Thomas Rehbein Galerie is pleased to welcome you at Art Rotterdam, which this year takes place from 18-22 May. In the Solo/Duo Section (booth number 91), we show a presentation of paintings and drawings by Anthony Williams (*1934, USA) and Joëlle Dubois (*1990, Belgium) in dialogue.
JOËLLE DUBOIS paints and illustrates. With a wink she transfers the digital revolution and the resulting role of humans in our modern society into her works. The Gent-born artist is especially interested in the voyeuristic aspect of digitalisation. Social Media Platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube, television programs such as Big Brother or the Bachelor fulfill our desire to anonymously observe others in their suffering, their love life, their failures and also their successes. Digitalisation has made communication faster, more purposeful and interactive. However, this also goes along with the fact that less and less privacy is possible, and that one presents him/herself more openly and more naked to everyone else. Basically communication is increasingly superficial, impersonal and anonymous. Dubois devotes herself with passion to this complex of topics in an ironic and also comical way. She depicts her protagonists in an exposed and unadorned manner, steeped in a drastic realism that often turns out to be very distorted and untrue in the digital world. By showing hairy, obese women and men in compromising positions, she emphasizes her own strong role as an independent and emancipated woman and artist. For all that, Dubois herself is a silent observer, watching the world in her own display of idiosyncratic perfectionism.
WILLIAM ANTHONY creates his works in a comic-like painting style. Over the years he has developed a unique body of work. Simple shapes covered by seemingly funny figures, which initially hide Anthony's drawing skills. The first glance into the world of the American artist may be disturbing. On closer inspection, however, the wit and the irony with which the artist imbues his works come to the fore. The relationship of persons play a central role in Anthony’s works. In a satirical fashion, quotations from art history and reflections on contemporary social models flow into his pictures. This leads to critical comments on modern life in an increasingly bizarre society. Anthony's works often seem grotesque, insane and obscene, yet they are always overlaid with humor and an ironic view on human existence. The fine satire in the form of comic book painting characterizes Anthony as an inimitable master of black humor.
Our BOOTH CONCEPT for Art Rotterdam 2022 with the two artists combined embraces their striking, cartoonish and comic-like images, which humorously treat themes such as voyeurism, Internet addiction, open-ended sexuality, constant availability, racism, otherness and individuality.
Today, longings and dreams are others than twenty years ago. Society has rapidly changed into a digitized, malicious mass, dominated by numerous mundane problems. The past plays just a minor role in the work of the two artists. They focus on the immediate circumstances of the here and now that are subject to their critical consideration and examined in individual ways. However, all works are characterised by a reduced, original style. It is the entry into a complex, critical and pointed imagery that points out the banality of our society with a smile on the lips.