Rudi Tröger, born 1929 in Marktleuthen, has created a comprehensive artistic body of work that is unique in its style. From an initial admiration for the impressionists, which primarily led to works taken from nature, a number of foundational characteristics emerged very early on that would remain firmly anchored in his work: his reaction to the visible world, a connection to objects, the still life as landscape, the portrait and the ensemble of objects. After 1963 his perception changed. Since then found objects have no longer been central to his exploration, rather the colors in which they appear, their ‘aura’, which can only ever been seen in context. Tröger’s interest shifted to the process of painting as such. Oscillating between representation and abstraction, Tröger repeatedly reworked paintings; “it [the painting] must be driven until it can move on its own. A painting is actually never an end in itself, but rather an effect, it should always arouse the desire to reopen.” [1] It is a process of transformation in which things are drawn into a relational structure and locked within an image-space. They mutate into pure painting. The exhibition at Jahn und Jahn offers a representative insight into the oeuvre of Rudi Tröger, in which paintings with various subjects from all eras of his career can be seen.

Galerie Fred Jahn published the catalogue raisonné of Rudi Tröger’s prints in 1985 and regularly exhibited his works, which are located in nationally and internationally significant museums and private collections. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, Jahn und Jahn will show works from 1965 to 2019. A comprehensive catalogue published by Sieveking Verlag will accompany the exhibition, with texts by Siegfried Gohr.

[1] Quote by Rudi Tröger, in “Rudi Tröger. Bilder 1959 – 1987, Villa Stuck, Munich 1988, 10.