Stephanie G. Mathis It is fascinating to see how the artist talks about the installation like it was a painting.
Painting is a journey through me and a way to reconnect with the world.
It is ironic that no matter how much you look, you won’t find any frame, stretched canvas, or brushwork. Grosse concluded, “There are no limitations to painting. That’s why I get involved.”
A second European artist who works in the same vein is Jim Lambie from Scotland, who recently exhibited at the Roslyn-Oxley Gallery in Sydney. He talks like a painter but creates work without canvas or brushwork. It is made up of vinyl strips in different colors applied to the floor.
Jim Lambie Sound System, 2015. Coloured metallic vinyl. Installation view, Zero Concerto, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney.
Why has contemporary painting refused to look like a picture anymore? It does not hang on the walls like it used to and doesn’t give a damn about the historical or practical differences between sculpture, painting, video, and performance.
It was over 100 years ago that the story began with the “death” of painting, allegedly caused by European avant-garde art. When Picasso created a series based on cubist paintings, and Duchamp rejected the handcrafted craft of painting with his readymade it appeared that image was dead.
Since then, the “death of painting” has not been an end but rather a series of new beginnings. It is a morphing, changing shape and becoming everything it was not meant to be.
In the 21st Century, painting has developed a sense of totality (as demonstrated by Grosse, Lambie, and Australian artists such as Rebecca Baumann and Sandra Selig). Now, it forms through close ties with its neighbors, including sculpture, installation video, performance, and anything else that is available.
It is not surprising that in this age of multitasking, we are all expected to be masters and jacks of all trades. The words “expansion” and “convergence” compete for the right to describe the modern obligation to do multiple things at once.
In the same way, the world of painting is a place where the use of brushes and paints has not been replaced but rather extended by the availability of new technologies, services and commodities, from the daily world. Lambie’s vibrantly colored vinyl tape, affixed on the floor, denies the traditional painting experience but retains color as the primary sensory experience. His work is vast and covers the feet of many great museums in the world. The works become an immersive experience that takes over the floor where the viewer is walking, and invokes the prismatic, hypnotic intensity of club culture.
Grosse has moved away from easel paintings, which allows her to cover any surface with a spray can. Her works are garishly colored abstract graffiti with a powerfully retinal quality that invades the exact geometry of museum architecture in order to suggest an alternative sense of disorder.
This kind of work that is unmoored to the traditional concerns of painting signals yet another time, the death of the painting. Painting has evolved continuously since prehistoric cavemen in Europe and Australasia made the first marks.
Paint has evolved over time from pigments carried by oil, blood or egg to any colour, from spray cans to video projectors. It is not a coincidence that Gerhard Richter also showed in Australia that painting does not have to be restricted to brushes, but can be done with a squeegee.
This work, and its name “expanded paintings”, are interesting because they free us from the need to search for the timeless essence in painting. Painting is no longer limited to paint, colour or flatness.
Painting is a constant negotiation between artist, medium, and audience. It is always open to new things, which in today’s world means that it is also sensitive to the digital age and global information dissemination practices.
Expanded painting, then, is less of a thing and more like a place. It is the vast spaces that Grosse has covered with his endless sprays of colour. It’s a vast field of possibilities, where the very essence of globalised existence can be seen.
