“A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.”

Marco Rump (1971)

works as an artist in Amsterdam since 1996.
My aim is to make the work of art free of meaning and find aesthetics in the intrinsic form. These works are made within the painting idiom on the basis of ideas that support the physical form of the painting, such as a limited color palette, simple logic in composition, and the methods by which the paint is applied. The goal is to let all elements refer to what the picture is in a formal sense, instead of communicating content. The finishing of the painting is an essential part of the work, with this design the works are signed.

Working methods.

The medium must undeniably be a painting, but all sides and dimensions of a work are contemplated and shaped. A simple given or a mathematical phenomenon is the basis for a system which, in combination with the shape and dimensions of the carrier, determines the composition. In a series the different possibilities in composition are applied. It is important that the composition feels intuitively "right" and variations on a theme are obvious. The research is mainly an intuitive process; clarification why the image is correct, or explanation of the logic is not important. It's the result that counts: the work that has come forth from the systematics and not the system itself. Tension between concept and form will not be avoided. The system need not be explained or understood by the viewer. The goal is to produce a work that emerges from responses on the premise and finds a form in which content is fully neutral. In this production process the artist is mostly a neutral administrator of the procedure.
Production : methods and techniques →
Studios : an overview of workplaces →

CMYK series.

The title CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black-Key) is a reference to the limited palette of basic colors used in color printing. These colors, unblended in an acrylic version, is what the works in this series explicitly binds. The hard-edge colorfields in thick layers of paint give a rough finish round the edges of the image. The acrylic paint is applied in a large number of layers with the use of a squeegee or by brush along a ruler. Length to width ratios of the image determine the composition. Dynamics in the image is created by the use of circles, triangles or parabolas, or static by forms such as the square. The color combinations within palette of four colors indicate a limited number of solutions that carried out in a series of paintings. In later works white is added as a fifth element which automatically results in a more complex composition.

Phase series.

In sketch the image is divided horizontally and vertically by 4 and by 5 giving two grids that are the basis for the layout. The shape of the carrier determines the composition. This method is a derivative of the phase concept that exists in music as the period between the moments in which two different rhythms coincide. Within the outline of the horizontal and vertical lines several layers of paint are applied, made up out of several thin or just one thick layer. In thickness, structure and by the method of application the paint keeps its paint-like character.
In a second interpretation of the phase concept the waveform of a phase, such as in a mathematical graph, is the leading idea. This line, milled in the panel, starts and ends at the same height, and touches the upper and lower edge of the image. Over the groove monochrome acrylic paint, in many layers, is applied with a squeegee. This results in a smooth skin of paint with coarse paint fraying at the edges and in the groove. This interpretation is applied to both square shaped and skewed square (diamond) shaped carriers. Skewing the square results in a more dynamic wave that accentuates the relationship of the line with the shape of the painting.

3D series.

Without composition in the image a work in this series is mainly formed by the intrinsic values of paint: color and matter. The painting is approached as a 3-dimensional shape in which the carrier and the volume of the paint coating will be visually dominant. This most formal approach emphasises what a painting especially is: paint on a carrier. The identity of the work arises from the properties of the material. Uniqueness by the character of the paint is a conceptual theme in this experimental line.

In the oil palette of seven colors color combinations are chosen that create an atmosphere in the abstract sense but associations or suggestion by color is avoided. This usually led to a series of paintings in which different possibilities in atmosphere and balance were developed. The color combinations within the palette of four colors of acrylic paint give a limited number of solutions that are executed in the series. Besides the color palette and the way the paint is applied, a personal grammar of solutions is clearly recognizable in the finishing of the works.

Presentation.

The titles of the works are numbers that indicate the position of a work in the series and the whole body of work. Not per se in a chronological order. In the context, such as title and presentation, the same kind of personal grammar as used in the paintings is applied. This stylistic signature reinforces the individuality of the work by continuity in style.

The painting phenomenon.

The spreading of a story, vision or statement through a painting is no longer meaningful now mass media are available to everyone and ​​art is made for everyone. How often have you seen a picture of the "Mona Lisa" and how often (and good) did you really see that painting? Of course everyone thinks at first of the painting, but to what extent is the "Mona Lisa" idea a painting compared to the phenomenon? To a lesser extent this applies to every painting. Due to its physical form a contemporary painting has an automatic connection with the art of Western culture. As archetypal form of art "the painting" bears an art historical and artistic context in it and this way the carrier of the "Art" meme.
Such as a post-modern artists can present art in an everyday environment, is "art" in a neo-modernist approach to painting the chosen context. Formal art focuses on perception, on what is really to see, because the artist does not purport to show anything else that than. It is up to the viewer to experience the aesthetics of color, texture and composition and to develop thoughts on it with or without an awareness of the art context. In this sense, the artistic research expands and continues the tradition of progress in art more in conceptual consciousness than in innovation by shape and style.

Formalism.

As in nature, the objective is merely the existence and everything a response to the foregoing, in formalism a reaction is the only thing that an artist wants to put in motion by making a work of art. The aim and content is form. It involves the formal aspects of the work such as the size, picture elements and materials - in short, everything a painting is in intrinsic sense. Systematics and logic within which the development process takes place are without ulterior motives, other than to let the painting exist.
In concept and imagination communicated via language possibilities are unlimited, but the physical form can result in the incredible aesthetic sensation of direct eye contact with matter and the quality of color. Zooming in on the painting or, in other words, minimizing the outside world, is not intended as a statement but merely a consequence of the focus on the painting. In the formal approach the work is not a medium to convey a story, or the representation of a personal thought or reality. By ignoring content the artwork is freed from the discussion about what the artist may have meant by it and how it should be interpreted, making it truly autonomous.

Artistic kinship.

Movements and terms Bauhaus → Concrete art → Suprematisme → Color field painting → Cold abstraction/Geometric abstraction → Abstract expressionisme → Hard-edge painting → Systemic painting → Formalism →

1880 - 2000 Josef Albers [1888 - 1976] Max Bill [1908 - 1994] Marcel Duchamp [1887 - 1968] Lucio Fontana [1899 - 1968] Donald Judd [1928 - 1994] Yves Klein [1928 - 1962] Kasimir Malevich [1878 - 1935] Èdouard Manet [1832 - 1883] Henri Matisse [1869 - 1954] Piet Mondriaan [1872 - 1944] Barnett Newman [1905 - 1970] Ad Reinhardt [1913 - 1967] Gerrit Rietveld [1888 - 1964] Mark Rothko [1903 - 1970]

Contemporary Jan Andriesse [1950] Daniel Buren [1938] Ian Davenport [1966] Peter Davis [1972] Peter Halley [1953] Herbert Hamak [1952] Jasper Johns [1930] Anish Kapoor [1954] Ellsworth Kelly [1923] Imi Knoebel [1940] Kenneth Noland [1924 - 2010] Blinky Palermo [1943 - 1977] Robert Rauschenberg [1925 - 2008] Gerhard Richter [1932] Bridget Riley [1931] Frank Stella [1936] Jens Wolf [1967]

.scripsit was last updated on 4 March 2015.