Jan Albers

Jan Albers, a contemporary artist, transcends traditional painting and embraces a multidisciplinary approach. His spatial artworks, crafted from metal, wood, polystyrene, and ceramics, are overlaid with paint, blurring the lines between deconstruction and reconstruction. His pieces seem most valuable when broken, compressed, or devalued, a juxtaposition of energy and precision.

Albers’ expansive abstract reliefs evoke distant planets, urban architecture, and minimalism. His work is pivotal in contemporary abstract art, bridging abstract painting, murals, and spatial objects. Like many of his generation, Albers draws inspiration from 1960s artistic inquiries rather than traditional painting, addressing fundamental questions of form and abstraction.

His art emerges through a labor-intensive “building” process, fusing materials such as paper, silver leaf, metal, and ceramics. These elements are woven, mounted, and collaged, often adorned with badges featuring images or text fragments, then encased in plexiglass boxes. Initially resembling abstract compositions, Albers’ works reveal complexity on closer inspection, combining tactile allure and a sense of distance.