Solo/Duo, Art Rotterdam 2020.
We are presenting Yelena Popova’s most recent series of paintings and Jan Eric Visser’s sculptures inspired by his own inorganic waste. To create her Post-petrochemical Paintings, Yelena Popova mixes her own pigments using soil, seaweed and wood ash which she grinds into paint according to medieval recipes. Popova has coined the term ‘Medieval Modernism’ to describe this practice, which is concerned at once with the past and with the future. The abstract forms of the paintings echo the traditions of geometric abstraction and their curving forms are a reflection on both linear and cyclical modes of growth.
The forms of Jan Eric Visser’s abstract sculptures are guided by his personal everyday inorganic household waste. He refers to this procedure as ‘Form Follows Garbage’. After assembling waste materials Visser then wraps them in waste paper pulp. Once impregnated with wax, the objects take on a new identity. Visser also makes use of two new innovative materials: Translucent Concrete, developed by the University of Eindhoven, and Aquadyne, produced from 100% consumer plastics.