In his work, Frank Ammerlaan (1979, NL) makes use of unconventional materials ranging from dirt and dust to (liquid) metals and meteorite particles. Ammerlaan can be seen as a contemporary alchemist, researching perception, the boundaries of painting and unpredictable processes.
At the core of Ammerlaan’s practice lies desire to capture the constant flux of our reality that goes beyond individual lives and knowledges and equally pertains to eternal processes on the cosmic scale. Circulation of matter in the universe is echoed in the circular formations and gradual movements of shapes and colours that testify to the interconnectedness and relativity.
In case of the ‘chemicals on canvas’ works, having done research for a number of years with chemists and scientists, Ammerlaan physicalized the phenomenal aesthetics of the organic colour arrangements - visible on an urban rainy day - in the form of oil spills. The result is extremely detailed, holographic but toxic, and becomes noxious in its contemporary political context.