The artist Antoine Berghs (who was born in 1971 in Geleen, the Netherlands)
would rather create something that had no substance. For an artist who creates
works that stand out first and foremost due to their material appearance, this
is a surprising statement to make. Antoine Berghs paints pictures, but does
not correspond in any way, shape or form to the stereotypical image of a
painter who pours his entire heart and soul into messing around with paint on
a canvas. Nor is he an artist who is in complete denial about the material of
his work or who sees the essence of his work represented in particular in the
idea that lies behind the work itself. Antoine Berghs makes use of a wide
variety of materials in his paintings and it is not unusual for materials such
as paint, paper, astroturf, pencil, ballpoint pen, spray paint and even real
plants and branches of trees to feature prominently. The paintings,
photographs, images, videos and installations that form part of Berghs' oeuvre
can be subdivided into series with titles such as Shifts, Observations,
Windows or Sentences. Berghs actually works on various series at the same
time. Shifts, for example, is a series of works that were created between 2000
and 2003. Each work focuses upon the melding of a variety of structures.
Berghs himself regards these works as ‘thought-paintings.’ Each is built up of
abstract structures in tonal colors that take on the appearance of maps of
cities. By virtue of the juxtaposition of more open and more concentrated
sections, these structures then transform themselves into mental landscapes.
In the series entitled Observations, photographs taken by Berghs in New York
in 2002 and 2003 during his residency at PS1, it becomes clear that he seeks
and finds his work in the natural world and on the streets themselves. Motifs
and objects that Antoine Berghs happens to come across – stains or cracks in
the surface of walls, polishing cloths spread out over the surface of a car or
a damaged Venetian blind hanging in front of a window – all of these are
harbingers of a language that carries a meaning all of its own.
In his photographs from the series entitled Windows, Berghs’ vantage point is
a window with a view across New York, which is dominated by the rhythmical
image of skyscrapers reaching up into the sky, but with tape or with shapes
and lines drawn on top of them, just as he does in his paintings. Berghs then
captures these in the form of a photograph. The effect that is created is of a
futuristic beauty that is both ominous and sublime at the same time.
In his recent series entitled Reflectors he incorporates paint sprayed on top
of aluminum foil. This then reflects the light onto the canvas, as if to
suggest infinity.
Antoine Berghs’ work is on display until March 24, 2008 inclusive at the
Museum Het Domein in Sittard (Netherlands) and at DSM's offices in Sittard. A
brochure to mark the exhibition has been published with the title “Antoine
Berghs: Why return to places while one could proceed endlessly”
Antoine Berghs studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht
(Netherlands), the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and the
Ceramics Workcenter in the Dutch city of Den Bosch. Berghs lives and works in
Maastricht.
In 2006, he was awarded the Royal Prize for Painting. He has exhibited in the
Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, the Museum van Bommel van Dam in Venlo and
more recently in the Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem, among others, all of
which are located in the Netherlands. His work can be found in a large number
of museums and private collections, including the private collection of H.M.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
Source: text by Pietje Tegenbosch, published in “Antoine Berghs, Why return to
places while one could proceed endlessly”
