GALERIE KÖLN & CABINET COLOGNE, BRÜSSELER STR. 21, T +49.221.92355901, MI-FR 13 - 18 UHR, U.N.V.
GALERIE BURG LEDE BONN, AN DER BURG LEDE 1, T +49.228.71012501, FR-SA 14 - 17 UHR, NACH VORANMELDUNG
KÖLN
PIETER LAURENS MOL
EVENTIDE - BACK TO BLACK FOR A MARK IN THE DARK
GALERIE BRÜSSELER STRASSE 21 KÖLN, 3. MÄRZ – 28. APRIL 2023
ERÖFFNUNG FREITAG 3. MÄRZ 2023, 18-21 UHR
GEMEINSAMER RUNDGANG DURCH DIE AUSSTELLUNG MIT DEM KÜNSTLER, 19 UHR
PIETER LAURENS MOL, IMMINENT TEMPEST, 1999, CIBACHROME PRINT MOUNTED ON DIBOND, 125,3 X 160,2 CM,
COURTESY PARROTTA CONTEMPORARY ART COLOGNE / BONN
IT IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT BLACK AND WHITE ARE NOT COLOURS IN A STRICT SENSE. WE SHOULD BE SEEING THE FORMER AS THE ABSENCE OF COLOUR, THE LATTER AS THE CONVERGENCE OF ALL COLOURS. GOING FROM ONE TO THE OTHER IS LIKE TRAVELING FROM PURE EMPTINESS TO ABSOLUTE FULLNESS, FROM ZERO TO THE INFINITE. THE PHYSICAL SIDE OF THE STORY MAY NOT BE SO EXCITING IN ITSELF, BUT IT HAS BEEN SO EXTRAORDINARILY EASY TO TURN THE HUMAN PERCEPTION OF THIS NATURAL PHENOMENON INTO ANY KIND OF POWER
METAPHORS AND ALLEGORIES. FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, FROM CHAOS TO COSMOS, FROM THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL TO THE BEATIFIC VISION OF THE CREATOR, FROM THE ES TO THE ICH. IN ALL HUMAN CULTURES, IN MOST RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS, IN COUNTLESS FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, NIGHT AND DAY ARE NOT JUST THE TEMPORARY FLIGHT OF LIGHT AND ITS INEVITABLE RETURN. THE POINT TO SOMETHING MORE, PERHAPS TO THE DRAMA OF EXISTENCE AND ITS RESOLUTION, PERHAPS TO PROGRESS TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT AND EMANCIPATION, OR PERHAPS EVEN TO COSMIC PRINCIPLES THAT FIVE MEANING TO OUR SUFFERING AND ENCOURAGE US TO MOVE OUT OF EXISTENTIAL DARKNESS.
… WHAT IS LESS EVIDENT IS THAT THE NATURALISTIC METAPHOR OF DEATH ASSOCIATED TO BLACK ALSO HIDES A REFERENCE TO IMAGINATION. THE NEW LIFE EMERGING OUT OF ALCHEMIC NIGREDO IS ALSO THE VIVID IMAGERY SPRINGING OUT OF A TOTAL BLACK, EMPTY SURFACE. WHEN THE EYE OBSERVES IT, THE MIND, OR WHATEVER MAY RUN THROUGH IT, FILLS THE EMPTINESS WITH THE COLOURS OF HIDDEN REALITIES, SO THAT THE PRIMORDIAL ACT OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHINGNESS CAN BE ENACTED AGAIN. THIS IS WHAT WE SEE FOR INSTANCE IN IMMINENT TEMPEST (1999), WHERE THREE PRIMARY COLOURS EMERGE IN THE FORM OF EGGS – A TYPICAL ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL – FROM THE BLACK REMAINDERS OF A CAMP FIRE COMBUSTION. TEXT MARCO PASI, SINE NIGREDINE NULLA FORMA (THERE IS NO BEAUTY WITHOUT BLACKNESS), IN: PIETER LAURENS MOL, NACHTVLUCHT – NIGHT FLIGHT, EXHIBITION CATALOGUE STEDELIJK
MUSEUM BREDA, 2022
BONN
PIETER LAURENS MOL
BRINY BREATH – BROODY BREEZE
GALERIE BURG LEDE BONN, 4. MÄRZ – 28. APRIL 2023
ERÖFFNUNG SAMSTAG 4. MÄRZ 2023, 14-17 UHR
kÜNSTLERGESPRÄCH MIT MARJOLEIN VAN DE VEN, STEDLIJK MUSEUM BREDA, 15 UHR
PIETER LAURENS MOL, UNTITLED (PAINTER’S PALETTE OF WILLEM VAN DE VELDE
THE ELDER), 1990, ENAMEL PAINT ON PLYWOOD PALETTE, OLD GLASS BOTTLE,
NORTH SEA WATER, CORK AND TINNED STEEL SHEET, 25 X 35 X 34 CM (OVERALL
DIMENSIONS), COURTESY PARROTTA CONTEMPORARY ART COLOGNE / BONN
IF YOU VISUALISED MY BEHAVIOUR OVER THE YEARS,
IT WOULD RESEMBLE THE MOVEMENT OF A GROUP OF DANCING
MOSQUITOES OVER A POND IN THE LAST EVENING LIGHT.
… A SPIRALLING BALLET WITH MANY STEPS AND SIDE-STEPS MOVING
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IN UNPREDICTABLE TWISTS AND TURNS.
THE ‘DANCING MOSQUITOES OVER A POND’ DESCRIPTION NOT ONLY APPLIES THE BEHAVIOUR OF PIETER LAURENS MOL (BREDA, 1946), BUT ALSO TO HIS OEUVRE. EACH WORK IS A SINGLE MOSQUITO, PART OF THE CLOUD. SOLITARY WORKS TELL THEIR OWN STORY, BUT ALSO RESONATE POWERFULLY IN CONNECTION TO OTHER PIECES. THE WEB OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE WORKS REVEALS ITSELF AND YOU FIND YOURSELF SWEPT ALONG IN MOL’S MULTIFACETED,
POETIC AND LAYERED UNIVERSE.
MOL’S OEUVRE IS RICH IN FORMS OF EXPRESSION AND MATERIALS. HIS WORK DRAWS ON VARIETY OF SOURCES – INCLUDING ART HISTORY, MYTHOLOGY, SEMANTICS AND NATURAL SCIENCES. LIKE AN ALCHEMIST, HE ALLOWS NEW CONNECTIONS TO EMERGE, ACROSS TIMES, DISCIPLINES AND FIELDS. THE MULTITUDE OF MATERIALS AND THEIR UNORTHODOX USE IS OFTEN INTERPRETED AS A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH, AS IF THIS WERE AN INTELLECTUALLY AND STRATEGICALLY WELL-CONSIDERED CHOICE. MOL HIMSELF BELIEVES IT’S QUITE THE OPPOSITE, SINCE HIS SPECIFIC APPLICATION OF MATERIALS STEMS FROM A LONGING, A CRAVING, A DESIRE FOR SENSUALITY. A SENSORY EXPERIENCE THAT UNDERLIES HIS FASCINATION WITH THE MATERIAL. MOL EMPLOYS THESE ‘RAW MATERIALS’ – AS HE CALLS THEM – AS A CLARION CALL OR CROWBAR, A PHYSICAL REFERENCE CHALLENGING THE NORMATIVE AND FAMILIAR AND THUS AWAKENING SOMETHING IN THE VIEWER. THE VIEWER PERCEIVES SOMETHING FROM AN UNUSUAL ANGLE AND IS GIVEN ‘FOOD FOR THOUGHT’. TEXT MARJOLEIN VAN DE VEN, FOOD FOR THOUGHT, IN: PIETER LAURENS MOL, NACHTVLUCHT – NIGHT FLIGHT, EXHIBITION CATALOGUE STEDELIJK MUSEUM BREDA, 2022
GALERIE PARROTTA CONTEMPORARY ART
BRÜSSELER STR. 21
50674 KÖLN
T +49.221.92355901
MAIL@PARROTTA.DE
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BURG LEDE
AN DER BURG LEDE 1
53225 BONN
T +49.228.71012501