After a succesful opening exhibition we are now focusing our attention on RECESS #2. Thursday next week the geometrical compositions by Ido Vunderink and the portraits by Rob Renoult will make way for the poetic paintings by Melle de Boer.
A recurring theme in Melle's work is heroism. This theme has been broadly used throughout art history. Just think of paintings about Hercules' deeds, Romantic interpretations of Norse Mythology and Greek sculpture. But where we identify Hercules by his life story, the story of the conteporary hero is interchangable.
Take Superman. As Umberto Eco pointed out, our image of Superman is not created out of his actions, but from his archetype. Whenever we see a figure with a large letter S on his chest in a blue suit and a cape, we know he shoots laser from his eyes and has a bad allergy for glowing green stones. The story is in every comic, movie or television series different every time.
A perfect theme for an artist who wishes to stay as close to the abstract as possible. In P.P Boots, 2017-20, we see a descending red cape with the letters P.P above. As onlookers we step right the middle of a story, we don't need a title to see this refers to superman. With all associations connected to the hero, Melle does not need anything else in order to get to a clear image that is poetically charged.
