Arthur Jansen
1962 - ?
Between melancholy and oblivion
Arthur Jansen was born in 1962 in Buenos Aires - or Berlin.
He studied art - or maybe not.
He lived in Argentina for over twenty years - but only a few works from this time have survived.
What is known about Arthur Jansen comes largely from fragments: scattered letters, catalogues, stories from people who may have met him.
His work speaks of silence, of longing, of the emotions between the words.
Since the turn of the millennium, Arthur Jansen has painted almost exclusively portraits.
Faces turning away.
Bodies shrouded in shadow.
Angels who lose themselves in their own eternity.
He reworks some of his paintings multiple times. Some he paints over, some he destroys – others simply disappear.
Arthur Jansen does not give interviews.
He doesn't write explanations.
He signs his paintings only with the letters AS and the year they were created.
His works are rare - and the few that exist belong to themselves.
A complete catalogue of works does not exist.
Some works reappear, others remain missing.
