The series of pattern pictures continue in 1975. The patterns become simpler so that the form recedes even further allowing room for the color to unfold. The patterns are mostly based on a grid of squares whose variability is tested time and again. Visual effects still hold their ground even now. They charge the picture with a not quite unwelcome tension. Above all, the contrast between positive and negative shapes is emphasized. The negative shape is the white, which, as a concentration of light, serves the function of coloring. Paintings are created which can be viewed as white patterns as well as color patterns. To exhaust this ambivalence, it is necessary to choose colors with little or no luminance contrast so that the formal action of the picture occurs on the border between white and color. The visual effect that ensues sharpens the viewer’s awareness of the picture’s optical quality. The notion arises that the picture is more an optical phenomenon and not a real object whose physical presence is arbitrated through optical perception. Physical presence is played off against imaginary presence. A course set in favor of an imaginary graphic quality. Color also develops further. Mixed tones start gaining importance. Regular gallery visits bring attention to the color schemes of painters such as Rubens or van Goyen. A definitive commitment to color painting has been made.
Acrylic on canvas
140 x 100 cm
Acrylic on canvas
140 x 100 cm
Sammlung
Müller-Dannhausen
