Raimer Jochims
11 Nov 2011 - 22 Jan 2012
RAIMER JOCHIMS
Bilder und Papierarbeiten
11 November, 2011 - 22 January, 2012
Since the 1970’s Raimer Jochims has been accompanying his art work with greatly-discussed publications. This way, his creative and his literary activities evolved in a parallel yet independent fashion. Far from illustrating texts or merely commenting on his painting, both spheres function as equivalent methods to investigate social processes.
Jochims' art historical reflections do, however, elucidate relations between colour and form, whose ultimate congruency he summarizes in his concept of 'visual identity.' The various virtues of colour – active/passive, extrovert/introvert, expanding/contracting, durable/ephemeral, heavy/light – require corresponding shapes in order to fully unfold their impact Instead of preventing colour from doing so by confining it to rectangular formats, Jochims utilizes organically shaped materials like natural stone, torn paper or hand-shaped chipboard.
One reason for this concentration on these hybrid forms, unifying painting and sculpture, is the persuasive interaction between outline and colour. Also seen are the multiple semantic levels of this foundation made from shattered wood; its fabrication by means of the destruction of plant stands in stark contrast to the liveliness of its vivid colouring. However, the random bulk of wooden slivers seem to be an adequate equivalent of a world based on economical and ecological exploitation.
Since Jochims does not so much cut but break the board with tongs, the act of demolition and reshaping of this hybrid gathered from organic and synthetic matter, consisting of harvested vegetation and artificial glue, seems a topical procedure, given the ubiquity of social fragmentation. Hence chipboard embodies the progression of dissolution and synthesis of a former entity.
As crucial as the heterogeneity of the violently compressed particles is to the cohesiveness, it is physically brought about by paste; respectively, by colour on the visual level. Worked with a palette knife, the detailed layers of paint continue the non-directedness of the chips they cover, giving rise to a decentralized texture which courts perception instead of recognition.
While this deliberate cracking of the board allows for a contouring “responding to the colour's demand”1, the outline remains jagged. The riven profile emphasises the border between painted surface and its surrounding, thus enabling the sculpture to reach out, and for the space to reach in.
Apart from the colour's requirements, some outlines are inspired by artifacts of ancient cultures, which would draw Jochims' interest for their abstract and yet expressive qualities.
The paintings' position across the walls will be determined by the visual weight and direction resulting from the colour-form relationship. Accompanying this particular series a number of works on paper will be presented. The revised republication of Jochims' standard work Visuelle Identitaet (edited by Dirk Conrad and Jacky Strenz) will be launched at the exhibition’s opening.
Bilder und Papierarbeiten
11 November, 2011 - 22 January, 2012
Since the 1970’s Raimer Jochims has been accompanying his art work with greatly-discussed publications. This way, his creative and his literary activities evolved in a parallel yet independent fashion. Far from illustrating texts or merely commenting on his painting, both spheres function as equivalent methods to investigate social processes.
Jochims' art historical reflections do, however, elucidate relations between colour and form, whose ultimate congruency he summarizes in his concept of 'visual identity.' The various virtues of colour – active/passive, extrovert/introvert, expanding/contracting, durable/ephemeral, heavy/light – require corresponding shapes in order to fully unfold their impact Instead of preventing colour from doing so by confining it to rectangular formats, Jochims utilizes organically shaped materials like natural stone, torn paper or hand-shaped chipboard.
One reason for this concentration on these hybrid forms, unifying painting and sculpture, is the persuasive interaction between outline and colour. Also seen are the multiple semantic levels of this foundation made from shattered wood; its fabrication by means of the destruction of plant stands in stark contrast to the liveliness of its vivid colouring. However, the random bulk of wooden slivers seem to be an adequate equivalent of a world based on economical and ecological exploitation.
Since Jochims does not so much cut but break the board with tongs, the act of demolition and reshaping of this hybrid gathered from organic and synthetic matter, consisting of harvested vegetation and artificial glue, seems a topical procedure, given the ubiquity of social fragmentation. Hence chipboard embodies the progression of dissolution and synthesis of a former entity.
As crucial as the heterogeneity of the violently compressed particles is to the cohesiveness, it is physically brought about by paste; respectively, by colour on the visual level. Worked with a palette knife, the detailed layers of paint continue the non-directedness of the chips they cover, giving rise to a decentralized texture which courts perception instead of recognition.
While this deliberate cracking of the board allows for a contouring “responding to the colour's demand”1, the outline remains jagged. The riven profile emphasises the border between painted surface and its surrounding, thus enabling the sculpture to reach out, and for the space to reach in.
Apart from the colour's requirements, some outlines are inspired by artifacts of ancient cultures, which would draw Jochims' interest for their abstract and yet expressive qualities.
The paintings' position across the walls will be determined by the visual weight and direction resulting from the colour-form relationship. Accompanying this particular series a number of works on paper will be presented. The revised republication of Jochims' standard work Visuelle Identitaet (edited by Dirk Conrad and Jacky Strenz) will be launched at the exhibition’s opening.