25 january 2022, Flor Linckens
Transmutations
Until 5 March, you can view the exhibition 'Transmutations' at Marian Cramer Projects in Amsterdam, with work by three artists: ARJEN, Ryan Browning and Attilio Esposito. Although all three artists paint in a surrealistic style, their work varies quite a bit.
The Dutch artist ARJEN chooses not to use a surname in his practice. He's a man with several talents. For instance, he studied as a violinist at the Conservatory and after his graduation, he was invited to stay on as a professor. But ARJEN also continued to sketch and paint. From the age of ten, he made copies of the work of old masters like Rembrandt and Jacob van Ruysdael. By imitating their work, he gained a better understanding and appreciation for their techniques. He is also inspired by modern masters such as Dalí, Magritte, Picasso and Miró. During the pandemic, ARJEN decided to pick up painting again. The artist's works are characterised by simplicity, stylised geometric shapes and absurdism: the human body reduced to a number of recognisable details. ARJEN: "I always felt that geometrics, simplifications, and exaggerations play a big role in how we visually experience the world around us. I try to achieve a contrast of a simple and balanced composition with bright colors and clear plasticity, but with a subject that is totally irrational and surreal."
Ryan Browning, Night Life, 2021, Marian Cramer Projects
The Texan artist Ryan Browning also creates surrealistic works that are inspired by the big names of modernism, but he is equally influenced by virtual game worlds. His oil paintings rely on digital tools in order to arrive at a new, alternative and flattened reality. His depictions have something cartoonish, but at the same time, they do not show any figures. For the works exhibited at Marian Cramer Projects, Browning was inspired by the mysterious, dreamy atmosphere during twilight and sunset. In 2019, his work in an exhibition in the Hudson Valley was featured in the New York Times, and his work has been shown in London, Hong Kong, Richmond and Brooklyn in the past few years. Browning lives and works in Qatar, where he teaches at the Virginia Commonwealth University.
Attilio Esposito, Omen of a silkworm, 2021, Marian Cramer Projects
The Italian artist Attilio Esposito also looks at the work of his art historical predecessors, but rather in the direction of Bernini, Pontormo, Rubens, De Kooning, Malevich and Kandinsky. But he also visualises images when he walks through the park or the supermarket. His paintings are preceded by a whole process: Esposito starts by kneading coloured pieces of plasticine, which he photographs and then edits digitally, before painting the scene in a hyper-realistic way — with deep colours and contrasts. Esposito: “Plasticine allows me to have the complete freedom on the final image and above all to create primitive shapes that belong to everyone.” The result is an image that is both figurative and abstract, in which the viewer seems able to recognise something tangible.
