The journey is the destination: Marc Jung “on the way to painting”
Figurative post-abstract expressionism is what the artist Marc Jung describes as creating on canvas using spray cans, oil, and varnish. Neither purely figurative nor non-representational, neither graffiti nor classical painting: Marc Jung's art defies easy categorization. His striking, gritty approach, for example, is characteristic of his work. Dripping techniques contrast with the precision of forms, which are sometimes created using stencils, but more often by hand, finding their way onto the canvas. Marc Jung's works oscillate between the poles of chaos and order and "are perhaps a bit like me," says the artist, whose exuberantly extroverted presence often belies his structured working method. His works are created layer by layer. Often, the lowest layers are no longer visible at all or only appear as isolated colored shadows; as the foundation for the creation of the works, they are fundamental.
He is still "on the path to painting," says Jung. Anyone who, upon viewing his artwork, is reminded of Picasso or Basquiat will recognize, among other things, Marc Jung's intention not to subscribe to purely representational mimesis. Instead, the viewer is presented with Jung's visual exploration of a contemporary form of expression. This is clearly one of those cases where the journey is the destination. Knowing the rules of the art world, Jung subverts them ironically like Kippenberger, morally but without the finger-wagging like his professor Richter, cynically provocative like Meese, and with a large dose of musical subculture on the canvas. It is primarily music that inspires him and accompanies him while painting. Evidence of this can be seen in the titles of the works, for example, humorously distorted snippets from German or English-language rap songs: "You are not a gang member, you are a tourist." ² Who, one wonders in light of the recontextualization undertaken, is now the target of this suspicion…? The image, the viewer, and the artist himself are all equally subjected to the test of art.
—Theresa Brauer
¹ English: the drop; in postmodern art, at least since Jackson Pollock, it has been understood as the seemingly uncontrolled splashing of paint onto a painting surface.
² Quote from “King's Dead” by Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future and James Blake, album Redemption , released in 2018
