On Saturday March 11 opens at Dogs & Faces, Jonah Falke’s very first solo exhibition at 4 pm at Galerie Bart in Amsterdam. For a few months Falke resided in the studio on the top floor of the Amsterdam gallery working on his debut novel ‘Bontebrug’ that was published in 2016. The exhibition ‘Dogs & Faces’ marks a new starting point in Falke’s painting career.

'Dogs & Faces' shows a series of paintings with introverted dogs and hermetical human faces. They are isolated from their surroundings, and seem to reveal a certain social discomfort. Jonah Falke’s ‘painted detachment’ makes his work expressive and unapproachable at the same time.

Falke does not seem to want to reveal more than just a glimpse; the rest is up to the viewer. The framed, staring and expressionless portraits suggest troubled emotions and make you think about painters such as Francis Bacon and Georg Baselitz. Both the claustrophobic paintings of Bacon as well as the ‘upside-down’ paintings by Baselitz emphasize that the expression is sometimes even more important than the representation. Like his predecessors Falke appeals to the involvement of the viewer, but in his own ‘literal’ way: direct and unadorned. The colour palette is modest and deliberate, although he applies the paint with a restrained spontaneity.

Jonah Falke was born in Ulft, The Netherlands and graduated in 2013 at ArteZ Art Academy, Enschede, The Netherlands in fine art painting. He made as the frontman of the band Villa Zeno the record ‘Self Made Woman.’ Last year Lebowski publishers published his debut novel ‘Bontebrug’.