New duo exhibition 'Free or Form' combining the meticulously constructed portraits by renowned South African artist Gavin Rain and the organically created works by Dutch artist Matthijs Scholten.
Exhibition on view throughout the Summer.
The work of Matthijs Scholten (Dutch, 1983) is immediately recognisable as a ‘Scholten’ and difficult to classify in any particular style or school. The artist brings many, partly contrasting components together to create his own new, atypical visual language. Explosions arise from the depth of his psyche and this is his translation of the chaotic world around him. Constructivist elements and symbolism come together to form his very recognisable style.
The urge to establish order out of chaos is present and dominant in all of his artwork, giving every element of a composition equivalent meaning.
Internationally renowned Gavin Rain’s (South Africa, 1971) objective is to broaden people’s visual and cognitive horizons by showing them the fantastic and impossible. By combining his origins, his studies, aptitudes and personal talent, Rain has invented an art that is both unique and participative so that all who look at one of his paintings can perceive the convergence of two opposing pictorial styles: the abstractness of the multitude of colorful concentric circles that thicken into dense and imperfect dots in relief, and the figurative aspect of the image that is defined by the sum of these same dots as the viewer takes a few steps back.
It is precisely in this backing-off that the artist’s intended message lies: in order to acquire awareness of something that is concealed yet right in front of your eyes, or hidden in plain sight, you must distance yourself by moving backwards. His art is a clear invitation to ‘back off’, to create some distance in life as well, because as Gestalt psychology sustains, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We must view the big picture, the whole, without worrying about isolated events or individual points of view.
Both artists, through their own backgrounds and their outspoken individual visual language, are considerate of the fast pace of contemporary life and its impact.