Gama
08 Nov - 20 Dec 2008
Gama
"Vorort"
Even the titles of Gama’s monumental paintings are suggestive of their uncanny quality. From ‘Connecting room’ and ‘Front room’ to ‘Return’ and ‘The master’s grave’, they seem to constitute fragments of a narrative – moments in an exciting story. What strikes us immediately is that each event takes place in a room, a bounded space whose walls, floor and ceiling are frequently depicted. Doorways or other openings also provide glimpses of adjoining rooms. Even so, the rooms themselves, with the suggestion of other spaces beyond them, seem never to end. They radiate a sense of oppressiveness, like a maze from which it is impossible to escape.
Gama’s endless rooms are occupied by an array of human figures as well as sometimes animals and plant life. Onto the stage erected by Gama step characters that recall fairy-tale drawings. They have strong facial features – they appear caricatures, almost ugly, but marvellous in the stories that can be read in their faces. These natural figures form a stark contrast with the taut lines of the spaces they inhabit. The abstractness of each space is emphasised by rectangular and diamond shapes that decorate the rooms as wallpaper or tiles. The paintings evidently seek to strike a balance between nature and the constructed world. Stray branches may poke through doorways or a tree may emerge through a floor, disrupting its geometrical pattern.
The silent dramatic effect of Gama’s paintings is achieved by the stage on which the characters appear. The illumination, by a lamp hanging from the ceiling that is trained on an actor in the manner of a spotlight, determines the intensity of action and atmosphere alike. Beneath this lamp lurks evil, according to Gama, and it is there that the scene’s destiny is determined. What Gama offers us is a scene, a still from a film or other story. Even so, this moment stands alone, and has no past or future. To explain this, Gama uses the analogy of the web of a dominant spider: the centre is very firm and dense, while further towards the edge its structure is looser and more unstable. His paintings thus create a centre in which energy is generated or reaches its most intense pitch. Yet this is not really the core of the painting or its narrative. What is presented, more than anything else, is a space. The story exists only by virtue of its setting, by virtue of the tension evoked by the surrounding space.
"Vorort"
Even the titles of Gama’s monumental paintings are suggestive of their uncanny quality. From ‘Connecting room’ and ‘Front room’ to ‘Return’ and ‘The master’s grave’, they seem to constitute fragments of a narrative – moments in an exciting story. What strikes us immediately is that each event takes place in a room, a bounded space whose walls, floor and ceiling are frequently depicted. Doorways or other openings also provide glimpses of adjoining rooms. Even so, the rooms themselves, with the suggestion of other spaces beyond them, seem never to end. They radiate a sense of oppressiveness, like a maze from which it is impossible to escape.
Gama’s endless rooms are occupied by an array of human figures as well as sometimes animals and plant life. Onto the stage erected by Gama step characters that recall fairy-tale drawings. They have strong facial features – they appear caricatures, almost ugly, but marvellous in the stories that can be read in their faces. These natural figures form a stark contrast with the taut lines of the spaces they inhabit. The abstractness of each space is emphasised by rectangular and diamond shapes that decorate the rooms as wallpaper or tiles. The paintings evidently seek to strike a balance between nature and the constructed world. Stray branches may poke through doorways or a tree may emerge through a floor, disrupting its geometrical pattern.
The silent dramatic effect of Gama’s paintings is achieved by the stage on which the characters appear. The illumination, by a lamp hanging from the ceiling that is trained on an actor in the manner of a spotlight, determines the intensity of action and atmosphere alike. Beneath this lamp lurks evil, according to Gama, and it is there that the scene’s destiny is determined. What Gama offers us is a scene, a still from a film or other story. Even so, this moment stands alone, and has no past or future. To explain this, Gama uses the analogy of the web of a dominant spider: the centre is very firm and dense, while further towards the edge its structure is looser and more unstable. His paintings thus create a centre in which energy is generated or reaches its most intense pitch. Yet this is not really the core of the painting or its narrative. What is presented, more than anything else, is a space. The story exists only by virtue of its setting, by virtue of the tension evoked by the surrounding space.