THE GAP – Art abstrait en Belgique. Une sélection. Commissaire de l’exposition : Luc Tuymans
Focalisé sur la notion d’abstraction dans l’art belge du XXe et du début du XXIe siècle et sur les diverses sources d’influence et d’inspiration d’artistes de deux générations, le peintre belge renommé LucTuymans a sélectionné quinze artistes dont l’œuvre entretient un rapport à l’abstraction ou emboîte le pas à sa définition. Bien que les artistes en question aient émergé à des époques différentes et soient portés par des motivations divergentes, on observe entre les œuvres sélectionnées une relation formelle distincte qui révèle un intérêt passé et présent pour l’abstraction – un intérêt n’ayant rien perdu de sa pertinence au cours des dernières décennies.
Se servant d’une variété de disciplines et de supports, comme la peinture, la sculpture et l’installation, l’exposition réunit des œuvres des artistes suivants : Francis Alÿs, Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen, Gaston Bertrand, Amédée Cortier, Raoul De Keyser, Walter Leblanc, Bernd Lohaus,Guy Mees, Gert Robijns, Timothy Segers, Boy & Erik Stappaerts, Philippe Van Snick, Jef Verheyenet Pieter Vermeersch.
Luc Tuymans, lui-même un peintre figuratif qui tente inlassablement d’étendre les frontières traditionnelles de sa pratique, a choisi ces artistes spécifiques pour la nature individuelle de leurs pratiques et la façon paradoxale dont chacun d’entre eux se sert de son média. Leurs œuvres examinent collectivement le potentiel de la notion d’abstraction et les tensions formelles et conceptuelles que celle-ci recèle.
Si les œuvres sélectionnées de la précédente génération d’artistes se situent vaguement dans l’abstraction géométrique et le constructivisme abstrait – avec des influences d’artistes comme Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) et de mouvements européens, comme De Stijl (fondé en 1917) et le groupe ZERO (actif dans les années 50 et 60), ou états-uniens, comme le Colorfield painting dans les années 40 et 50 –, les œuvres plus récentes de la jeune génération d’artistes reconstruisent et réinterprètent, quant à elles, les idées et les préoccupations modernistes à partir d’un point de vue artistique contemporain. En fin de compte, l’exposition souligne la diversité de pratiques artistiques au sein de l’abstraction tout en révélant les influences intergénérationnelles et en permettant aux spectateurs d’explorer la profondeur et les limites de l’abstraction et d’en être interloqués.
L’exposition révèle les potentielles tensions formelles et conceptuelles que génèrent les œuvres lorsqu’elles sont présentées ensemble, et en particulier, les liens et les évolutions entre les générations d’artistes. Les œuvres des pairs, des professeurs et de leurs anciens élèves sont présentées dans une grande proximité les unes des autres.
En collaboration avec Studio Luc Tuymans et Parasol unit, London.
Items
Gert Robijns place objects beside and with each other, thus creating a sharp moment of visual discovery and wonder. An example of his carefully put together objects, is this spiral, made of a ribbon out of coca cola metal, hanging from a nail in the wall.
Drieluik met zwarte banden , 1975
Amédée Cortier goes for a colour-field approach and a straightforward sense of abstraction, working predominantly with basic structures, such as rectangles and squares, which is the division of space on the picture plane.
Amédée Cortier goes for a colour-field approach and a straightforward sense of abstraction, working predominantly with basic structures, such as rectangles and squares, which is the division of space on the picture plane.
Always inclined to free poetry from the humblest aspects of reality, Gaston Bertrand did a sketch of a hangar in 1954, probably a rear building glimpsed once again a window overlooking the garden. Five years later, as he often had the habit, based his oil painting on the drawing.
Walter Leblanc creates tension by creating distortions. For Mobilo Static M 027 he uses polyvinyl ribbons. As the sun passes by during the day and it throws light on the work, the shadows move. A similar effect is obtained as the viewer passes the relief.
Gaston Bertrand is hugely fascinated by the neighborhood l'Odeon in Paris. He there makes 10 drawings in bamboo, which he will later make in to oil paintings.
With Italy and Spain as inspiration Gaston Bertrand made 22 oil paintings including Peinture Froide, in which we seem to recognize a map.
This immaculate surface, which is shiny and also shows a dégradés, has colour variations, made in steps. It appears to be made production-wise, with a highly technical device, but in fact is handmade. It's car-lacquer that is painstakingly mixed by hand and applied segment by segment. The work reflects, as mirrors do, but it also reflects in a way that creates another space. It has the element of water, or the sea. Blue is the colour of space.
Polarisation paintings 10 steps and 11 steps , 2014
This immaculate surface, which is shiny and also shows a dégradés, has colour variations, made in steps. It appears to be made production-wise, with a highly technical device, but in fact is handmade. It's car-lacquer that is painstakingly mixed by hand and applied segment by segment. The work reflects, as mirrors do, but it also reflects in a way that creates another space. Boy & Erik Stappaerts explaines the use of colour goes back to the Old Masters: blue is the sky, reds are the garments, beige is the skin tone, and greys and black are the contrasts.
Room II raises questions about the condition of historical memories and their contemporary character. A marble structure running across the floor seems to allude to the foundations of another building. Perhaps the form refers to a building of the past, now existing as no more than a trace? Or why not think of it as an announcement of possible future events?
The Brain of the Panic Zone / Sit-In Black Space , 2005
The work consists of two pieces and is made of a black polyester resin that is extremely shiny. It is exhibited in a dark room on the ground floor and anyone who enters the room must allow their eyes to adjust to the darkness, then take a seat on the bench provided at one end of the room. It is about grief, sadness and mourning.There is an element of meditation in this and there is also the element of a garden inside. The work just absorbs the light. In that sense it becomes both a picture plane and a sculpture at the same time and, altogether, an installation too.
The Gap. Selected Abstract Art from Belgium, 2016
Curator of the exhibitions in London (Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art) and Antwerp (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst) : Luc Tuymans.
Editors : Ziba Ardalan for Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London & Kate Christina Mayne for Studio Luc Tuymans, Antwerpen.
Texts : Ziba Ardalan, Luc Tuymans, Gregory Volk, Jesús Fuenmayor, Ulrich Loock, Bruno Leitão, Kate Mayne, Ken Pratt, Joris D'hooghe & Cathryn Drake.
Walter LeBlanc is best known for his Kinetic and Op Art pieces that incorporate light and other non-traditional materials. In 1959, investigating strategies for painting without pigment, LeBlanc introduced torsion to his work—he tightened and twisted cotton threads, and eventually plastic ribbons, over traditional supports to create ray-like patterns and simple geometric shapes. LeBlanc was primarily interested in motion, both the illusion of movement produced by Op Art and the physical movement of Kinetic Art.
Twisted Strings are interwoven cotton threads, stretched on a single color (usually white) surface. In the beginning, the artist twisted the strings by hand, in a later stadium he used a small device to rotate the distortions. As the sun passes by during the day and sheds its light on the Twisted Strings, they also move with the shadows. A similar effect is obtained when the viewer passes by the work. The shadowsare much more to be noted on the monochrome background. Shadow thus plays a crucial role in the work of Leblanc. And yet his work is delicate and sensual. despite the monochrome.
Twisted Strings PFX 225 , 1972
Twisted Strings are interwoven cotton threads, stretched on a single color (usually white) surface. In the beginning, the artist twisted the strings by hand, in a later stadium he used a small device to rotate the distortions. As the sun passes by during the day and sheds its light on the Twisted Strings, they also move with the shadows. A similar effect is obtained when the viewer passes by the work. The shadowsare much more to be noted on the monochrome background. Shadow thus plays a crucial role in the work of Leblanc. And yet his work is delicate and sensual. despite the monochrome.
This marble work is present, additionally reinforced by the fact that it hangs off the wall with a small distance. The marble is cut from rocks and is the epitome of a period of time. Pieter Vermeersch shows the geology in the development of fine lines, en works on top of that with oil paint.
The painting looks like pure abstractism, but is in fact a copy of a photo of a sky at down, in negative. Pieter Vermeersch departs from the idea of the sky, using dégradés, in which he uses subtle gradations of colour in blue, brown and gray.
A key feature of Lohaus’ work is his choice of materials. He is particularly fond of rough wooden blocks. The title leads us to believe that this artwork will take up a lot of space, but nothing could be further from the truth: the image is limited both in terms of its dimensions and in terms of the space it takes up. Thus, Lohaus relativises the meaning of a title or a word, and at the same time breaks away from the viewer’s fixed expectations. Just like Lohaus’ other works, this image is a tribute to intangibility, transience and uncertainty.
A key feature of Lohaus’ work is his choice of materials. He is particularly fond of rough wooden blocks. The title leads us to believe that this artwork will take up a lot of space, but nothing could be further from the truth: the image is limited both in terms of its dimensions and in terms of the space it takes up. Thus, Lohaus relativises the meaning of a title or a word, and at the same time breaks away from the viewer’s fixed expectations. Just like Lohaus’ other works, this image is a tribute to intangibility, transience and uncertainty.
A key feature of Lohaus’ work is his choice of materials. He is particularly fond of rough wooden blocks. This work consists of a wooden black and rope, this makes it possible to even hang the work from a ceiling or wall. The title leads us to believe that this artwork will take up a lot of space, but nothing could be further from the truth: the image is limited both in terms of its dimensions and in terms of the space it takes up. Thus, Lohaus relativises the meaning of a title or a word, and at the same time breaks away from the viewer’s fixed expectations. Just like Lohaus’ other works, this image is a tribute to intangibility, transience and uncertainty.
Since the late 70s Bernd Lohaus drew and often painted a flower motif, and parallel he came out with his monumental sculptures in wood. He only rarely showed them together, as if one excluded the other. Lohaus developed a preference for certain types of flowers in different periods. In the 90s for example, it was the Hydrangea, or later, in 2000, the Gladiolus. Lohaus' favorite flower, Hippeastrum (also called "Amaryllis") gets special attention during all the years. An extremely careful observation appears in the beginning, to make way for strong colours, put on with a confident brush stroke.
Since the late 70s Bernd Lohaus drew and often painted a flower motif, and parallel he came out with his monumental sculptures in wood. He only rarely showed them together, as if one excluded the other. Lohaus developed a preference for certain types of flowers in different periods. In the 90s for example, it was the Hydrangea, or later, in 2000, the Gladiolus. Lohaus' favorite flower, Hippeastrum (also called "Amaryllis") gets special attention during all the years. An extremely careful observation appears in the beginning, to make way for strong colours, put on with a confident brush stroke.
Since the late 70s Bernd Lohaus drew and often painted a flower motif, and parallel he came out with his monumental sculptures in wood. He only rarely showed them together, as if one excluded the other. Lohaus developed a preference for certain types of flowers in different periods. In the 90s for example, it was the Hydrangea, or later, in 2000, the Gladiolus. Lohaus' favorite flower, Hippeastrum (also called "Amaryllis") gets special attention during all the years. An extremely careful observation appears in the beginning, to make way for strong colours, put on with a confident brush stroke.
Since the late 70s Bernd Lohaus drew and often painted a flower motif, and parallel he came out with his monumental sculptures in wood. He only rarely showed them together, as if one excluded the other. Lohaus developed a preference for certain types of flowers in different periods. In the 90s for example, it was the Hydrangea, or later, in 2000, the Gladiolus. Lohaus' favorite flower, Hippeastrum (also called "Amaryllis") gets special attention during all the years. An extremely careful observation appears in the beginning, to make way for strong colours, put on with a confident brush stroke.
Jef Verheyen built up paint in series of translucent glazes that he used to produce subtle gradations of color, in the manner of the Dutch Old Masters; however, he relied on water-based and household paints in opposition to the traditional use of oil paints. Verheyen’s use of an extremely wide bristle brush allowed him to completely hide his brushstrokes and remove any traces of a working process, a method that made his colors appear to separate from the support and hover.
Untitled (replica Spalletti), 2003
Gert Robijns' replica is a reproduction of a triptych by Ettore Spaletti. The triptych is a collection work from the M HKA that Robijns replicated in other material, in a different color (the original is yellow) and in full size. In this way Robijns took away a key element of the original work. The work is still present, but has been stripped of the essence. The artist creates an analog reality, with small but crucial differences from the 'real reality'. Due to the omission of the color a different observation is made possible, a different dimension occurs in the foreground. The emphasis shifts to other elements such as the object nature of things.
This sculpture by Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen displays a 3D image of the corner of the ceiling and walls in a gallery.
Timothy Segers has a sculptural and design background.The Utop works are borderline un-figuration abstraction. The structures are sheet metal plates which have been meticulously cut out and sprayed black. They can be shiftes about because they are fixed on magnets which can hold up to 200 kilos.