Lotte van Lieshout, Robert Nicol (UK)
paintings
19 April – 11 May 2014
Lotte van Lieshout (1978) paints her perception of the world from a strong, personal perspective. Often, she herself is present in the paintings; portrayed in the immediate surroundings of her house or studio, or in an imaginary setting that sometimes refers to art history. By using bright colors and small interventions, the image is provided with magical connotations.
In Klokhuis (Core) a women is given a bird’s head; in 671SK Van Lieshout has painted a nocturnal scene with a bunker in the dunes and in the foreground a naked woman opening a suitcase that seems to contain a treasure. The aspect of discovering is a recurring theme in her work, almost as a metaphor for discovering and catching motives and forms during the process of painting.
Robert Nicol (UK, 1980) is a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art and The Royal College of Art, London. In a direct way that is related to folk and outsider art he paints a peculiar world in which human fears, hopes and desires occupy center stage. Often he depicts panoramic landscapes featuring small figures that are performing absurd actions.
This absurdity creates a distance from which we are able to consider our own existence and put it into perspective. Nicol draws both from high and low art, from Italian Renaissance painting to video games. Often there is also a dark side to the images which gives the work a subtle sense of tension.