Andrea Freckmann Theun Govers 23 June - 28 July

Andrea Freckmann‘s (1970) new paintings have the general title ‘Damals. So schön’ (Once. So Beautiful). Recently a renewed interest in the past can be observed as a response to the unsettling developments of our time. Andrea Freckmann looks at this phenomenon of nostalgia critically because the past is often idealized and does not necessarily correspond to what it really was fifty years or so ago. The paintings contain paraphernalia from the 60s and 70s such as lace curtains, a Volkswagen beetle, rural villages built around a church in and trains in mountainous landscapes.

Abstract patterns are added to these familiar nostalgic images to open up the frozen image of the past and make room for a view into the future. Often on the periphery of the image there is an enigmatic multi-sided object that you can see as an embodiment of this abstraction and perspective into the future. The canvases are painted in Freckmann’s bald and dynamic brushwork. In her most recent painting, a glass showcase containing a miniature church, board game, mountain landscape and a single arm almost bursts out of the frame of the canvas in a daring perspective.

Freckmann’s free way of painting is contrasted with the labour-intensive paintings on panel by Theun Govers (1976). He builds them up layer by layer, separating the paint with masking tape to create spaces that can be viewed architecturally but also as abstract colour planes. The spaces often seem to be twisting and are somewhat uncomfortable because the dimensions slightly shift in relation to one another.

Govers also paints works that are distinctly flat and dominated by a geometric pattern, again using masking tape causing the lines to stand out on the panel. These tight patterns are broken here and there by bending or interrupting the lines. This creates a tension and playfulness that is enhanced by the light color palette of pink, light brown or pastel green. Gover’s method of painting seems like a reverse archeological process, putting layer upon layer until the image almost becomes an object. In his most recent works he puts irregular geometric shapes with a shadow in the architectural spaces, thus presenting them to the viewer as an enigmatic object.

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