Two duo solo exhibitions: Vladimir Potapov ‘Open Depth’| Ruben Mols ‘Moving & Storage’.
Opening Sunday 16.02.2025
15:00 – 19:00 hrs
16:00 hrs: Edo Dijksterhuis Artist talk with Vladimir Potapov
16.02.2025 -05.04.2025
Vladimir Potapov (Moscow, 1980)
‘OPEN DEPTH’ | solo exhibition
"In the new series of works I touch upon the theme of the hidden, which has always existed, but was unnoticeable until a certain moment. Often the hidden manifests itself through trauma, disrupting the usual course of things, which we are accustomed to consider as such. In recent years we have been in the historical epicenter of changes provoked by these processes. Change always leads to painful renewal, it has been so since time immemorial and we still have a lot to come."
Vladimir Potapov belongs to the middle generation of Russian artists. He lives and works in Moscow. His specialization is painting, and the main thing in it is attempts to renew it. In his practices, he expands the ideas about painting, while remaining within the framework of figurative painting. Vladimir Potapov is a nominee and laureate of many Russian awards, a participant in many international exhibitions and biennials (Havana Biennial, Brazil Biennial), his works are in numerous museums and private collections.
Disappearing and Appearing – by Edo Dijksterhuis
Vladimir Potapov celebrates painting, the oldest artistic medium known to man that has nevertheless retained its expressive potential. The phenomenon of conjuring up characters, histories and even entire worlds with just pigment on a surface remains as magical as ever. As the latest in a long line of sorcerers’ apprentices, the Russian artist tries to expand the medium’s boundaries even further.
In his earlier series Inside, Potapov created images by scraping paint away from the layers of colour he had already applied, a kind of archaeology that is the opposite of traditional painting, which is all about applying paint. He has also created 3D paintings by applying pieces of compositions to plexiglass sheets that are a few centimetres apart. Seen from the front, everything falls into place, however as soon as the viewer takes a step to the left or right, the shift in perspective causes distortion, confusion and ultimately chaos.
Potapov has developed a new painting technique for his most recent work. After painting an image, he covers it with a thin layer of plastic. He then paints a second image over it. The dried result melts away uncontrollably soon as the artist shines a heat lamp on the canvas from behind. Sometimes a remnant of the upper layer remains, akin to a frayed echo. However, the ‘paint epidermis’ can also be completely destroyed, only surviving in the video in which Potapov records the ‘revealing process’, which he regards as an integral part of the work.
Potapov’s meta-narrative lives somewhere between disappearance and appearance. For example, a reproduction of Gerhard Richter’s Kerze, that symbolises silent protest in former East Germany, is replaced by an industrial chimney emblazoned with the logo of Gazprom, the Russian energy giant that ended up in the hands of all-powerful oligarchs after the Soviet Union’s implosion. An image of Siberian primeval forest changes into a Chinese coin, symbol of the impending world power that is about to annex the birthplace of the Russian soul. And behind a frontal view of Stalin House in Novosibirsk, which opened two years ago, lurks a secret agent who points his gun straight at the viewer to remind him that this tourist attraction is nothing more than a propaganda veil for one of the bloodiest regimes in human history.
The theme is directly linked to Russia’s geopolitical reality, which has not yet quite closed the book on its Soviet past and is also dealing with a changing world order. Potapov likes to mix this with references to international modernism. For example, under the red of a geometric-abstract Mondrian, sits an equally red launch button, evoking memories of the Cold War’s nuclear threat.
Ruben Mols (1991, lives and works in Rotterdam)
“My work aims at questioning the interplay between life and artificial structures. I am focusing on the way we get conditioned in the ongoing experiment of technologies in transformation. By contrasting intuitive gestures with various technological languages a playing field between function and uselessness is created in an effort not to forget humane qualities in an ever more artificial, calculated, revenue-minded and data driven world.”
Ruben Mols studied at the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, and received his Bachelor of Fine Art at AKV St.Joost, Breda. In 2016 he won the prestigious St. Joostpenning.
‘Moving & Storage’ – solo exhibition
Throughout the digital revolution, our relationship with technology has shifted from immediate physical interactions to more abstract digital experiences. Early electronics required direct, hands-on interaction. Devices like radios, tape recorders or early computers had physical buttons made for fingers, knobs and dials that users had to manipulate—pressing a button, turning a dial or inserting a disk created a clear, tangible connection between the user and the technology and making the experience of using technology direct and personal, with a sense of intentionality and control. This sense of direct contact is lacking in today's touchscreens and prompts. We are gliding over our smartphones' textureless and smooth surfaces and streaming digital content without the need to store vinyl records, VHS tapes or CDs. It evokes a disembodied feeling, with technology becoming more like an invisible force or idea rather than something concrete and physical. What qualities are lost in transitioning from analogue to digital? And how can the sculptural medium, which traditionally involves the shaping and manipulation of matter, play a role in reflecting on digital and immaterial trends?
Ruben Mols explores these questions in his exhibition 'Moving & Storage'. Here, he presents two new series of sculptures that address the cognitive connection we have with our electronic devices, how they have changed and, in turn, changed us and the way we act. Both series play with scale and enlargement, emphasizing physical presence over 'implied' digital function. The works result from an intricate artistic process that blends the use of industrial techniques and tools with traditional techniques and material knowledge. This marriage between industrial production and hand-craft aims to renegotiate the tight-linked relationship between humans and machines. By reinterpreting familiar and unfamiliar objects and visual languages, Ruben invites the audience to reflect on our technological environments (past and present) and expanding technological selves.