Zinging Tangerine
KOEN DELAERE – JEROEN DOORENWEERD
Curated by Lorenzo Benedetti
De Vleeshal Middelburg
september/october 2014
Painting as performance
Performance as painting
1 transitivity: as expressing an action which passes over to an object.
I can think of no netter term to capture the status of objects within networks, which are defined by their circulation from place to place and their subsequent
translation into new contexts than this Notion of passage.
(David joselit , painting besides itself )
This painting is a recorder.
2 using aesthetic means to take the physical connection between the starting State (input) and the result of the artistic transformation (output) as a theme,
the transformationprocess initiated by the artist becomes the central element of aesthetic knowledge explicitaly taking cause-effect relationships as a theme
whereby the process employed remains transparant for the recipiënt.
(Markus Kramer , photographic objects)
This painting is a photographic object.
3 the idea of free improvisation and abstraction has references and parallels with music. Composer c. Cardew 's musical scores and compositions can be
regarded as open instructions for a loosely defined performance. (...)paintings can be seen as embodying a similar kind of open-ended potential/at the same
time they function quitte basically as a record or documentation of an already performed interpretation .
(Tim Rollins and K.O.S., an index)
This painting is a score and a recorder at once.
4 The performance document is best understood not as a secondary representation of a prior event but as a presentational space-whether that of
photography,audio recording, video or the written word-in which performance takes place for the beholder. The crucial relationship is not the one between
the document and the performance, but the the one between the document and its audience.
(...)
As audience, our imaginative realization of a performance from its documentation is not primarily a process of retrieving information About something that
took place in the past, but the activation of a performance in our present, in which we take part.
(Philip auslander, pictures of an exhibition/ the performativity of performance art documentation)
This painting is a performance document.
5 the first audience is the community where we make the things (family,friends,schools,local folk).
The making of the works involves the lifes of others,so there is this connection and energy before the works are displayed elsewhere.
(Tim Rollins and K.O.S., an index)
This painting is connected to energy.
6 (...)as the phrase "presents itself to us" suggestie, Gadamer conceives this relationship as a dialogen. An object or event presents itself to us in such a way as
to evoke our responce: understanding begins when something adresses us.
(Hans georg gadamer, truth and method / between zones, on the representation of the performativity and the Notion of movement , migros museum)
This painting presents itself to us.
7" the black paintings" are striking for their electric combinations of cool aquas, deep plums, sizzling Puces and zinging tangerines, perhaps inspired by the
artists motorcycle crash in southern italy, where they were executed. Nine vertically oriënted large format canvasses evoke the opening to the black world in
all iTS dazzling ColorS and emptiness.there is an intangible drama in the apotheosis of non-gestraald action and the artists struggle to land hard aesthetic
facts on Each elusive canvas. Red and yellow and green and Brown and Scarlett and black and ochtend and Peach and Ruby and olive and violet and fawn
and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and Cream and crimson and silver and rosé and azure and lemon and ruset and gray and purple and white and
pink and orange- a battery of ColorS and their deployment in stage-like and other performative and theatrical platforms....
(Merlin carpenter , the black paintings, reena spaulings fine art, 2007)
This painting is a zinging tangerine.
'The Conditioned, The Unconditioned, and Consciousness
Religions always point to the relationship of the mortal, or the conditioned, with the Unconditioned. That is, if you strip any religion down to its very basic
essence, you will find that it is pointing to where the mortal, the conditioned and time-bound, ceases. In that cessation is the realisation and the
understanding of the Unconditioned. In Buddhist terminology, it is said that "there is the Unconditioned; and if there were not the Unconditioned, there
could not be the conditioned." The conditioned arises and ceases in the Unconditioned, and therefore we can point to the relationship between the
conditioned and the Unconditioned. Having been born into a human body we have to live a lifetime under the limitations and conditions of the sensory
world. Birth implies that we come forth out of the Unconditioned and manifest in a separate, conditioned form. And this human form implies
consciousness. Consciousness always defines a relationship between subject and object, and in Buddhism consciousness is regarded as a discriminative
function of the mind. So contemplate this right now. You are sitting there paying attention to these words. This is the experience of consciousness. You can
feel the heat in the room, you can see your surroundings, you can hear the sounds. All this implies that you have been born in a human body and for the rest
of your life, as long as this body lives, it will have feelings, and consciousness will be arising. This consciousness always creates the impression of a subject and
an object, so that when we do not investigate, do not look into the true nature of things, then we become bound to the dualistic view of "I am my body, I am
my feelings, I am my consciousness."
Thus, a dualistic attitude arises from consciousness. And then, from our ability to conceive and remember and perceive with our minds, we create a
personality. Sometimes we enjoy this personality. Other times we have irrational fears, wrong views, and anxieties about it.'
(Ajahn Sumedho, is Buddhism a religion?)
Showering
A few years ago I did a little experiment on conditioning. I made video recordings of myself going through the daily routine of showering. Projected
alongside each other these video's showed a shocking perfection in me repeating the same motions every day. Washing hair, shaving, drying off. Every tiny
gesture was there each time and in the same pace. I changed some of these gestures consciously to other gestures but something inside me was rejecting this,
it was really hard to do. I guess this is where compulsive behaviour is rooted.
Archery
For awhile now I am working on archery skills. For the arrow to hit the target time and time again it is necessary to repeat the same body posture and
mindset exactly in a relaxed and lucid manner. Even the slightest difference in positioning your hand will make you miss. You need your body to remember.
The mind is even harder. Sometimes it works, you get into an easy flow and you can't miss. Then suddenly it seems impossible to hit the target and find your
way back to this state of mind. It takes a certain openness, curiousity of mindstates, acceptance toward failure and a lot of practise to get more skillfull.
Zinging Tangerine by Lisa van Gerven
The focus is on the act of painting. The floor is covered with large sheets of plastic. There are canvases mounted on stretcher frames, lengths of linen and a
great deal of paint. Repetitive actions, concentrated attention, music and cold beer. Visitors can sit on deckchairs or stroll around. At the end of the day a
meal will be cooked for guests, after which various activities (some of them mentally stimulating) will be organised. The programme thus includes a yoga
session, a film showing, workshops, lectures and performing acts. The stimulating climate that the two artists inhabit will have a major impact on the works
and the eventual exhibition.
For Delaere and Doorenweerd this way of working, in which the additional programme of activities plays a crucial role, may be the most ideal way of
showing ‘how to work as an artist’ – two artists working at the same time and in the same space, perhaps influencing or stimulating each other or making
each other aware. Working simultaneously like this, alongside all the other things that are going on, will have an unpredictable impact on the working
process and the result, for art cannot be seen in isolation from the social setting in which it is created. Delaere and Doorenweerd know this from personal
experience, for they have already been involved in equivalent projects such as The Battle, their exhibition project at Utrecht’s Centraal Museum in 2012, and
I can’t, I can, I care, a 2011 project that also took place at De Vleeshal. The fact that the artists leave things to chance and do not know what the result will
be is what makes these projects so fascinating – all very much in keeping with their experimental mentality.
Jeroen Doorenweerd displays great curiosity and openness towards whatever is happening around him. He is always looking for motifs and situations that can
trigger him. He maintains a broad outlook by challenging his own role as an artist. Doorenweerd seeks particular circumstances or conditions in which a
degree of awareness can be achieved. Koen Delaere’s approach to painting comes within reach of the performative moment of music. As in musical
productions, it is in his works that one perceives a live performance – a spontaneity that is reflected throughout a concert. There is a randomness, an
improvisation and a controlled chaos. We find traces of these elements in his paintings, as well as the freshness of a live performance. His works live on an
extension of the present. (*)
*From Lorenzo Benedetti’s Chromatic Explosions
In essence, Zinging Tangerine is not just an installation, but is about the visibility of a process, a particular dynamic that is taking place or has already done
so. The performative aspect remains visible in the works, and the dynamic that is concentrated in the paintings continues to resonate in the exhibition space.
Delaere and Doorenweerd show that art is not the result of a heroic act that has taken place somewhere in a back room, out of sight of the viewer. Instead, it
is preceded by a period of contemplation, discussion and real work. Contemplating, thinking and trying things out over a given period is of vital importance
and, together with factors in the artists’ surroundings, determines the end result.
www.vleeshal.nl
Jeroen Doorenweerd (Terneuzen, 15 juli 1962), lives and works in Tilburg. Jeroen Doorenweerd is a Dutch painter, sculptor and installation artist.
Doorenweerd studied at the Academie voor Beeldende Vorming in Tilburg and Ateliers `63 in Haarlem. His teachers were a.o. René Daniëls, Marlene
Dumas and Jan Dibbets.
Some random projects Doorenweerd did since 1990: a wooden catwalk for Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, Belgium, a garden in De Pont foundation in
Tilburg, a prison swimming pool, a webcam on top of Dutch customs building and containerscanner at the maasvlakte, a greenhouse for drug addicts, a
boathouse and sloop for an industrial area, the National Firefighter monument, the Willem Wilminksquare in Enschede, the analog room with music and a
view at a painting by Jan van Goyen in de Lakenhal in Leiden, a drifter in a factory hall, a painting battle at the Centraal Museum In Utrecht, all in the
Netherlands, Permakulturelle Sezeke for Ruhr 2010, trashwraps in Belgrade.
'There is a similarity between the artist and the explorer in that there is a risk in regards to the outcome. Like the unknown regions that the explorer has to
discover, the artist’s aim is to find “new territories” in the landscape of contemporary art. This research is complicated because, according to Agamben, the
contemporary is shrouded in darkness. We can feel it, but it is not visible, only with the perspective of time and distance do things become more clear and
evident. Distance is a principal element in the landscape – things become a landscape at the moment that they become small and merge into one another
forming a single image.
The relationship between the artist and the explorer lends an important aspect to the concept of the artist – not only as someone who creates artworks, but as
someone who creates new perspectives. Just as the explorer provides new possibilities of discovering things which already exist, the artist too is a producer of
new visions. The risk in attempting to accomplish this task, is that nobody knows beforehand what will possibly be found. In this way, the geography of the
unknown becomes the vast terrain to be discovered by the artist, who undertakes the exploration at the risk of getting lost.'
(Lorenzo Benedetti in 'flow and drift and perform and sit (random but in order), Onomatopee 74)
www.jeroendoorenweerd.com
[email protected]
Koen Delaere (Bruges, Belgium * 1970) lives and works in Tilburg. His work has been shown extensively in Europe , Brasil and the US. Recent shows
include the Dordrechts Museum, Peter Makebish New York, Alpineum Produzenten gallery Luzern, Cell Project space Londen and the Centraal Museum
Utrecht. In 2012 he worked on several projects in Sao Paulo. He did Solo shows in De Pont Museum, Gallerie Gerhard Hofland Amsterdam, IBB Curacao
and Autocenter Berlin. In 2007 he won the prestigious Wolvecampprize for painting.
He is a teacher at the Fine Art department ArtEZ in Arnhem and one of the founders of Whatspace.
Delaeres intrest in bringing painting within the realm of the live-experience has a long history. In the 80′s he played in several punk-hardcore bands and
organised small events and published zines. In the 90′s he made collaborative works with friends during live-performances in alternative venues or working
directly in galleries (‘start’ 1995 at Fons Welters Amsterdam, No Content No Show W139 Amsterdam, ReDetour Shed Im Eisenwerk Frauenfeld Zwitserland
1996). Starting in 2000 the performative element moved from the presentationplaces to productionplaces: to the studio (an old youth centre with a bar and
stage where there was also the possibility for bands to play. In 2011 his studio was part of the Incubate festival).
In his ongoin series of works, he explores the possibilities that lie in combining studio and post-studio conditions. Possibilities in the context of what Joselit
calls Transitivity.
(*) ‘transitivity’ : ”The Oxford English Dictionary gives one definition of “transitive” as “expressing an action which passes over to an object.” I can think of
no better term to capture the status of objects within networks-—which are defined by their circulation from place to place and their subsequent translation
into new contexts-—than this notion of passage.”
www.koendelaere.nl
[email protected]