Exhibition 2004 * Alex de Vrede * 30 October - 27 November
| ...Illusions , Dimensions, Light...
The Alex de Vrede partnership has by now clocked up two decades. Countless of times I pass by his paintings, sometimes thoughtlessly or deep in thought. In much the same way as I appreciate that a mirror does not realy make the room bigger, I've grown accustomed to his overstepping the traditional still life idiom. Luckily there are visitors every day who, when they think I'm not looking, gingerly touch the rim of a panel, and through whose startled eyes I realise time and again that what makes De Vrede's work so special comes in a variety of guises: the illusion of trompe-l'oeil, to be sure, but equally the earnest playfulness with which he turns still life certainties such as composition and cover (hail to the painting), not to mention gravity (hail to logic), inside out while leaving them subordinate to the way in which a magic light ignites the spark of life in his creations. |