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I am a French citizen, born in Finland
and living in the Netherlands (olafz@chello.nl).
I agree that 'everything
in Nature contains all the powers of Nature'
(R. W. Emerson),
provided that Nature is viewed as the world in its totality, in
other words 'reality', 'life', 'the material world', 'the visible',
etc..
I
believe that
nothing exists by itself; interactions rule the world. Pure
abstraction is a temporary need; so is photorealism:
the works that looked so realistic 30 years ago are now again
marked by their time.
Therefore art cannot be only abstract or only figurative, but each of these to a certain extent. Exploring the frontier
between representation and suggestion
is for me at the essence of painting.
I like artists with an 'object oriented' approach in
their search to
common sensitivity, whether they do it with food (Nanda Palmieri), elements (Clifford Smith), or patterns and light effects (Carol O'Malia).
These works have in common
the removal of any context or hint prevent the viewer from
rebuilding any parallel representation. There is no specificity or
story to guide our imagination in any predetermined direction. There
is here no other way out than
abstraction, just like when you jump from a
classic still life to the
'Çampbel Soup'. Let me
also
mention a great artist that I had the chance to meet, April Gornik,
who paints half-imaginary landscapes that never represent
humans nor human traces: no house in the
wood, no road between the hills,
no boat on the sea, and therefore allows
viewers to make the space fully their own.
I
would like to remove from my work any peculiarity and distracting
exoticism. I want the focus to be on the basic pattern, the purified
shape and light effect that by themselves and only themselves will
climb up through the levels of our minds, and reach that tiny piece
of nerve from where all our feelings, all our emotions are
triggered. |
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Nanda Palmieri, Green Tower
Carol O'Malia, Convergence
Warhol, Campbell Soup - Fouace, Still Life with Tureen
April Gornik, Dune, sky
Clifford Smith, Green/blue sea
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