstverein Unna

1996
Galerie Cornelius Hertz, Bremen

1995
Galerie januar e.V., Bochum

1994
Galerie Gruppe Grün (mit Achim Bitter), Bremen

1993
Galerie Marré & Dahms, Essen

1992
Künstlerhaus Bremen (with Michael Lapuks)
Galerie Marré & Nautsch, Essen

Group Exhibitions

2021
Domino 3, Salve Berlin

2019
Bildersprachen, Syker Vorwerk

2018
2y 2m 2y, FAQ, Bremen

2017
Alles oder Immer, SchauFenster – Raum für Kunst, Berlin

2016
Die unbestimmte Form, Galerie K’, Bremen

2015
Enlight my Space, Kunsthalle Bremen

2014
See the Sound, Künstlerhaus Göttingen
Hudson Breaks, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen
Künstlerräume, Weserburg - Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen
Blanks, Galerie K’, Bremen
Collabs, Kunstpavillon Kreuzberg, Berlin
Simsalabim, Produzentengalerie Hamburg, Hamburg
Bertenburg, Prangenberg, Modersohn, ph-projects, Berlin

2013
Paula Modersohn Becker Kunstpreis, Große Kunstschau, Worpswede 

2012
8 Stunden 27 Minuten, Gleishalle Güterbahnhof, Bremen 
899 km, Traklhaus, Salzburg 

2011
Accrochage, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen
... Außer Haus ... Zeitgenössische Farbmalerei, Kunsthaus Stade 

2010
Gazing into the stars / Sterne sehen, Riga Art Space, Riga, Latvia

2009
Spring, Gleishalle, Güterbahnhof Bremen 

2008
Out Of Time, Weserburg / Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen
AquarellHappening, Kunstverein Tux, Austria
Vertrautes Terrain, (with Korpys / Löffler) ZKM, Karlsruhe 

2007
Searching for an Ideal Urbanity, (with  Korpys / Löffler) Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart 

2005
Wer Visionen hat, soll zum Arzt gehen,
25 Jahre Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen

2000
Bremer Konzepte, ART STUDIO 1, Deinste
Art radionici Lazareti, Dubrovnik, Croatia

1997
1000 Jahre Danzig, Akademie Gdansk, Poland

1993
Stationen, Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt
Einschnitt, Emschertalmuseum Herne

1992
Aus Deutschland, Kunsthalle Kaliningrad, Russia

1991
Windfall. Seamens´s Mission, Glasgow, Scotland
Bergische Kunstausstellung, Museum Baden, Solingen

Collections

Kunsthalle Bremen
Kunsthalle Bremerhaven
Karin und Uwe Hollweg Stiftung
Bremer Landesbank
Art collection of the city of Bremen