The Assembly Painting

The point of departure for this work is a snapshot from 'Z' (1969), a political thriller film by Costa-Gavras, in which Yves Montand stars as a politician whose murder gets covered up by government and military, while Jean-Louis Trintignant takes the role of a magistrate whose goal is to not let them get away with it. 'The Assembly' depicts a group of people gathered for an unspecified meeting. While most of these figures are calmly sitting, a man who is shown standing in the back is clearly delivering a vigorous speech. It is not in any way defined what the actual subject of his lecture is, though. In the foreground, another man, much larger in size, is portrayed talking on the phone – perhaps he is discussing the gathering itself. I was attracted to this kind of ambiguity while making sketches for the painting. --- In my exploration of the medium of painting, I deal with the problem of using pre-existing visual imagery as starting points. I digitally alter the original snapshot using a variety of editing techniques. Such 'archaeological' approach is reflected in the selection of templates which are then carefully examined, digital rearrangement and materialization using a traditional technique – oil on canvas. This so-called post-digital artistic gesture comprises of digital media, but in its last stage also includes materiality. I have been painting with oil colours since I started working professionally. It is the medium which I feel most comfortable using. I decided to use grey tones since they refer to capitalism, in which everything is grey – photography, film, press, television, computers, screens etc. I use perylene black, a shade of black which, when mixed with white, provides intriguing greenish undertones. The palette is rather anemic, muted and weary. Just like the oil colours, the canvas and the frame hanging rope are high-quality.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:15.7 W x 19.7 H x 1.8 D in

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