Jan Wattjes
13 Mar - 24 Apr 2010
JAN WATTJES
"I as painter"
13 Mar 2010 - 24 Apr 2010
Two wooden structures fill the Playstation area of Galerie Fons Welters. In the first one, a film is being projected, and in the other one paintings stand around in a loose arrangement on the floor. In I as painter, Jan Wattjes (born in The Hague in 1981) explores his own identity as a painter, and this theme is what connects the two spaces. In this way he juxtaposes real-world idols with those he has conjured into existence: from Michael Jackson by way of the secret painter – an anonymous, autistic artist who paints from instinct, almost automatically – to a symbolic father figure. All three fuel Wattjes’s ideas about what it means to be an artist, and address the questions he has regarding the concept of creative genius.
The silhouette of the Michael Jackson-like figure that hugs the spotlight in the film recurs in the some of the paintings as a formal thread. Depicted cursorily, the silhouette unquestionably refers to the ‘King of Pop’. For Jan Wattjes, paintings are ‘equivocal images, fleeting ideas’. And that view is reflected in the way he presents his work. He delineates his subject on the canvas effectively in a few loosely painted strokes. The works stand on the floor, in some cases actually overlapping, instead of being hung in static positions on the wall. They appear to be waiting patiently for someone to finally hang them up.
But that is not the point at all. In fact it seems that the works arrayed in the wooden structure are positioned in exactly the same way as in his own studio. As if the studio has been brought into the gallery area, where the larger space does justice to the artworks. Viewed thus, Wattjes is allowing us to look into the private world of the creative process, while at the same time emphasising that his paintings are always works in progress, just as his identity as an artist is constantly developing.
Jan Wattjes studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and is currently attending a course at the Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen.
[Laurie Cluitmans]
"I as painter"
13 Mar 2010 - 24 Apr 2010
Two wooden structures fill the Playstation area of Galerie Fons Welters. In the first one, a film is being projected, and in the other one paintings stand around in a loose arrangement on the floor. In I as painter, Jan Wattjes (born in The Hague in 1981) explores his own identity as a painter, and this theme is what connects the two spaces. In this way he juxtaposes real-world idols with those he has conjured into existence: from Michael Jackson by way of the secret painter – an anonymous, autistic artist who paints from instinct, almost automatically – to a symbolic father figure. All three fuel Wattjes’s ideas about what it means to be an artist, and address the questions he has regarding the concept of creative genius.
The silhouette of the Michael Jackson-like figure that hugs the spotlight in the film recurs in the some of the paintings as a formal thread. Depicted cursorily, the silhouette unquestionably refers to the ‘King of Pop’. For Jan Wattjes, paintings are ‘equivocal images, fleeting ideas’. And that view is reflected in the way he presents his work. He delineates his subject on the canvas effectively in a few loosely painted strokes. The works stand on the floor, in some cases actually overlapping, instead of being hung in static positions on the wall. They appear to be waiting patiently for someone to finally hang them up.
But that is not the point at all. In fact it seems that the works arrayed in the wooden structure are positioned in exactly the same way as in his own studio. As if the studio has been brought into the gallery area, where the larger space does justice to the artworks. Viewed thus, Wattjes is allowing us to look into the private world of the creative process, while at the same time emphasising that his paintings are always works in progress, just as his identity as an artist is constantly developing.
Jan Wattjes studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and is currently attending a course at the Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen.
[Laurie Cluitmans]