Vrijpaleis Open

The works explore a new imagining of ’the sublime’ and are meant to overwhelm the viewer into a state of awe and wonderment.

In his debut art series, Bosschaart takes dots, spots, and particles and distills them into a space whose depth cannot be determined, colours cannot be extricated, and forms continually rearrange when out of sight. The dot series act as a visual map, taking the spectator visually through a sequence of locations into forms, which emerge individually for each viewer.

The pieces are each named after family members, highlighting the element of networks. From the Micro network (family ties, bloodlines, or social relationships) to the Macro, cosmic bodies floating through space, missing each other by millimeters or lightyears. The paintings in totality are reminiscent of physical ‘chaos,’ particles suspended in their incalculable dance around, through, and connection to each other. The constant question: Is this predetermined or continually in formation?

The artist begins each piece with deliberate colour choices to approach the empty canvas. Each dot punctuates a colour field and as forms emerge, there is a wrestling match with their coming into existence. In lieu of familiar symbols, the viewer itself is left as a meaning maker to confront density and energetic attribution. Contrary to Pointillism, the emphasis is not on vibration or tensions highlighted by complementary colours, but on an intuitive approach to density. Once the piece begins to ‘arrange itself’, the artist chases spaces which are forgotten or ‘blindspots’. The term ‘blindspots’ has a curious feature, as the artist himself has a visual impairment in which he can only see through one eye at a time, thus removing depth from perception. In his practice to develop occupied space on the canvas, depth must come through hues and gradients of colour.

On form the artist says: “In a way I’ve been painting flowers, but it might as well be a field of flowers as mold growing on a sandwich, its natural, but it’s not deliberate.” The paintings are designed to struggle with the emergence of form, but with the painter sheparding forms away from the recognizable or developed. The colours seem to breathe and bounce and slip through the shared dimensions on the picture plane. “I hate it when it becomes absolute, when they can be defined too much, throw them away.”

With a career as a high fashion model, spanning almost 20 years, the Amsterdam-born artist is highly acquainted to the visual realm. Through extensive travel, and experience to and a part of some of the world’s greatest artists in their field, his venture into painting is a logical continuation of the world of beauty he inhabited for so long. These influences are expressed in his highly formal paintings: displays of disorder and colour which miraculously teeter on visual harmony. This is echoed in his slow process. Painting, to him, is a way to create permanence as opposed to the ephemerality, change and speed of the fashion world. Forgoing traditional art education, Bosschaart instead chose to study experimental music composition, influenced by his families’ involvement in theatre and dance throughout his childhood. These disparate elements have finally made their roost in his current affiliation with the Vliegtuin studios. This space is one of the few ‘vrijplaatsen’ in Amsterdam, with emphasis on trade, craftsmanship and a space dedicated to creation outside of institutions.