17 february 2023, Flor Linckens
An artistic exploration of matter and sediment
Until 25 February, a group exhibition with work by no less than twelve artists is shown in Slewe Gallery in Amsterdam. Central to this show is the material they used, or more specifically: the sediment. That term also carries a more figurative meaning, in which the work of art or creative idea is considered the sediment of the artist's mind.
The chemical elements of the periodic table are often a rewarding subject for artists. Think of the work of Alicja Kwade, who made a series of abstract self-portraits from the chemical elements that make up her (and the) human body. Come to think of it, many artistic practices consist of chemical processes: for example, the development of pigments, dyes, paint and coatings.
Some of the artists in the exhibition at Slewe Gallery seem to be playing with certain connotations of chemical elements. For example, Martina Klein's visually appealing "Chromoxid Grün" — a chemical compound of chromium and oxygen — is extremely toxic. Her three-dimensional paintings enter into a relationship with the space in which they are presented.
The American artist Dan Walsh often uses copper, one of the oldest metals in human history, for his sculptures. The material — intentionally or unintentionally — also has an art-historical charge, because it was already used in paint by the Ancient Egyptians and famous painters such as Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Brueghel and El Greco occasionally used it as a background.
A striking work in the exhibition is the video work "1870" by Roos Theuws, which shows an image of a geyser. The 11-minute video installation is accompanied by a publication in which Theuws names the sediments that have been left by the geyser: a series of metal oxides.
The exhibition also shows work by the Italian artist Nunzio, who is known for his abstract sculptures of burnt wood and lead, and works in iron by Lesley Foxcroft and Ruud Kuijer.
In other works on display, the sediment has been interpreted differently, such as in the work of Caro Jost, who made an imprint of the street in New York, or in a canvas by Karin Sanders, that the artist placed in the open air for months, unprotected, next to a construction site near her studio.
