All 3 works were chosen from the Series “Imaginary Science“.

With “Imaginary Science” I continue on the theme that art is an experiment. As each experiment it follows a certain process, it investigates and those acts lead to a result. In this series I combine the process – the artistic/experimental setup – with the result.

The B/W photos are macro photos of a microscope under which a thin layer of paint is smeared on a slide. This is the setup. The photos gain texture by adding the 3 colours that I used to create the paint smear.

When photographing the light that shines through this paint smear in an out-of-focus fashion you get discs of coloured light. Depending on the focus distance these discs are larger or smaller.

Now, the experiment that is being undertaken here is that of visual compression of reality. It’s astonishing that the disc of light contains all the information of the focused image, but it compresses all that information into an abstract representation. I’m explicitly not talking about visual reduction, as the informative value is not reduced, but about compression, as only its context is reduced. From the viewer’s standpoint however, this creates a paradox is his context might be extended instead of reduced because of the abstraction of the image.

I combine process and result in the same artistic series to prevent a hyper-analysis of my work. By integrating the process in the artwork itself, there is nothing more to add. This is it, this is the whole thing, and nothing more; only leaving some margin for a harmless meta-analysis.

A scientific approach to this work is detailed in Arylide Yellow and Copper Phthalocyanine to Reprocess Grey Scale Images; Belgian Imag Sc Res Ann 2010:01:1-2

As it can take quite a while before everything is organised, I’m publishing a little teaser. Stay tuned for further updates!

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.

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

These photo’s, which I took last Sunday with my new macro lens (Tamron 90mm f2.8 1:1 on a NikonD300), nicely illustrate that principle.

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