Bruno Dunley / George Braque

George Braque

Clarinet and Bottle of Rum on a Mantelpiece

1911

oil on canvas

81 x 60 cm

Bruno Dunley (BR)

untitled

2014

oil on canvas

200 x 150 cm

http://www.nararoesler.com.br/en/artists/35-bruno-dunley

Damien Meade / All Dead Painters

 
Hand stencils

Cueva de El Castillo

Cantabria, Spain

c. 35,000 BCE

People die, and things survive them. We look for meaning everywhere, fervently in the things of the dead. But some of these things are constructed in such a way that they seem to activate and respond to our random projections, feeding on them, and swelling into a feedback loop of call and response. Paintings are these things. C.S. Peirce defines an index as a category of sign that maintains a physical tie to its referent. Every painting is indexical, an index of consciousness itself. In work, every painter is like a deaf-mute. So in death, there is no voice lost, but consciousness prevails.

Damien Meade, 2014

Damien Meade (IE/BG)

Untitled

2013

oil on linen on board

46.5 x 35.5 cm

 

Damien Meade (IE/BG)

Structure no.2

2014

oil on linen on board

42 x 52 cm

www.damienmeade.com

Bart Vandevijvere / Marthe Wéry

Marthe Wéry

1994

acrylic on wood

59 x 51 cm

The wonderful fundamental and a-referent painting of Marthe Wéry has a high sensitivity. The perception of it demands an open, unconditioned attitude: a slow process, as the opposite of today's quick and pre-cooked consumerism.

The work 'Toru' refers to a same kind of spirit and painterly approach. It's dedicated to the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.

Bart Vandevijvere, 2014

'... painting is the creation of an analogy for the invisible and the unintelligible, which should become figure and should become accessible ... Good paintings are therefore incomprehensible ... They are incomprehensible so that they cannot be consumed and remain essential ...' 

Gerhard Richter quoted in an essay by Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, entitled 'Richter's facture: between the synecdoche and the spectacle'

Bart Vandevijvere (BE)

Toru

2014 

acrylic, water on canvas

100 x 80 cm

www.bartvandevijvere.be

Shaan Syed / Ad Reinhardt

Ad Reinhardt

This may be a really bad quality shot of an Ad Reinhardt painting, but it’s also a brilliantly savy shot of an Ad Reinhardt painting and someone’s hand. Reinhardt’s paintings were never meant to be photographed. He deliberately tried to make his paintings un-photographable. The colour and surface variations were so subtle that even today’s cameras can’t give an accurate representation of what our eyes can see and adjust to when in front of them. I imagine Reinhardt was a prickly character. His paintings were about a focused refusal, just as his political cartoons satirised and revealed the fallacies of certain facets of art world thinking. Whoever decided to put his hand in front of this Reinhardt painting as the picture was being snapped probably understood this very well.

Shaan Syed, 2014

 

Shaan Syed (CA/UK)

Stage Right (Dark Green Horizontal With Double Swipe)

2013

oil and polyfilla on canvas

212 x 198 cm

www.shaansyed.com

Jorn van Leeuwen / Vincent van Gogh

 
Vincent van Gogh

Sterrennacht

1889

74 x 92 cm

oil on canvas

MoMA, New York

Jorn van Leeuwen (NL)

Geranium Meteoor 45

2014

pen on paper

129 x 144,5 cm

www.jornvanleeuwen.nl 

Alex Paik / Paul Klee

Paul Klee

May Picture

1925

oil on cardboard

42,2 x 49,5 cm

I've always felt a deep affinity with the abstract work of Paul Klee.The lightness of his touch and attitude in his work is not so much about playfulness (although that certainly plays a part), but instead is related to the ephemerality of music. As a fellow musician, I'm deeply attracted to the ideas of rhythm, structure, polyphony, and improvisation in his work.

Alex Paik, 2014

Alex Paik (US)

V (Greens)

2014
gouache, colored pencil, paper

66 x 40,5 x 7,5 cm

www.alexpaik.com

Robin Gerris / Henry Wallis

Henry Wallis

The Death of Chatterton

1856

oil on canvas

62.2 x 93.3 cm

Tate Britain, London

Silence, ominous situations. What has been and what is about to happen? A certain vulnerability or transition within depicted images is what inspires me. Tensions that provoke the viewers or invite them to contemplate about the seen image or their own perception of the image. Sometimes I prefer abstract art, and sometimes figurative. There are a lot of artists that inspire me. Some more then others but every work I see leaves its traces in my mind. From the heavy material based installations by Carl André to the pictorial images shrouded in darkness by Caravaggio. From the meditative, elementary and planned drawings by Jan Hoving to the narrative tonal after-images by Luc Tuymans. The works that inspire me the most depict a certain fragility from the makers own hands. This varies from the illusion of painting, the subtle and careful handling of the material or the carefulness in which the story of the image is translated with the chosen material.

For exactly that last reason I chose the painting “The Death of Chatterton” (1856) by Henry Wallis (1830-1916). The painting is made with utmost care for detail and realism. It shows the exact moment where Thomas Chatterton, a poet and forger from 1770 who grew out to a cult hero, committed suicide at the age of 17. As a viewer I got the feeling that I opened the door to the attic myself and found Chatterton on his bed breathing out his final breath while his ethereal being left the attic through the window. The intimacy of this moment and the intensity of the decision is tangible in the painting. It creates a direct and confronting awareness of our fragility as humans. It gives the viewer space for contemplation and self-awareness at the same time. A wonderful piece that continues to inspire me.
Robin Gerris, 2014

Robin Gerris (NL)

Monolith 3

2014

phototransfer on plaster, latex paint, tightening straps

200 x 100 x 25 cm
www.robingerris.eu