Circus, 2015
Oil on canvas
60 x 50 cm
Rezi van Lankveld’s new body of work consists of singular and autonomous entities and it is neither a depiction of the world nor an illustration of a story. The motivation behind these paintings is the excitement and expectation of the unknown. Each of them consist of several layers of paint that are being applied and removed continuously, adding and taking away at the same time, in order to build form and image that have to come to recognition. The liquidity of paint is used as the medium of constant improvisation: allowing the paint to flow and create something unexpected, which makes each painting a new experience.
Figures are always present in Van Lankveld’s paintings, as without a figure the painting would not exist. That they are ambiguous, not obvious at the first glance, is intentional: most important is first to see the painting as such. Finally, the picture bears a figure, which is its subject. Depicting the figure in a way that it allows the subject and the painting to become one.