EXHIBITIONS
2005-2009 New Work and Bookpresentation
Gallery Kokon, Tilburg, NL, 2009
press release
Bas van den Hurk makes paintings and collages. He achieves his unique style by manipulating the most contemporary approaches to painting: a monochrome palette, the use of ephemera and found objects, abstract mark making, and collage techniques. At times Van den Hurk repeatedly layers the paint at others he scrapes it to form fine veils across fabric, linen and paper.
He operates within the rarefied area of artistic practice inhabited by contemporary painting reaching the end of its logical conclusion; where images can no longer support any meaning. He raises questions such as: - what is a representation? – what is left of it? – what is left to work with? The theme of the work is the mistrust around representation, and the work explores the statement that representations are never innocent.
The tone of these works varies from serious, ugly and morbid to absurdist, witty and light-hearted. The works are often exhibited in combinations, for the express purpose of questioning the meaning of painting itself and the role played in this by the solitary painting. It is a delicate balance.
In his work, Van den Hurk shows the representation as representation, not by showing the ‘what’ of the representation but by showing representation itself. He folds the light of the representation back on itself. This creates a gap in the experience of the viewer, a caesura. An open moment in which the observer stands with empty hands and is thrown back upon himself, creating space for reflection and consideration.