PHILIPPE VAN SNICK ALLIES / THE ARCHIVE REVISITED
1_PRESSRELEASE GALERIE TATJANA PIETERS We are honoured to introduce to you the second solo exhibition at our gallery by Belgian renown artist Philippe Van Snick (BE, 1946). The work of Van Snick is characterised by extremely simple forms and by the constant use of the same colours. His colour scheme is representative for the direction in which Van Snick s oeuvre developed since the end of the 70, deciding to concentrate on the use of the ten-color palette of red, yellow and blue (as main colors), orange, green and violet (as secondary colours), gold and silver (as colours with physical value) and black and white (as non-colours), in combination with geometric shapes, like squares and cubes. Using the pure pigment, Van Snick maximizes the colour, challenging the viewer s perception of time and space. The tension between the intuitive and the mathematic symbolizes how chaos is being structured by form. Van Snick considers a painting to be much more than just a painted surface. The forms, objects and colours he uses never stand wholly alone. They are intimately related to the space in which they are situated and the physical experience of the viewer. By using simple and limited materials which are always suffused with a desire for order Van Snick attempts to describe the essence of life. His paintings, installations and sculptures research, analyse and create space by means of minimal expression. For his first solo exhibition at our new space, Van Snick will set off a minimal presentation of new paintings & photography against the monumental architecture of the space. Allies is a painting series of ten diptychs in which abstraction goes together with reality. Black, White, Colour - Black, Landscape, Colour. Departing from a night-day cycle in relation to colour, a recurrent element in Van Snicks oeuvre, the colour black is placed next to an image of a landscape that then shows the day. The day appears in different shades of undetermined landscapes next to the colour below. The abstract counterpart rather depicts the dual principle (black versus white) with colour being the material nuance of this duality. In the second series of ten diptychs the light blue colour of the day will relate an undetermined landscape by night with the colours of Van Snicks palette, and its abstract counterpart. The colours are like loose elements (modules) from nature. An intellectual and an intuitive interpretation exist side by side reflecting the cosmic dichotomy, reality. The Archive Revisited 1980-2012 is a series of manipulated digital prints taken from negatives of Van Snicks photography archive. Abstract surfaces are painted upon the picture, referencing Van Snicks colour concept. They reinvigorate the picture and make it readable on a universal level. The viewer looks through the abstraction at an image of reality even if it is long gone.
2_SELECTED BIOGRAPHY GALERIE TATJANA PIETERS Philippe Van Snick was born in Ghent and lives and works in Brussels. In 2010 he was honoured with a comprehensive overview of his work in Museum M in Leuven (BE). This exhibition also concluded five years of research into his work, which resulted in the comprehensive catalogue The Dynamic Project, edited by Hilde Van Gelder & Liesbeth Decan, with the support of Marie-Pascale Gildemyn, published. Van Snick solo exhibitions archive includes: Galerie X-One, Antwerp (BE) (1970-71), Wide White Space Gallery, Antwerp (BE) (1972-75), Galerie Albert Baronian, Brussels (BE), Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp (BE), S.M.A.K., Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent (BE), Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, Deurle (BE), Art Gallery of York University, Toronto (CAN), Espace d Art Contemporain, Lausanne (CH). Group exhibitions include: Masterpieces at MAS. Five centuries of images in Antwerp, MAS, Antwerp (BE), 1979 A Momentum to Radical Instants, curated by Carles Guerra, La Virreina, Barcelona (ES), Three Belgian Painters: Philippe Van Snick, Damien De Lepeleire, Walter Swennen, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent (BE), Painted Objects, CCNOA, Brussels (BE), There is no(w) romanticism, Les Filles du Calvaire, Brussels (BE). Amongst Van Snicks recent public projects is a permanent installation at the sculpture park Museum Middelheim which was inaugurated on the occasion of the museums re-opening in May 2012. His work is to be found in private collections in Belgium, Argentina, USA, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan. Public collections include a.o. Muzee (Oostende), S.M.A.K. (Ghent), MUHKA (Antwerp).
3_EXHIBITION VIEWS GALERIE TATJANA PIETERS 2012 Exhibition view: Philippe Van Snick / Allies / The Archive Revisited, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Gent (BE) From left to right: Allies 2, Allies 1, The Archive Revisited: Cut tree, Nara Japan 1995/2012, The Archive Revisited: Horse 1980/2012
2012 Exhibition view: Philippe Van Snick / Allies / The Archive Revisited, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Gent (BE) From left to right: Allies 2, Allies 1, Sol/Ground/Grond 4
2012 Exhibition view: Philippe Van Snick / Allies / The Archive Revisited, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Gent (BE) From left to right: Sol/Ground/Grond 4, The Archive Revisited: Iris pond Botanical garden, Nara Japan 1995/2012
2012 Exhibition view: Philippe Van Snick / Allies / The Archive Revisited, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Gent (BE) From left to right: Sol/Ground/Grond 5, The Archive Revisited: Holy Tree, Nara Japan 1995/2012
2012 Exhibition view: Philippe Van Snick / Allies / The Archive Revisited, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Gent (BE) From left to right: Allies 1
2012 Exhibition view: Philippe Van Snick / Allies / The Archive Revisited, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Gent (BE) From left to right: Allies 2
2012 Exhibition view: Philippe Van Snick / Allies / The Archive Revisited, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Gent (BE) From left to right: Allies 1
3_ARTWORKS GALERIE TATJANA PIETERS 2012 Philippe Van Snick Allies 1, 2012
2012 Philippe Van Snick Allies 2, 2012
Allies 1 (gold, bis), 2012 2x(27x25)cm
Allies 1 (silver), 2012 2x(32x30)cm
Allies 1 (white), 2012 2x(37x35)cm
Allies 1 (black), 2012 2x(42x40)cm
Allies 1 (violet), 2012 2x(47x45)cm
Allies 1 (green), 2012 2x(52x50)cm
Allies 1 (orange), 2012 2x(57x55)cm
Allies 1 (yellow), 2012 2x(62x60)cm
Allies 1 (blue, bis), 2012 2x(67x65)cm
Allies 1 (red, bis), 2012 2x(72x70)cm
Allies 2 (red), 2012 2x(27x25)cm
Allies 2 (yellow), 2012 2x(32x30)cm
Allies 2 (yellow), 2012 2x(32x30)cm
Allies 2 (blue), 2012 2x(37x35)cm
Allies 2 (orange), 2012 2x(42x40)cm
Allies 2 (green), 2012 2x(47x45)cm
Allies 2 (violet), 2012 2x(52x50)cm
Allies 2 (white), 2012 2x(57x55)cm
Allies 2 (black), 2012 2x(62x60)cm
Allies 2 (gold), 2012 2x(67x65)cm
Allies 2 (silver), 2012 2x(72x70)cm
1980/ The Archive Revisited: Horse, 1980/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm, framed: 75x105cm
1995/ The Archive Revisited: Cut tree, Nara Japan, 1995/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm, framed: 75x105cm
1995/ The Archive Revisited: Iris pond Botanical garden, Nara Japan, 1995/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm, framed: 75x105cm
1995/ The Archive Revisited: Holy Tree, Nara Japan, 1995/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm, framed: 75x105cm
1995/ The Archive Revisited: Wisteria Chinensis Botanical garden, Nara Japan, 1995/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm, framed: 75x105cm
1995/ The Archive Revisited: Holy Tree, Nara Japan, 1995/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm, framed: 75x105cm
Sol/Ground/Grond 4 82x70cm
Sol/Ground/Grond 5 82x70cm
2003 Philippe Van Snick Paysage Nomade XL acrylic and vinyl on canvas 184x194cm
PHILIPPE VAN SNICK EXPO CHICAGO / EXPOSURE
1980/ The Archive Revisited: Pigs, 1980/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm
1980/ The Archive Revisited: Bull, 1980/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm
1995/ The Archive Revisited: Wall, Osaka Japan, 1995/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm
1995/ The Archive Revisited: Sicca palm, Osaka Japan, 1995/2012 acrylic on digital black-and-white print, based on an analogue negative 65x95cm
Sol/Ground/Grond 1 82x70cm
Sol/Ground/Grond 2 82x70cm
Sol/Ground/Grond 3 82x70cm