Towards a new space. Between drawing and painting, between canvas and paper.
Towards a new space. Between drawing and painting, between canvas and paper.
Towards a new space. Between drawing and painting, between canvas and paper.
Not only is it risky to view the work of a contemporary artist without any historical perspective, it is also hazardous to situate the artist's work in the history of visual arts. Only too often art history is being written from an 'evolution' perspective, which seems to suggest that drawing end painting are doomed to die. Nevertheless, the direct 'writing' of a drawing as well as the layered composition of a painting keep on fascinating contemporary artists.
In the course of history, canvas, but also ordinary sheets of paper, have been the scene of many a battle: battle scenes literally, but also ideological, political and romantic ones. Stories which, in principle, have little to do with the craft of a visual artist and the autonomy of painting and drawing as a discipline and language. Agnes Maes's paintings, but also her works on paper, are themselves evidence of a battle, an artistic search, a material combat with line, surface and colour.
In her work, drawing, paint, and transparent transfer paper are superimposed, sometimes literally glued on top of each other. The same procedure can be found in her paintings where a similar stratification is clearly visible. Each painting is covered by a neutral undercoat, an indefinable shade of brown, then painted over, by which images come into existence layer after layer. Suddenly, the undercoat may reveal itself and lighten up in the painting. In this way the spatial illusion of the imaginary landscape, interior or building suddenly shifts towards an unreal double dimension.
By the incorporation of collage techniques as well as by the use of rich materials, Agnes Maes provides her work on paper with an almost 'painted' dimension. In one specific work on paper the representation of a collage painting with tape is absorbed. Allowing this to shift from image to representation and again towards a new image, leads one to suspect that more is involved.
Reflection on Time and Space
Memoria, a 1989 work on paper, literally refers to time. In a certain sense, however, it also refers to space because this work - comparable to Trois - consists of a cut-up piece of cardboard from a box which had been folded open. Not only do the folds provide an elementary drawing, the lines simultaneously refer to the ribs of the box. In this work the image of the 'developed', folded-open cardboard box fuses with the image of the box itself. In both drawings, Agnes Maes is not concerned with a geometrical congruence but an artistic story. In Memoria this is shown, by a small cut-out corner which is coloured with a spot of black paint. In Trois the tape as well as the tear of the envelope are part of the 'drawing'.
The representation of volume and space reminds one very strongly of an architect's work. Consequently, one should not be surprised to discover in the work - both on paper and on canvas - architectural references. In 25 x 21, the cross-shaped floor plan of a building forms the basis of an artistic game of colour and surface facing two fragments of a circle line. The title itself, is nothing more than a reference to the material measurements of the work. An objective, rationalist description which has to 'bring down to earth' the complete story of space, drawing and architecture.
The architectural dimension in Agnes Maes's work is also revealed by the titles of the series of paintings, such as Palladio and Naar een Nieuwe Ruimte (Towards a New Space). It seems as if Agnes Maes, by analogy with the 'New Image' in painting, is looking for a new space in her work. An essential element is the application of round spots. In the Frontière canvas, for instance, an abstract space with incoming light is reoriented by the application of spots. The spectator is, in a way, free to select one of the spots as a vanishing point from where imaginary perspective lines might generate a new, personal space.
In the works on paper which Agnes Maes has produced since the end of the eighties, those spots play an even more important role structurally. In these, let's say, 'graphic' works, she allows the spots to take an imperative position against the straight lines of an imaginary co-ordinate system, against organically fluent lines or against a free gesture.
The works of Agnes Maes do not show any deconstruction of elements. Yet, one could say - although to some this may be an exaggeration - that her work is related to that of the utopian architect and graphic artist Piranesi. At the end of the eighteenth century, Piranesi brought together isolated elements and fragmentary architectural impressions into a ruinous setting - cf. Capriccio's - and for generations, he caused the spectator to reconstruct the space himself. This appeal to the spectator's imagination is equally present in Agnes Maes's work NAAR EEN NIEUWE RUIMTE (Towards a New Space).
