JAKOB BETTIN

“HEADS, BUGS AND BIASES”

(30th November – 31st January 2025)

We look forward to your visit <3

 

Jakob Bettin (*1989) is a young, versatile and aspiring artist and designer. He grew up in Greifswald and now lives in the Berlin area. After training in Schwerin and studying at HTW Berlin, he has successfully established himself as an art director and communication designer. Nevertheless, his true passion is art, in which he continues to develop as a self-taught artist. His artistic journey began early on and is still characterized by a strong connection to natural materials and traditional techniques. Bettin prefers to work with wood, charcoal, chalk and oil, as these materials offer him a closeness to nature and a direct form of expression. He has been fascinated by drawing and the power of visual expression since childhood. For him, art is a way of organizing thoughts and feelings and finding inner balance.

Bettin’s works are characterized by a tolerance for ambiguity – the endurance of opposites and tensions without wanting to make a specific statement. His view of themes is the result of a creative, often lyrical process that enables him to get to the “heart of the matter” in his works. However, he imbues this expression with a certain outlandishness or obscurity, often accompanied by a smile. In this way, he creates a lightness that invites the viewer to be more deeply inspired and to engage with complex themes and feelings.

An outstanding example of Bettin’s oeuvre is iceolation station, a work created with charcoal, oil and oil pastel on canvas. A torso, whose head is a lighthouse, dressed in a raincoat, stands in the sea at night. The rain jacket in the moonlight – or is it even an ice shell that can reflect so much light in the deepest night? – becomes increasingly clearer at chest height and is structured into a rocky island, surrounded by the cold sea and its monsters. The beacon at eye level seems to be looking for more than just a sign of safe passage. The soft yet strong colors and the dynamic structures create a visual language that reflects the complexity of what is depicted in its ambivalence. Iceolation station invites the viewer to put themselves in the picture and to place the theme and the feeling in their own inner focus and allow it to take effect. This artwork is not a depiction of suffering or self-pity, but an invitation to confront and empathize with one’s own emotions. It encourages us to accept the moments of loneliness and coldness and to give them space – instead of suppressing and overlooking them – to grow and heal from them; or to smile about them:

“Yes, I know a lighthouse guy like that in cold water too!”

While Bettin uses charcoal and chalk for spontaneous, dynamic sketches, he finds a meditative balance in carving. Inspired by tranquility, he approaches an idea carefully and reflectively when carving. For him, this creative process is no longer a craft – it is an emotional and mental journey in which every feeling is thoroughly explored, viewed from different perspectives and only then “released”.

Bettin’s art reflects the courage to open to one’s own emotions and to explore the complexity of life. The exhibition series “HEADS, BUGS AND BIASES” is thus an expression of personal experiences and a medium of shared perception and self-knowledge.

“Imagine you are the feeling that everyone is talking about or that has been with you for a long time. Every feeling needs its own space.” – Jakob Bettin

For Jakob Bettin, art is a way of life and an inner need – a tool to expand one’s own perception and that of others.

Text by Josephine Müller & Robert Kuchling

 

Jakob Bettin, I´M FORKED,Oil pastels on canvas, 2024, 60x80cm

Jakob Bettin, Tearpod, Oil pastels on canvas, 2022, 50x70cm

 

 

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NEXT UPCOMING PROJECTS !

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From the Backyard to Beyond and Back

Emerging Moroccan Photography by

Mourad Fedouache

Charaf Lahib

Ricky Lavern Martin

Youness Sefyaoui

 

15th February – 11st April 2025

 

Gallery Kuchling, in collaboration with the American Arts Center in Casablanca, Morocco, presents the exhibition From the Backyard to Beyond and Back. This compelling show delves into personal landscapes and journeys,

curated by Tatyana Palyga and Alexander Bondar of Zoopark Publishing.

Four photographers—three Moroccan artists, Mourad Fedouache, Charaf Lahib, Youness Sefyaoui and one American photographer, Richard Lavern Martin—explore themes of home, movement, and belonging through their work. While the Moroccan photographers focus their lenses on their immediate surroundings, capturing the details of everyday life, the American photographer Ricky tells a story of living between departure and return, finding connections in the in-between spaces. The exhibition is rooted in zines designed by Zoopark Publishing and previously showcased at international photobook fairs. For the first time, these publications are brought to life as a multimedia wall installation, highlighting the intersection of photography and publishing art. “From the Backyard to Beyond and Back” invites viewers to discover four personal geographies that stretch from the familiar everyday to distant horizons—a journey that returns with fresh perspectives.