Cutting into colour reminds me of the sculptor's direct carving. - Henri Matisse  

Jan Albers studied painting at the illustrious Dusseldorf Kunst Académie, an institution whose storied history has proven to be an incubator to many of the 20 th  century’s most famous artists.  

This proto “punk” spirit, personified by Beuys and supported by the duo act of Imi Geise & Imi Knoebel is something that doubtless appealed to Albers. Though more than a generation behind Albers too has resisted the dominant forms of painting, preferring to shape works that come out from the wall cutting into the space of the viewer, extending Matisse’s desire to deliver colour that has volume and density – the kind of robustness that one associates with colour.