Unlike many artists are able to do, Leon Vermeulen, discusses the thinking behind the paint. He has this to say:
'The Work is about painting and it is about the body. The body as attraction and the body as failure. Painting as attraction and failure. It is painting what to say, how to say it, or whether to say anything at all. It is about posing and exposing.
The work is about being in the body and being in the painting – the body as theatre and painting as theatre. to turn awareness and experience into paint, creating silent language. it is about speechlessness, stillness and silence, about choosing painting. It is painting as sanctuary.
I paint the same image over and over. it is the body I know and have to deal with. it is about searching for an image that can depict not knowing how to be – in the body. I am not painting what the figure means, but what it means to paint the figure.
In the theatre of model posing and artist drawing, something happens. The consciousness of being in a pose seems to become more acute than the unconscious posing of the quotidian. I am trying to depict this.
I have always painted and I like the silence and slowness of painting. It is an ancient technology. For me the canvas is where experience becomes more condensed, more tangible and less chaotic. Things become paint and I can grasp that. Paint is the medium I know and use to articulate something that approaches meaning. I need that.'
The work is about being in the body and being in the painting – the body as theatre and painting as theatre. to turn awareness and experience into paint, creating silent language. it is about speechlessness, stillness and silence, about choosing painting. It is painting as sanctuary.
I paint the same image over and over. it is the body I know and have to deal with. it is about searching for an image that can depict not knowing how to be – in the body. I am not painting what the figure means, but what it means to paint the figure.
In the theatre of model posing and artist drawing, something happens. The consciousness of being in a pose seems to become more acute than the unconscious posing of the quotidian. I am trying to depict this.
I have always painted and I like the silence and slowness of painting. It is an ancient technology. For me the canvas is where experience becomes more condensed, more tangible and less chaotic. Things become paint and I can grasp that. Paint is the medium I know and use to articulate something that approaches meaning. I need that.'
October 2009
Everything can’t be said (WITTGENSTEIN)
Everything can’t be said (WITTGENSTEIN)
View this exhibition at:http://finearts.co.za/artists/leon-vermeulen.html
Trent Read
