Michelle Jezierski – Shifter
Michelle Jezierski’s work, infused with restless and spirited energy and free from established conventions and outdated formalisms, conjures whirling scenarios of juxtaposing images where light reverberates through vivid, gripping colors. Informing her work is a sensorial idea of fragmented space — simultaneously synchronic and deferred — with the landscape as a catalyst where the limitations of two-dimensionality are explored through the introduction of geometric lines and fixed frames that disrupt the picture plane. This idea creates an optical illusion that seemingly encompasses multiple dimensions within one flat surface.
With the exhibition shifter, 68projects presents large-scale canvases by Berlin-based artist Michelle Jezierski. These paintings use space and time as a point of departure to explore perspectival space within abstraction and landscape.
Infused with a restless and spirited energy—free from both established conventions and outdated formalisms—Michelle Jezierski’s work conjures whirling scenarios of juxtaposed images in which light reverberates through vivid, gripping colours. Central to her practice is a sensorial idea of fragmented space—simultaneously synchronic and deferred—with landscape functioning as a catalyst through which the limitations of two-dimensionality are tested. This is achieved by introducing geometric lines and fixed frames that disrupt the picture plane, creating optical illusions that appear to encompass multiple dimensions within a single flat surface.
All of these elements merge seamlessly with a focus on the push and pull of spatial perception rather than the representation of a concrete image. As a result, Jezierski turns away from traditional landscape composition. Acting as a stimulus for the viewer’s subjective reception and rejecting narrative constraints, her paintings are at once surreal and evocative.
The colour scheme—applied freely and serving both emotional and structural functions—draws on the avant-garde innovations of Fauvism, underscoring the surreal quality of the paintings. Colour is used as a sculptural element, creating and altering perspective within the frame of the work. In a manner similar to the Fauves, the emphasis lies less on meaning—of essential importance in academic art—than on form, colour, and immediacy.
Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, the works seek an expression based on painting as an autonomous medium. Reality is no longer approached through a naturalistic perspective; instead, nature is understood as a catalogue of signs from which elements may be selected and freely transposed. In this way, the idea of “pure painting” is elevated through the use of “explosive colour,” rejecting any form of rigid constraint or framework.
A combination of fluid and sharp lines defines the boundaries where sky meets earth, creating a rhythm that vibrates through each painting with its own distinctive light. Through a two-dimensional painting technique characterized by exceptional visual strength—particularly in its use of colour—situated on the threshold between landscape and geometry, instinct and logic, Michelle Jezierski’s work suggests the opening of a deeply contemplative interpretation of nature rather than a syllogistic one.
Could this be a forerunner of an interpretation of dreams devoid of any surrealist connotation?
Michelle Jezierski is a US-American artist, born in 1981 in Berlin. She studied at the Berlin University of the Arts under Tony Cragg. In 2005, she received a scholarship from Cooper Union in New York City, where she studied under Amy Sillman.
In addition to Germany, her works have been exhibited in Croatia, Israel, Italy, and the United States, and are included in numerous international public and private collections.