Portraits of a Painting: Overview
The exhibition “Portraits of a Painting” shows the following paintings:
The photo books for each painting can be procured separately (unsigned) through blurb.com:
Art is research
Searching and researching is a daily occupation for many people. Since the human mind evolved into a minimal form of intellect, people have been searching for the meaning of things, why events happen or how. Sciences are evolving and continue to answer more and more questions, and at the same time arise more questions. As satisfying as answers to questions may be as the end point of a search, one should never have to find the final truth; the all encompassing truth that does not generate more questions. That final truth should be the unreachable goal of everyone in live. It is good to learn new things every now and then, gain new insights, getting to know yourself better. But you should never arrive at that deadly end point, that outer limit of the world, behind which only a vast emptiness lies.
Art is research and every art work is an experiment that should lead to an answer to a sometimes undefined question. The answer should obviously be truthful and should not be the result of a directive work method. On the contrary: the work method should leave some space for random events, coincidences that characteristically determine the final outcome; that are a necessary planned part of the experiment, but that don’t play a planned part with a predetermined effect. Coincidence should be allowed to add value to the experiment. I avoid to use the word “interfere” on purpose, since it implies altering a planned course. Coincidence indeed alters the course of events, but since the origin, sequence and outcome of the events are not planned, it does not “interfere”.
Afraid of ever encountering a horror vacui and obsessed with surfaces, I tend to start working on a painting by contemplating how I can cover that blank canvas in paint in such a way that it becomes a meticulous experiment that researches the influence of coincidence on my conscious actions and how a painterly action interacts with chaos and de- and recreates it. It results in a cross over between directed painterly expression and Brownian motion.
The painting is created for the experiment’s sake, not for the sake of esthetic admiration. The esthetics of research merely add to the wider acceptance of the experiment and as such the painting can fulfil two purposes, but the purpose of a research experiment should always prevail. As the artwork is a research experiment the modus operandi is an important co-creator of the final outcome and not only a means to an end. It should be possible afterwards to read the experiment and deduct from that reading how it was performed. Meta-researching the painting is thus the foremost post-creative action that the interactor is expected to perform.
In the exhibition Portraits of a Painting each experiment is documented by a series of photographs that not only illustrate the observation of coincidental interaction, but also allow to detect the working method of the painter. The eye should never let go.
Researching coincidence through a painterly action is a very pragmatic deed. Marthe Wéry (1930-2005), a Belgian artist put it like this: “I think that I am a pragmatic. I can only understand things after I have done them myself. That is not theoretic at all. […] I am not abstract, but very specific.” I can only share her opinion.
Exhibition Alert: Portraits of a painting
From April 10th until April 26th I will be showing seven new paintings in theo Gallery in Antwerp. Each 90×90 cm painting is accompanied by a little booklet, displaying photographic details of the way that paint, colour and texture generate miniature paintings, each contributing to a Gesamtkunstwerk.
The paintings are the result of the mediated coincidence between the painter, the pressure applied to the palette knife, gravity and chance. The photo’s serve as a necessary supplement to the painting, forcing the spectator to come closer and interact with the painting.
You are kindly invited to attend the opening night (please rsvp via info@steve-koll.be).
Location and opening hours
theo Gallery
Sint-Michielskaai 8-9
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
Opening night: Friday, April 10th, 19h00
Exhibition: Saturday, April 11th until Sunday April 26th
Opening hours:
Fridays: 14h00 - 17h00
Saturdays: 10h00 - 18h00
Sundays: 11h00 - 17h00
Francis Bacon exhibition at Tate Britain, 26 September 2008 - 4 January 2009
Francis Bacon is internationally acknowledged as among the most powerful painters of the twentieth century. His vision of the world was unflinching and entirely individual, encompassing images of sensuality and brutality, both immediate and timeless. When he first emerged to public recognition, in the aftermath of the Second World War, his paintings were greeted with horror. Shock has since been joined by a wide appreciation of Bacon’s ability to expose humanity’s frailties and drives.
This major retrospective gathers many of his most remarkable paintings and is arranged broadly chronologically. Bacon’s vision of the world has had a profound impact. It is born of a direct engagement that his paintings demand of each of us, so that, as he famously claimed, the ‘paint comes across directly onto the nervous system’.
Francis Bacon exhibition at Tate Britain, 26 September 2008 - 4 January 2009
Cold War Modern - Victoria and Albert Museum until 11 Jan 2009
The period after the Second World War was one of anxiety and tension but also one of great optimism and unprecedented technological development. This exhibition examines how design was shaped by the cold war period against the backdrop of the battle between communism and capitalism, the advances of the space race, and the international competition to be modern.
Concentrating on the years from 1945 to 1970, the exhibition displays objects from around the world including the USA, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy, France, East and West Germany, Cuba and the UK.
Tate Modern: Cildo Meireles exhibition, until 11 Jan 2009
Rather than spending GBP 12,5 on the Rotho exhibition, spend a mere GBP 8 on Meireles. This Brazil born installation artist surprises by the interactivity of his work. Many of his installations and setups are meant to be walked in, out, over; which makes a nice change from the “Please do not touch” signs you find at art exhibitions world wide.
Meireles’ father being an Indian, you’ll notice how he gets inspired by the colonisation era of his home country, as well as contemporary politics.
Meireles feels that good art should move you instantaneously. I’m not saying I experienced this with his every work, but some of them certainly captured my attention (or my toes!) immediately.
Should you still be in London before Jan 11th, then visit.
Mark Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern, 26 September 2008 - 1 February 2009
Last weekend, I visited the Rothko exhibit at the Tate Modern in London. Well, although Rothko is off course a very respected artist and although he remains very important in the development of abstract art, the exhibition merely confirms this; nothing more, nothing less.
I have seen Rothko’s work as I know it from numerous photos, art publications, documentaries, etc… It’s always nice to see his paintings in life size, but quite frankly: that is not worth paying GBP 12,5.
Maybe you are a very big Rothko fan and are dying to see yet another of his exhibits (OK, the exhitib revolves around the Seagram murals, so that might be something new for you), then, go, otherwise spend your money on the Meireles exhibition.
Mark Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern, 26 September 2008 - 1 February 2009
