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拍品專文
Pierre Alechinsky was one of the youngest and most talented members of the CoBrA movement. While many of the other artists in the group failed to emerge internationally after its demise in 1952, his best and most innovative work would come to fruition in the 1960s. In 1965 he started painting with acrylic, instead of oil, which dries much faster. This medium allowed him to put lines, forms and figures better onto the surface. 'Finally I can paint the way I draw; I have always been better at drawing than at painting.' He also switched the canvas for sheets of paper, which he would later lay down on canvas. 'I was freed from the fear that would grab me by my throat, whenever I was walking towards a stretched canvas the way it was propped up against a painter's easel, the easel that it so similar to the guillotine.' (Pierre Alechinsky quoted in: F. de Vree, Alechinsky, Antwerp 1976, p. 7)
The change in his working process allowed Alechinsky a supreme degree of fluidity so as to match the calligraphic paintings of the Japanese masters he admired. He saw in the gestural brush marks of Oriental art a method that was both spontaneous and would give free reign to his inner vision. Placing large paper sheets on the floor, he would draw his imagery like a Japanese master in short bursts of concentrated energy. Leon Arkus describes the process by which Façon d'Ivoire would have been created: 'Pierre Alechinsky leans over the painting on the studio floor, his long Japanese brush poised in his left hand. Suddenly his meditative stance is broken by a rapid act of painting. A copious flow of pigment spreads over his paper - it knows with certainty where it is going. Alechinsky pauses. And once again channels his impulses in a sequence of strokes that spawn bold arabesques and fantastic creatures. There is seemingly no end to his improvisation.'(In: Pierre Alechinsky: Paintings and Writings, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh 1987, p. 7).
With Façon d'Ivoire, Alechinsky has achieved to create a composition that is freed from a preconceived figuration, while at the same time the intricate lines and forms are in perfect balance with each other. Though the sheet is completely filled, not only with colours, but also with lines, the composition is not a chaos, everything is where it is supposed to be as if in a natural order. Alechinsky was not seeking to distance himself deliberately from content. Rather he believed that any concept too rigorously applied from the outset of a work would blind him to the ideas emerging from the work in progress. Spontaneity was of utmost importance to him. While he placed such significance on a free, 'automatic' unpredictability in his works, a central theory within the CoBrA group, he also felt that an image was not always self-sufficient and at time required 'a specific body of reference to catch and hold the passing glance'. With this intention of 'clarifying' or enhancing activity within the central field of his works, Alechinsky introduced his use of marginal comments in predella panels that surround the main picture. In his earlier works, the margins would be filled with figurations, enhancing the central composition like a medieval illuminist. In this later work, he has let go of literally telling a story. The square margin along the edges rather provides equilibrium to the round and soft forms of the central plane. Though Façon d'Ivoire at first glance seems to be abstract, one can discover the creatures from his earlier works in the crawling black lines in the centre; the artist enables the viewer to interpret the work, rather than imposing a presupposed meaning on the painting. Standing in front of the work, the viewer will be absorbed in through the immense size of the work as well as the hypnotizing arrangement of the composition.
The change in his working process allowed Alechinsky a supreme degree of fluidity so as to match the calligraphic paintings of the Japanese masters he admired. He saw in the gestural brush marks of Oriental art a method that was both spontaneous and would give free reign to his inner vision. Placing large paper sheets on the floor, he would draw his imagery like a Japanese master in short bursts of concentrated energy. Leon Arkus describes the process by which Façon d'Ivoire would have been created: 'Pierre Alechinsky leans over the painting on the studio floor, his long Japanese brush poised in his left hand. Suddenly his meditative stance is broken by a rapid act of painting. A copious flow of pigment spreads over his paper - it knows with certainty where it is going. Alechinsky pauses. And once again channels his impulses in a sequence of strokes that spawn bold arabesques and fantastic creatures. There is seemingly no end to his improvisation.'(In: Pierre Alechinsky: Paintings and Writings, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh 1987, p. 7).
With Façon d'Ivoire, Alechinsky has achieved to create a composition that is freed from a preconceived figuration, while at the same time the intricate lines and forms are in perfect balance with each other. Though the sheet is completely filled, not only with colours, but also with lines, the composition is not a chaos, everything is where it is supposed to be as if in a natural order. Alechinsky was not seeking to distance himself deliberately from content. Rather he believed that any concept too rigorously applied from the outset of a work would blind him to the ideas emerging from the work in progress. Spontaneity was of utmost importance to him. While he placed such significance on a free, 'automatic' unpredictability in his works, a central theory within the CoBrA group, he also felt that an image was not always self-sufficient and at time required 'a specific body of reference to catch and hold the passing glance'. With this intention of 'clarifying' or enhancing activity within the central field of his works, Alechinsky introduced his use of marginal comments in predella panels that surround the main picture. In his earlier works, the margins would be filled with figurations, enhancing the central composition like a medieval illuminist. In this later work, he has let go of literally telling a story. The square margin along the edges rather provides equilibrium to the round and soft forms of the central plane. Though Façon d'Ivoire at first glance seems to be abstract, one can discover the creatures from his earlier works in the crawling black lines in the centre; the artist enables the viewer to interpret the work, rather than imposing a presupposed meaning on the painting. Standing in front of the work, the viewer will be absorbed in through the immense size of the work as well as the hypnotizing arrangement of the composition.