ART Rotterdam / PHOEBUS Rotterdam 2024.
Plan: I opened the back for light, I put a wall a bit obliquely to let one of 3 paintings by Smejkal, on a silver background, reflect. Two artists - Johan van Oord and Jan Smejkal - show two main projects.
Johan van Oord painted sinds 2015 - 'to be continued' - 273 washed drawings in ink on paper. 16 chapters, a.o. 'Ex Hibition' and 'Furniture'. Mekka for lovers of art, art history and design. Refined. Painterly and sharp. With humor. Elegant.
Jan Smejkal developped layered works, like in text paintings where one sees several texts on top of each other. This finds a culminiation in the ca. 1000 68x68 cm. two sided collages - made since 1978-2023 - 'to be continued'. Jan builds blocks of it. One could make a labyrinth in which people may wander, never getting tired of looking to colors and compositions.