sur face
in the catalogue of this exhibition
with Chris Cunningham, Gary Hume, Yayoi Kusama, Ernesto Neto, Fanni Niemi-Junkola, Blaise Reuterswärd, Pipilotti Rist, Nina Roos, David Svensson, Marcia Thompson, Laureana Toledo, Francesco Vezzoli, Per Wizén and Miyeon Yoon
Surfacing!
You won't give up. "What does that work of art really mean?" And it is the "really" that disturbs me. As if there always has to be a hidden significance, something invisible behind the work. Something that has to be explained, by somebody in the know. I don't know what it means, not really. But I see the same thing as you do.
...
The exhibition sur face is an attempt to view the work of art as such a screen, transparent and non-transparent at the same time, communicating and shielding. But irrespective of whether the surface reveals or hides a message it might be worthwhile to stop for a moment and study it precisely as surface and nothing else.
...
The sensual aspect of the paintings of Marcia Thompson, another artist from Rio, is just as evident, even if they are not meant to be touched. Her point of departure is the material of painting, but this is then developed to include also a three-dimensional spatiality. Little sculptures is what she calls the meringue-like mounds of white oil-paint which she often returns to in her works. In her paintings the paint and the material always have volume; they might as well be regarded as sculptures. She also often makes a kind of sculpture in transparent acrylic boxes, filled with globes of oil paint, the size of snowballs, and with similar materials also related to painting.
Transparence is another central element in her art. she often uses a plastic basis or a net nailed onto the stretchers. This gives the picture a three-dimensional effect that also includes the little space behind the picture surface. Now and then she exchanges the oil paint for silicon which gives her more possibilities of working with volume and transparence. Her forms can seem to be related to that of Minimalism; the conceptual and sculptural elements in her art may seem to constitute a link with artists such as Yves Klein and Piero Manzoni, but the sensualism and almost humorous playfulness which is also in evidence put her own very personal stamp on her art.
Pontus Kyander
Sweden, 2001.