Paintings 2011-2016
RECENT | OUTLIERS | THE COURT OF REDONDA | BOOT PAINTINGS
2017-2019 | 2011-2016 | 2005-2010 | 1999-2004 | 1986-1998
2017-2019 | 2011-2016 | 2005-2010 | 1999-2004 | 1986-1998
Eight panel paintings made in 2014 in a studio in Brooklyn, on the East River, overlooking the Manhattan skyline. They were made as a way of familiarising myself with the city, and its development; a pointed, historical look at the quintessential metropolis. Each gang had its own ‘tribe’; country of origin, modus operandi, code of conduct. Each dominated specific areas within the city. The paintings were made in response to the ‘cleansing’ of the city since my first visit in the mid 1980s, when alertness was required, and a rawness to the fore. Exhibited at the 57th Venice Biennale, 2017. They were conceived of, and sold, as a set. (SC)
I have on several occasions made paintings, or groups of paintings, as a way of looking at other artists’ work that has significant importance to me. 12 Flemish Proverbs are consequently such a ‘conversation’. Based on 12 paintings by Brueghel, in Antwerp. The set were conceived of as one work, and sold as a group. They were exhibited in 2014 at the Pera Museum, İstanbul. (SC)
Crygel ben ick en van sinnen stuer dus loop ick met den hoofed tegen den muer
(I am irascible and of sullen humour in consequence I run and knock my head against a wall)
Wat ick vervolghe en geraecke daer niet aen ick pisse altyt tegen de maen
(No matter what I pursue I never reach it I always piss against the moon)
Die lust heft te doen verlore wercken die stroyt die rosen voor de vercken
(He who feels impelled to engage in useless work strews the ground with roses before pigs)
Die lust heft te doen verlore wercken die stroyt die rosen voor de vercken
(He who feels impelled to engage in useless work strews the ground with roses before pigs)
In deen hant draghe vier in dander waeter met clappaers en clappeyen houd ick den snaeter
(In one hand I carry fire, in the other I carry water with chatterboxes and gossips I keep my mouth shut)
Int slampampenen mocht my niemant verraschen al quyt, sit ick tusschen twee stoelen in dasschen
(In the old days no one could surpass me in gluttony. Having lost everything, I am left sitting between two stools in the ashes)
Myns naesten welderen myn herte pynt ick en mach niet lyden dat de sonne int waeter schynt
(My neighbour’s luxury pierces my heart I cannot endure the sun shining in the water)
Ontydich tuysschen en droncken drincken maeckt arm misacht den name doet stinken
(To play dice at the wrong time, to keep on drinking when he is drunk, impoverishes, dishonors a man’s name and makes him stink)
‘t Harnasch maeckt my een stouten haen ick hanghe de kat de belle aen
(With a breast plate I am an intrepid cock I put the bell on the cat)
Ick stoppe my onder een blau huycke meer worde ick bekent hoe ick meer duycke
(I hide myself under a blue cape the more I disguise myself the more readily I am recognized)
My compt het mager, den andere het vet ick vische altyt achter het net
(I get the lean, the other the fat I always fish behind the net)
A group of four paintings made to commission. The brief was The Four Seasons, the interpretation left to me. Located in Long Island, New York. (SC)