Stripe paintings: critical or affirmative?

kammer invited us to make this exhibition in response to an earlier show we did in Berlin, featuring (1) a copy of an E. Kelly painting and (2) a geometric painting derived from (1). This show results from a collaboration between artist and artist and gallerist.

The paintings are a product of a series of deferrals or evasions of responsibility, or evasions. The primary colours of (1) were a starting point, but here the stripe format is reminiscent of critical painting (Burenish). How to structure a painting economically, so that the painting reveals its material, and insists on its status as merchandise? This question was addressed by Buren 60 years ago. His critical stripes later flipped into affirmative decor. The relation between these terms is raised by the current show; a third possible outcome for critical painting is irrelevance.

Deductively structured, these eight paintings are economical. The stretchers are the largest size one can get without a crossbar. Another deferral is to talk about the way the paintings were made. This text is in a way a deferral as well.