Sergej Jensen

A collection of remarkable paintings created mostly without paint. Since the mid1990s, Sergej Jensen (b. in Copenhagen in 1971) has been offering one of the most remarkable responses to the question of what painting can still be today. Painting in the classical sense plays only a minor role: in lieu of canvas, Jensen uses jute, coarse cotton, and jeans. He incorporates spots on fabrics, which turn the expressive gesture of his paintings into a sign of wear from real life. Jensen sews fabrics together, leaving the seams visible to evoke the fleeting impression of a drawing and he colors others with gouache, acrylics, and markers, but Jensen more often applies materials foreign to painting, such as patches, paper money, spices, beads, and glitter. Hanging his fabrics from windows, Jensen lets the sun and rain contribute a patina and treats them with chlorine and paints mixed with bleach to reduce their brilliance.