Traveller 3
My thoughts revolve around Aguélis last years in Spain (1916-17).
A feeling that he had reached the end of the road after a turbulent life. Living in simple conditions alone in an existential emptiness, but (I think) with a spiritual presence. Perhaps Sufism was more alive to him than before. A unity mysticism with a paradoxical combination of spiritual and sensous dimensions.
On show are newly made paintings based on one of Aguélis small landscape paintings (nr.39 at the museum). The motif is very simple, a forets in the background and a field in front.
Thin very flowing paint, layers on layers. Elements of heavy impasto surfaces. The paintings keeps the sketchy freshness from the inception. Overcoating do not completely erase what's underneath. The surface stores a history of events. A minimalistic color ambiance with emphasis on the horizontal. Stripes and colors that build up imaginary landscapes. Tranquil- a kind of meditation.
Some quotes of Aguéli:
"Imagine sunset and dawn at the same time. The anarchist dynamiters, splendid, conscious, quiet heroism, culture victims' revenge, dreams of utopian dreamers and artists, intuition, a pale glow albeit, but enclosing the first rays of the sun."
"The enormous eye of the horizon, whose gaze follows you everywhere"
Traveller 2
To paint is to travel. The hand work - from the sweeping broad overview to the detailed microscopic world and back. The gaze inhabit the picture, walking around and looking for temporary homes. When the painting concerns me it becomes my home - for a while anyway.
Several of the houses have biographical significance for me: kindergarten, a pumping station, a grill kiosk. Now, they are seen in new contexts. Specifically, Dutch paintings from the 1600s (Jan van Goyen, Jacob and Salomon van Ruisdael and others). The motifs flows into each other, are reinterpreted, they dissolves and reappear.
Horizon height is the same: it runs right through the pictures. Relation to the paintings is twofold: they can both be seen as part of a larger whole and as individual images. In addition, the installation has a physical shape. It activates the body; you go around and find different angles to see.
Thinking of traveling and all views encountered.
On the road ... Gaze sweeping across locations - home and base camps for those who inhabit them. Sometimes the gaze stops at one spot. A place that could have been my home. Had it been different? Certainly, not clear how, yet. Daydreaming- the postcard becomes 3-dimensional; the backdrop get a backside, the gap is shrinking.
Wake up to the noise. Now I sit in the car again, on the way home. Anonymous places sweeps past. My base camp is available everywhere - always.