Sigmar Polke
Untitled (Lapis-Lazuli)
1998
tempera
and resin on canvas
239,5 x 199,5 cm
What is happening in this
painting of Sigmar Polke? He brings together the canvas, the resin and the
pigment. In doing so, he applies the pigment with the resin to the canvas. I
don’t know if there was a plan in the applying. It seems to me that he applied
the pigment and the resin, controlling them in the moment of the act. The
picture we are now looking at seems to be the organical result of this act.
Sigmar Polke's work is
influenced by alchemists and fairytale tellers, chemists and storytellers. My
own work is related to medieval mystics such as Bernard of Clairvaux, Aelred of
Rivaulx, William of St. Thierry, Hildegard of Bingen, St. John of the Cross. In
their work I recognize an approach of understanding time and space given to
humans. It is the urge to meet the unknown, the unpredictable that gets hold of
my desires. My work ‘The dark night IV’ (from a series of eight paintings on
paper, 65 x 50 cm, 2014) is a reference to the poem by St. John of the Cross.
Entering the dark night by painting in horizontal en vertical brushstrokes I
encounter an unknown experience. The dark side of being is working together
with the light in bringing it together into the open. An experience that is
rather pre-verbal than verbal. The image as a moment of revelation.
George
Meertens, 2014
George Meertens (NL)
The dark night IV
2014
oil
on paper
65
x 50 cm
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