Exhibition

Boogje boogje lijn lijn kleur vlak punt.

This exhibition opens a new series of solos that will take place under the heading of ‘Relations’. Created as a follow-up to the invitation to Paul Drissen in Spring 2014. Paul Drissen who lives and works in Maastricht(NL), wanted to develop an exhibition in dialogue with art historian and curator Paula van den Bosch, his partner for 25 years. Where it previously not yet had come to a formal collaboration, with this exhibition that comes from their cooperation, they break with the in the West prevailing myth, that private life and work (human and production) should be strictly separated areas.

In the recent year their cooperation took form in a series of conversations between artist and curator on the studio and concentrated on the actual production of work. This led to the central question to which the exhibition aims to answer: ‘What role does the collage play in the poetics and the work view of Paul Drissen?’.

The idea for a new series of solos*1) titled ‘Relations’ came about in spring 2014 when SEA Foundation invited the Dutch artist Paul Drissen to show his work in the transparent room of Project Space Tilburg.

Organic whole

That same autumn, after a few conversations, Drissen did a surprising and bold proposal. He aimed at developing an exhibition in dialogue with art historian and curator Paula van den Bosch, his partner for 25 years. Although very familiar with each other’s practices and beliefs, a formal cooperation had not been done before. Cold feet were a reason: fear of the uncertain consequences of mixing work and private life; negative critiques from the art world. Drissen changed his mind after talking with two colleagues, a married couple. For years they have operated as a curator and an artist independently but also executing joint projects inside and outside of China. They assessed the hesitation of Drissen as a symptom of typical Western thinking, stemming from the (economic) myth that private and working life (human and labour) areas should be strictly separated. This remark did not miss its target. Drissen and Van den Bosch realized that image and reality are indeed not in synch: if there is such a thing as a boundary in their daily life between the two fields, then it must be a diffuse and fluid one. (Family) life and professional life had been an organic whole for many years.

Excecution and reception

The cooperation took shape last year during a series of conversations between the artist and curator. These conversations took place in the studio of Drissen and concentrated on the actual production of a new body of work. Each work was considered and questioned in all its aspects: reason; intention; development process; method; execution and reception. For both, all kinds of unfounded assumptions came to light during these exercises. That fed the debate and led to the central question addressed in the exhibition and trialled by accompanying texts. What role does the collage play in the poetics, the work conception, of Paul Drissen?

The selection of Drissen work is on display at Sea’s Project Space Tilburg at Gust van Dijk. The exhibition runs from October 11th until November 15th, 2015.

* 1) ‘Relations’ is a new feature in the programming of SEA which consists of five documented solo exhibitions with research and publications. After further discussions with the artist on our part, we went looking for other artist / curator teams who would dare such an experiment aiming for a series of five projects that would play with similar ingredients.

Riso Publication

On the occasion of the eponymous solo exhibition, Paul Drissen released an artist publication:
boogje boogje lijn lijn kleur vlak punt. (24 pg 20 x 28 cm) Manual Riso print. Accompanying bilingual text NL / EN by Paula van den Bosch.
Numbered and signed edition, 60 Ex. Available in the shop.

See the publication
Website Paul Drissen