Raoul De Keyser
19 Dec 2012 - 26 Jan 2013
RAOUL DE KEYSER
Hommage
19 December 2012 - 26 January 2013
Antwerp – For the first time an artist represented by Zeno X Gallery has passed away. We regret the loss of Raoul De Keyser (1930-2012), with whom we are working since 1988. He means a lot to all of us. It has been a pleasure organizing several solo exhibitions at the gallery and to support him internationally. With this show, Hommage, we want to make a tribute to this exceptional artist. It is our way to thank him and to honour the beautiful oeuvre he has realized.
Raoul De Keyser could look for hours outside the window, focusing on some lines or forms he captured in nature. In his early paintings he investigates the tension between figuration and abstraction. He reduces a doorhandle or garden hose to its basic form and accentuates the contours. Later he introduces his fascination for football. Particuliarly the way a man paint the white lines on the field, inspires him for structuring paintings such as Krijtlijnen HV (1976-1977), where white lines divide the green surface. The visible brushstrokes are the result of controlled and determined movements.
With a modest gesture, drips of paint have been splashed on the canvas of Dal (1992), a work that was made for Documenta IX. In Overflow (2011) he even scratches and digs into the paint. By working very physical with paint and brushes a monochrome becomes more than a flat and silent surface. Raoul De Keyser brings texture, dynamism and rhythm in monochromatic paintings such as Untitled (1987) and Z (1990). He works very economical. Thin layers of paint are superimposed and unveil underneath laying colours. In Blinddoek from 1988 the crackling paint makes underneath lying layers and colours visible. On the sides a tension between colours and non-colours appears. Raoul De Keyser wasn’t afraid of revising a work many years later. Untitled (1974-1988), originally a larger piece, has been reduced in size and got a new and smaller frame. A dark colour came above the existing painting. The white painted space in the corner completed the work. His paintings also have the quality of an object. In the late sixties, early seventies he painted seven linen boxes, which are presented as a sculptural object where one, can walk around. He always preferred to stretch the canvas over the wooden frame by himself. Especially in the smaller works this gives an intimate impact on the work.
Most of his titles stimulate an undetermined observation and interpretation. The way he connects an abstract painting to a suggestive title is very personal, part of his own logic. Groningen ‘70 (1976), Bern-Berlin-hangend (1993) and Blau voor München (Arbeit in Blau) (1993) all refer to an existing place. This can be related to an exhibition for which he made the work or to places he visited. Z (1990) was made for an exhibition at the gallery and contains the first letter of Zeno X. Titles as Fire (2010) and Passage (2010) are more related to a certain movement and energy.
Raoul De Keyser had solo exhibitions at international museums and institutes such as the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (GB); Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, Kunstmuseum Bonn (DE); De Pont, Tilburg (NL), Kunsthalle Bern, Kunstverein St. Gallen, Kunstmuseum Luzern (CH); Fundacao Serralves, Porto (PT) and The Renaissance Society in Chicago (US). De Keyser has been selected to participate at major group exhibitions, such as Documenta IX and the Venice Biennal 2007. His work is part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum Ludwig in Köln, S.M.A.K. in Ghent, De Pont Stichting in Tilburg and many others.
Hommage
19 December 2012 - 26 January 2013
Antwerp – For the first time an artist represented by Zeno X Gallery has passed away. We regret the loss of Raoul De Keyser (1930-2012), with whom we are working since 1988. He means a lot to all of us. It has been a pleasure organizing several solo exhibitions at the gallery and to support him internationally. With this show, Hommage, we want to make a tribute to this exceptional artist. It is our way to thank him and to honour the beautiful oeuvre he has realized.
Raoul De Keyser could look for hours outside the window, focusing on some lines or forms he captured in nature. In his early paintings he investigates the tension between figuration and abstraction. He reduces a doorhandle or garden hose to its basic form and accentuates the contours. Later he introduces his fascination for football. Particuliarly the way a man paint the white lines on the field, inspires him for structuring paintings such as Krijtlijnen HV (1976-1977), where white lines divide the green surface. The visible brushstrokes are the result of controlled and determined movements.
With a modest gesture, drips of paint have been splashed on the canvas of Dal (1992), a work that was made for Documenta IX. In Overflow (2011) he even scratches and digs into the paint. By working very physical with paint and brushes a monochrome becomes more than a flat and silent surface. Raoul De Keyser brings texture, dynamism and rhythm in monochromatic paintings such as Untitled (1987) and Z (1990). He works very economical. Thin layers of paint are superimposed and unveil underneath laying colours. In Blinddoek from 1988 the crackling paint makes underneath lying layers and colours visible. On the sides a tension between colours and non-colours appears. Raoul De Keyser wasn’t afraid of revising a work many years later. Untitled (1974-1988), originally a larger piece, has been reduced in size and got a new and smaller frame. A dark colour came above the existing painting. The white painted space in the corner completed the work. His paintings also have the quality of an object. In the late sixties, early seventies he painted seven linen boxes, which are presented as a sculptural object where one, can walk around. He always preferred to stretch the canvas over the wooden frame by himself. Especially in the smaller works this gives an intimate impact on the work.
Most of his titles stimulate an undetermined observation and interpretation. The way he connects an abstract painting to a suggestive title is very personal, part of his own logic. Groningen ‘70 (1976), Bern-Berlin-hangend (1993) and Blau voor München (Arbeit in Blau) (1993) all refer to an existing place. This can be related to an exhibition for which he made the work or to places he visited. Z (1990) was made for an exhibition at the gallery and contains the first letter of Zeno X. Titles as Fire (2010) and Passage (2010) are more related to a certain movement and energy.
Raoul De Keyser had solo exhibitions at international museums and institutes such as the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (GB); Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, Kunstmuseum Bonn (DE); De Pont, Tilburg (NL), Kunsthalle Bern, Kunstverein St. Gallen, Kunstmuseum Luzern (CH); Fundacao Serralves, Porto (PT) and The Renaissance Society in Chicago (US). De Keyser has been selected to participate at major group exhibitions, such as Documenta IX and the Venice Biennal 2007. His work is part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum Ludwig in Köln, S.M.A.K. in Ghent, De Pont Stichting in Tilburg and many others.