Jana Euler, »international dance 1000 pieces«, 2021

international dance 1000 pieces, 2021
Puzzle: 1.9 mm cardboard, 1000 pieces, linen embossed paper, digital print, 48 x 68 cm
Box: 1.1 mm cardboard, linen embossed paper, digital print, 27 x 37 x 5.5 cm
Edition of 200 + 20 APs, signed and numbered

For this edition of Spike, Jana Euler’s (*1982, Germany) recent painting, International Dance (2020), is transformed into a 1000-piece puzzle. Inverting a traditional hierarchy of classical painting compositions (and also puzzle images) where the centre is the focus, international dance 1000 pieces (2021) highlights the periphery and margins of an image. Couples dance close to the edge, pushing each other into the corners of the work. This claustrophobia is amplified by a mirroring effect between the borders of the canvas and the figure’s colourful dresses. In one corner, the dance even turns deadly. The centre of international dance 1000 pieces, just murky greens and yellows, greys and purples, combine in abstraction; little if any difference between pieces can be gleaned. This makes puzzling both a challenge and a revelation. Completing the task will not be easy, but you experience the process of an image emerging through your own hands, and once you’re done, you can even take credit for it.

Recent exhibitions have taken place at WIELS, Brussels (2024), Galerie Neu, Berlin (2023), the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (both 2022); Greene Naftali, New York (2021); and Artist Space, New York (2020). Jana Euler lives in Frankfurt am Main. 

Read a portrait of the artist in issue #60, available here.