How to Paint Stolen Desires
Jaap de Vries
Appels gallery
Brouwersgracht 151
1015GG-Amsterdam
From Website Appels gallery :
{“How to Paint Stolen Desires” by Jaap de Vries, the 15th of September 2012.
Jaap de Vries creates watercolours of scenarios that are simultaneously
disturbing and enthralling. In his latest work, everything seems
to be underwater. You observe the contours – which condense into
vague body shapes – purely schematically. These forms dissolve
and appear mutilated. Yet de Vries’s visual universe
is also saturated with a morbid beauty.
On careful inspection, you will notice that his paintings can be read
as statements about the world. This is because the ostensibly
innocent motifs such as fish, landscapes, nudes, interior views
and historical portraits of women all function
as scenes where crimes have occurred.
De Vries regards himself as being a committed anti-political artist.
Nonetheless, in a commentary accompanying his paintings,
He describes his personal view of politics. Specifically: it entails the way
in which bodies are defined and manipulated by fear. However,
by displaying bodies in all their vulnerability,
he reveals precisely those awkward aspects that are airbrushed
away by political hypocrisy.
In fact, when seen in this way, Jaap de Vries is an extremely political artist.
Dr. Stefanie Lucci
Translation: Annie Wright}
