Roberts & Tilton Gallery
5801 Washington Blvd
323.549.0223
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Ellen de Meutter at Roberts & Tilton
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May 22, 2010 – July 3, 2010
Tuesdays–Saturdays (11am–6pm)
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- Price
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Roberts & Tilton says:
Roberts & Tilton is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Belgium based artist Ellen De Meutter. De Meutter creates a body of work with an autobiographical orientation without indulgence in complacent self-absorption. Many of her works are loosely based on memories of her childhood. The inscriptions in her recent paintings speak volumes regarding that theme: 'Growing up', 'Learning from life', and 'Getting over yourself'. De Meutter does not use any existing material such as contemporary photographs: she constructs mental images from memory. Though her works can be regarded as growing pains converted into paint, the tone of her work is remarkably light-footed. With consent, she refers to the Italian writer Italo Calvino, who proposed that the weight of life and the reality that surrounds us, is given depth when we hold up a mirror of lightness for her - not by looking her directly in the eye. The images De Meutter constructs are disordering, drawn in sketchy, almost cartoon-like gestures. With the aid of her own pictograms or emblems she is mapping her memories, developing a personally charged iconography while suggesting stories. Her paintings do not show complete stories; they should be considered more of a storyboard. Even though in most of her works the setting seems like paradise at first sight, evil and suffering is never far away. Melancholy and humour take turns in the foreground. Several recent paintings show a figure in bed - an alter ego for the artist - often surrounded by what appears to be dream images or memories. Another painting shows a sea view where various motifs come together that have become part of De Meutter's personal iconography: a group of canoes, figures gathering wood and a dark, abstract figure. Each of her paintings is a rhythmic representation with a staccato of visual elements and syncopated colours.
