John Zurier | Summer Book
BORCH Gallery & Editions are thrilled to present the print shop’s first collaboration with John Zurier, in the solo exhibition Summer Book in our Berlin gallery.
In John Zurier’s works, seemingly monochromatic surfaces evolve into visual poetry. His language is minimal and at the same time very distinct: linear elements build up space through an interaction of presence and absence. Inspired by observations of natural phenomena, light conditions and colour, the works convey a characteristic calmness and purity.
While working with BORCH Editions in the summer of 2016, Zurier investigated the technique of line etching as a way of drawing on the plate: ‘What I was looking for in these prints was a slow and variable light. What I found was a way to bring drawings to the surface.’ He effortlessly translates his artistic practice as a painter from canvas to copper plate to make the very process of printmaking visible: The marks in the plate, executed by brush or needle, become evident; the force with which the paper is pressed into the indentations is almost palpable. The three-dimensionality of ink sitting on paper, the rich texture of the surfaces, the physical material at hand becomes the topic of a meditation on color and surface.
Summer Book, the title of the exhibition and the portfolio of eight etchings, refers to Zurier‘s stay in Copenhagen: ‘Working on the small plates, it occurred to me that they had an intimacy like looking at the pages of a book. When I wasn’t working, I would wander around the city looking at the light reflecting on the water and the buildings, and the trees against the sky, and the deepening shadows of late evening in King’s Garden. The idea of making a book of summer notes came to me. I thought of it as a book of random visual vignettes, formless with no apparent order, where the pleasure comes from finding the subtle connections and contrasts.’
The exhibition gathers the Summer Book prints as well as four further prints that are directly linked to some of Zurier’s most recent paintings, one of which will be presented alongside the prints (courtesy Nordenhake Gallery Berlin / Stockholm).
Learn more about John Zurier