Robert Suermondt - Traffic de Vérités
Robert Suermondt
Trou dans le Miroir
15 May - 25 June 2022
The exhibition brings together two distinct sets of work, “Neighbourhoods and Geometries”.
Neighbourhoods
The first body of work, under the generic name of “Neighbourhoods”, shows aerial views of cars on urban roads. It is the miscellaneous arrangement of these cars that generates tension, as well as their ad hoc grip to the canvas background, representing road layout, road markings and arrows, crossroads and flowerbeds, in a style akin to photographic realism. These cars are all painted differently, sometimes barely sketched, or in a ghostly manner, as if they are removed from the painting itself, sometimes marked by thick shadows, as if quickly executed. Their particular character identifies with various and often contradictory image processes, since they can sometimes be comical but at other times appear on the verge of dissociation, between grotesque and tragic.
Vidéo by Robert Suermondt
The interpretation of these paintings is consequently a space negotiated by a flicker of the eye, caught at first glance by the similarity to the photographic experience, and the difficulties encountered in the effort to comprehend the painting in one piece.
The eye gets distracted, looks anywhere and everywhere, but can no longer appreciate the subject in its entirety
Geometry
Similar to a film shot, the arrangement of these canvases will be interspersed by a second body of works, named “Geometries”. The perspective of this series made of black and white paintings, can be viewed simultaneously plunged or counter-plunged. A repeated yet unique pattern is set in space by alternating black and white lines, creating a concave or convex screen with blurred depth. Here too, the painting resists unity as a summation of the visible, the supports where the eye thinks it can find a foothold disappear to play a game of dodge that endlessly repeats itself.
Through his multi-faceted work, his pictorial treatment of images, and the play of identifications and disruptions that he articulates, the artist leads us to an individual, fundamental and essential philosophical exploration .
About the Artist
Robert Suermondt (Dutch, Swiss and Slovenian) was born in Geneva in 1961. He studied art at the Ecole Supérieure d'Art Visuel (ESAV) in the mixed media workshops of Cherif and Silvie Defraoui, from 1983 to 1988, followed by a post-graduate course at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, from 1989 to 1992. Established in Brussel, since 1986, he has been regularly showing his work in group and solo exhibitions.
Work by the artist is held in the collection of Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Museum fur alle Heiligen in Schafhausen, Fond d’art contemporain in Geneva and established private collections from Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Italy, Brasil, United Kingdom, USA and Corea.
