Remy Jungerman: Higher Ground
July 10 - September 25, 2022 Get ticketsRemy Jungerman: Higher Ground will focus on recent works by Suriname-born Dutch artist Remy Jungerman (b. 1959), who lives and works in Amsterdam and New York. The exhibition includes a selection from Jungerman’s three major bodies of work: wall-hung or free-standing three-dimensional assemblages (which the artist calls “horizontals” and “verticals”), stacked “cubes,” and fabric-covered “panels.” Through these self-imposed formal constraints, as well as a limited vocabulary of carefully-chosen materials, Jungerman explores connections between pattern and symbol in Surinamese Maroon culture and European “modernism.”
For instance, “Horizontals” are composed of slats of varying length, width, and color, stacked atop one another and topped with small panels skim-coated with kaolin, a white clay from the artist’s native Suriname. Both abstracted altars and compositions that recall the orthogonal aesthetics of Dutch De Stijl, these constructions, like all of Jungerman’s carefully-considered works, draw seemingly disparate visual and cultural languages into conversation with one another. Through these works, Jungerman also poses a challenge to established art historical hierarchies the canon’s age-old denigration of non-Western art.
Jungerman represented the Netherlands at the 2019 Venice Biennale with Iris Kensmil. In 2017 he was nominated for the Black Achievement Award in The Netherlands. In 2008 he received the Fritschy Culture Award from the Museum het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands. Jungerman is the subject of a career survey show at the Stedelijk Museum, Remy Jungerman: Behind the Forest (November 20, 2021-April 10, 2022). The artist is represented by Fridman Gallery in New York, which organized Brilliant Corners, Jungerman’s first solo exhibition in the United States (April 7 – May 15, 2021). Where the River Runs, a comprehensive monograph of Jungerman’s work, was published by Jap Sam Books in 2020.
Jungerman’s exhibition Higher Ground will be sited in the KMA’s spacious Atrium, as well as in the Museum’s project gallery, a space for innovative contemporary installations. His work will also be put in dialogue with the KMA’s main summer exhibition, Tradition Interrupted. Comprised of twenty-three artworks and installations in a wide variety of media, from metalwork and ceramics to rugs and mosaics, Tradition Interrupted explores the work of international artists who merge traditional craft with contemporary ideas and processes. Jungerman’s assemblages and sculptures will therefore be shown side-by-side with artworks by some of the most important international artists working today, including Anila Quayyum Agha, Dinh Q. Lê, and Faig Ahmed.
Artist
Remy Jungerman (1959) lives and works in Amsterdam. He attended the Academy for Higher Arts and Cultural Studies in Paramaribo, Surinam, before moving to Amsterdam where he studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.
In his work, Jungerman explores the intersection of pattern and symbol in Surinamese Maroon culture, the larger African diaspora, and 20th century Modernism. Placing fragments of Maroon textiles and other materials found in the African diaspora—the kaolin clay used in several religious traditions or the nails featured in Nkisi Nkondi power sculpture—in direct contact with materials and imagery drawn from more “established” art traditions, Jungerman presents a peripheral vision that enriches our perspective on art history.
In 2022 Jungerman received the A.H. Heineken Prize for Art, the biggest visual art prize in the Netherlands.
From November 20, 2021 – April 10, 2022 he was the subject of a career survey show at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam titled Remy Jungerman: Behind the Forest. In 2019 he represented the Netherlands at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. In 2017 he was nominated for the Black Achievement Award in The Netherlands.
In 2008 he received the Fritschy Culture Award from the Museum het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands.
Jungerman is co-founder and curator of the Wakaman Project, drawing Lines - connecting dots. Wakaman, which means “walking man,” was born out of a desire to examine the position of visual artists of Surinamese origin and to raise their profile(s) on the international stage.
He has exhibited works at:
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL; 58th Venice Biennial, Dutch Pavilion, IT; Prospect3, New Orleans, US; Brooklyn Museum, New York, US; El Museo del Barrio, New York, US; Katonah Museum, New York, US; Kunstmuseum, The Hague, NL; Goodman Gallery, London, GB; Fridman Gallery, New York, US; Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam; NL; Rennie Museum, Vancouver, CA; Havana Biennale, CU; Museum Bamako, ML; Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, NL; Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL; Museum Arnhem, NL; Museum De Domeinen, Sittard, NL; Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, NL; Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden, NL; Zeeuws Museum, Leeuwarden, NL; Tropen Museum, Amsterdam, NL; Museum Tromso, NO; Stedelijk Museum Aalst, BE; Lumen Travo Gallery, Amsterdam, NL; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, US; Hudson Valley MOCA, New York, US; New Jersey City University, New Jersey, US; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, DE; Schloss Oberdiessbach, CH; Malba, Buenos Aires, AR; Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, ID; Gallery Krinzinger, Salzburg / Vienna, AT; Musée Art Contemporain, FR; Air de Paris, FR.
He is represented by Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town, SA and London UK, Fridman Gallery, New York, US and Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL.
His international residencies include Art Omi and International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York and Tembe Art Centre, Moengo, SR.
His work has been featured in numerous publications and acquired by various institutions and private collectors worldwide. His first book, Remy Jungerman. Where the River Runs, published by Jap Sam Books in 2019, won the 2019 50books | 50covers design award from the AIGA in the US and has received two 2019 30 Best Dutch Book Designs awards (as per a student jury from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam). His second book, Remy Jungerman. Behind the Forest, was produced in connection to his solo exhibition at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Exhibition Support
Remy Jungerman: Higher Ground is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. This project has also received funding through a grant from the Netherland-America Foundation and the Mondrian Fund.
This project is made possible with funds from ReStart the Arts, a regrant program of ArtsWestchester with support from the Office of the Governor, the New York State Legislature and the New York State Council on the Arts.
