Abstraction and space in dialogues
René van den Bos, René Eicke, Els Moes, Anne Rose Regenboog, Ingrid Roos, Tonneke Sengers
The group show of Dutch artists at the Závodný Gallery is the opening exhibition of this year's cycle which focuses on contemporary abstract art in European context.
René van den Bos
In his artwork, René van de Bos has chosen two quite different approaches. The first one is based on systematic work with acrylic paint and adhesive tape. The canvas surface is clearly defined by the stripes of the tape. The artist is using the interspace to create a logical system of intersecting rows and columns using the paint.
The second approach is based on a process in which the artist adds water into thin layers of successively laid paint, eventually directly on canvas. The individual colour bars become blurred, their borders less obvious. Randomness and absorption of the colour into the canvas are not under the artist's control. Both of these two approaches /strict control x transformation and randomness/ create tension and a variety of final artwork created during the formation of the painting in its individual structural layers.
René Eicke
René Eicke was born in Essen, Germany. In 1977 he moved to Utrecht in the Netherlands. He is continuously developing his unique and distinctive artistic style by exploring new possibilities of minimal abstract art and applied painting techniques. In the last few years he quitted painting to focus on drawing on canvas. More specifically, he is creating structural records of black points and small clusters. This relatively simple repetitive record can also be seen as a structural pattern. In his artwork he is using a clearly specified system, which can be defined and anticipated, nevertheless at the same time, this system generates deviations from the chosen order, those are clearly visible, can be predicted and even expected. This process of work creates a certain anxiety and insecurity on the canvas surface, however, it doesn't lack precision and systematic nature / the grid always remains the initial system/.
Els Moes
Before her studies at the Haarlem Art Academy, Els Moes was involved in archaeological research. The influence of her archaeological experience is noticeable in her artwork. She applies oil paint in layers on canvases and leaves it to dry. Be repeating this time-consuming process, she models a relief structure which consists of a series of plastic lines respecting the preselected rhythm and angle. The lines of the paint as well as the deliberate unevenness are breaking the falling light beams. This creates shadows and give to the reliefs a greater plasticity, often changes also the colour intensity. The canvas surface does not display the actual form of a particular thing, shape or action, but it captures the very course of formation. It is a portrait of the process of artwork creation itself. The colour scheme of Els Moes artworks is close to monochrome expression. Her canvases are black or white, other colours are used very carefully. Black and white structured surfaces do reflect light that becomes the cocreator of the artwork.