This month at RAYGUN we are holding an exhibition in Sydney at MOP Projects
The show is curated by Tarn McLean and involves three painters, Olivier Mosset (Swiss/American), Peter Holm (Denmark) and Kyle Jenkins (Australia)
We continue to hold Peters works in the RAYGUN Project space in Toowoomba for most of the month so if you are in the area, make an appointment and we will show you through. Peter has made new works for this trip to Australia, and also includes the installation of 2 new wall paintings;
REFLEX Projects Toowoomba and REFLEX Projects via West More West and Billy Gruner in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. (images to follow in new post)
Thank you Mace McGregor for helping with the install of Olivier Mosset’s wall painting.
Here are some words taken from an informal talk with the gallery assistants, just before the opening.
Paintingontopofitself
Tarn:
I’m Tarn, I’m doing a PhD on painting looking at where painting left off in the 1960s. I’m interested in a reductive aesthetic and what painters actually did with their practices from the 60s until now and how they dealt with Conceptual art and Minimalism. I am interested in how they kept coming back to the 2D picture plane, but then continued to make these other works that expanded away from the canvas support but were embedded with the same intentions.
Each of the three artists practices are made up of making works that exist both within and beyond the picture plain. I was thinking about Frank Stella, (painting as an object in everyday space) and wall painting that references architecture; things that happen which aren’t just on the canvas. Through the exhibition I’m talking about how historically these three generations of artists have moved towards making works, which expand away from the canvas and I see it as painting on top of itself. I wondered how could I actually make a literal show of how this concept would work/look. I asked three generations of artists to contribute a works so I could experiment with and resolve these issues.
I have Swiss/American Olivier Mosset who started experimenting with painting in a state of a new beginning, or zero degree, in the 60s and 70s and this is his grey wall painting. With Olivier, I sought to take painting back to perhaps its purest form, but then also by it being applied directly on the wall, it instantly references architectural space. The field opens up and becomes expanded.
I thought I would overlay that with Danish artist Peter Holms work (the next generation painter). I’m interested in the idea that Peter’s work expands in multiple ways, out form the picture plane, so I chose to include his bench seat with monochrome, as well as his new paintings, which fold out in varying ways from themselves.
With the third painter Kyle Jenkins (from Australia), I wanted to represent the idea of where painting is now. His shaped monochrome kind of represents a multitude of historically embedded ideas about the move away from the picture plane, but I also see it as a persistent infant. Its shape is off angle; neither square, circle, rectangle or oval, and the intuitively cut sides along with slightly awkward brush marks suggest a move away from a traditional painting, whilst demanding attention and engagement through colour and form.
By layering these work within the one space I thought it might be time to collapse the gallery, both historically and physically. It helps me to have a look at where painting might exist as an expanded discourse, using itself to grow and respond to an art climate that exists within a milieu social, new and digital media.
Within my own painting practice I see colour as light that fills space. In choosing to bring the individual works together, I wanted to create an intersection where light could allow a balance between a horizontal and vertical movement. The muted palate in combination with the almost psychedelic creates a constant flow, just like paintings journey from the 60’s to now.
Peter:
I’m investigating the secretive nature of painting. Having worked with painting for a long time, I am still looking for what I would describe as the truth about painting. There is something universal about painting and how we perceive it as human beings. We are talking size, surface, colours and how our eyes percieve. We’re talking about how we approach the space and how we see the objects when we come into the space. Our minds, our bodies they are working like a computer at full speed to understand one object.
Kyle:
I think the great thing about the room next door is the abstract deterioration between both rooms because they are both about similar things. One is super loud and super aggressive which is a really wonderful thing because I grew up with punk music and this room is more sedated and reserved and I think that’s what’s really great. Both shows together, artists and performers. In terms of my work I was really interested in an idea you get with monochromatic painting. The wonderful thing about abstract art is that you instantly get people who say you can’t draw or paint – I went to Sydney College of the Arts and was mentored for a long time about technique and concept, but the reason why abstract art is here is because of the duality. We all live our lives in a very individualistic way, the great thing about abstract art is that it gives us a window into something else.
RAYGUN 