‘Murals Inc. Machine Painting Show II’ (MMPS II)

Murals Inc. presenteert tijdens ‘Zomer op Zuid’ de ‘Murals Inc. Machine Painting Show II’, een uniek event over het gebruik van innovatieve painttechnieken op muren. De paintperformances vinden plaats in de presentatieruimte van Murals Inc. op de Piekstraat en op het Margarine terrein aan de Nassaukade.

Paint performances

De muurschilderingen bij Murals Inc. en het Margarine terrein, worden gemaakt met zelf geconstrueerde (analoge) paint machines zoals de Airless-Printer van Rutger de Vries, het gebruik van een vorkheftruck door de Franse kunstenaar Germain Prévost, de ‘Unpractical Painting Devices’ door de Rotterdamse kunstenaar Daan Botlek en de analoge tools van de Duitse kunstenaar Otto Baum. De spectaculaire paint performances worden van tevoren aangekondigd.

Experimentele muurschilderingen

De resulterende muurschilderingen zijn gedurfd, dynamisch en visueel verbazingwekkend en tonen de innovatieve benadering van het creatieve proces door de kunstenaars. De tentoonstelling benadrukt het belang van experiment, innovatie en vindingrijkheid in de hedendaagse kunst, en moedigt toeschouwers aan opnieuw na te denken over het ontstaansproces van een kunstwerk.

‘Murals Inc. Machine Painting Show II’ is een must voor iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in experimentele vormen van muurschilderkunst. Voor paint performances op het Margarine terrein zie: https://murals-inc.com/projecten/murals-inc-machine-painting-show-ii-mmps-ii

Paint Performances bij Murals Inc. (office), Piekstraat 31

De paint performances bij Murals Inc. werden gerealiseerd door Daan Botlek en Otto Baum.

De opening vond plaats op donderdag 6 juli van 17:00 - 20:00 uur.

Daan Botlek 

“Daan Botlek (Vlaardingen, 1977) studeerde Illustratie aan de Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam. Hij is bekend van zijn grote muurschilderingen in zowel Rotterdam als het buitenland, van Leipzig tot Bangkok. Ook werkt hij regelmatig aan illustratie-opdrachten voor o.a. Wired en Nike. Hij heeft een geheel eigen oeuvre ontwikkeld en daarmee wereldwijd een groot publiek aan zich heeft weten te binden. In zijn werk doet hij verslag van een universum waarin mensfiguren spelen met de regels van geometrie en de wetten van natuurkunde.”

Sinds enige tijd experimenteert Botlek met schildertools die hij zelf vervaardigd genaamd: ‘Unpractical  Painting Devices’. Tijdens de ‘Murals Inc. Machine Painting Show II’, heeft Daan deze tools ingezet om experimentele muurschilderingen tot stand te brengen.

Otto Baum

Otto Baum’s method of working is distinguished by his inventiveness on the one hand and the planning that goes into all his projects on the other. Of primary importance is not so much the final output as the process leading up to it. It is therefore hardly surprising that devising new tools and the utmost creativity in developing his apparatus represent the cornerstones of his working method.

Otto Baum studied textile and surface design. He devoted a long time to hand lettering, a field of design in which both technical sequencing and constant region are essential. His works are rarely executed on canvas or paper, but on walls instead – mostly on the work wall in his studio, which measures about 3.5 x 4.5 meters and is continuously painted over and then painted anew by the artist. One may recognize the basic principles of design theory here as well: the execution of a graphic idea using various means.

He has been developing these means, the so-called “Ottotools”, for almost ten years. They include all kinds of work tools – stencils, brushes, protractors – as well as equipment and painterly tools such as paint trays or strips. Some other examples include laser spirit levels and ladders allowing him to achieve great accuracy even when working high up. Last but not least, digital planning also has a central role to play: Otto Baum owns devices in advance of how he wants to work. The preceding process, building, and elaboration, are the fundamental elements of his practice.

Efficiency enables the artist to implement a process on much larger surfaces single-handedly. In a way, all his tools represent the legitimacy of painting. The tool sets the pace; Otto Baum executes. Using paint and a typically uneven number of brushes, he puts abstract forms on the wall. Lines and geometric shapes are created: circles, at mes semicircles, quadrants, or octants. In other words, he leads his brushes freely and almost arbitrarily across the wall. He frequently experiments with different colors and the nuances of those colors. Superimposition creates tertiary colors, and negative surfaces appear next to positive ones. Structure and brushwork are clearly discernible in the applied paint but never appear flawless – yet perfection is not the goal. The spontaneity of the works emerges in the course of their execution, as not everything that may be planned can also be achieved. His interest lies in the oen random interactions of forms, in emerging patterns, transpositions, and grids.

Otto Baum works serially: on each day he spends in the studio, he creates one work on the wall and documents this process. This is particularly interesting since the bulk of his work – conceptualization – never becomes visible to the viewer. Only the brief period of painting and the result are tangible. It is in the nature of the work wall that each piece must be painted over – and then it all starts over again. Always new, always different; like an ongoing experiment with the primary goal of production. Otto Baum’s approach resembles a game, the release exhaustion of possibilities. Only the favorites from his work will end up being reproduced – and by then they have long been painted over.

Text Credits: Julia Meyer-Brehm