2021. 63 x 63 cm / 1280€

Gallery4 location: Brick wall

The top part of the painting is more green than grey or black, something that is not easily perceived in room light. The lower part is gold, but unlike the painting to the left of it, it is not a color I’ve mixed. It is simply gold paint. Like in late medieval religious painting, without the halos, decorative details and holy figures. This is simply what it is-- a very thin layer of gold paint. And yet it provides a function similar to the more ornate version, lending a sense of reverence to the work. It is religious too, if you like but without iconography or representation. Furthermore, the gold serves another subtle function. The deconscruction of gold as a sign of opulence- the paint used here is not real gold, and cost but a few euros at a local hardware store.

 

Perhaps this is a good moment to bring in the sides of the paintings, the frames. Often strokes of paint are visible there, especially in my more recent work. Sometimes just one or two slashes, sometimes many. These are not only evidence of the painting process as in the American painter Mark Rothko’s margins.  This somewhat distractive element invites the viewer to return to the viewing point directly in front of the work, where viewing can best take place. In addition, these painted sides help underline the contrast between the rather stormy procedure which is the painting process, and the peaceful, more meditative quality of the final work. And one more thing. This is a sort of wink to the art world, as my colleagues are known to have a sort of compulsion to come into an art show and immediately turn and look to the sides of paintings as if to unlock the mystery of how the painting was made.