Friedrich Petzel Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Amsterdam-based artist Rezi van Lankveld. This will be the artist’s second solo exhibition in New York.
Rezi van Lankveld continues her method of abstract painting that allows for revelation of the spontaneous image. In her newest works, van Lankveld concentrates on the lines that emerge from her paint-soaked canvasses. Out of these, she tames unforeseen images of figures and landscapes. In-between the swirls of the densely contrasting colors, impressionist-like figures with scenes reminiscent of 19th century lithographs and 20th century pen and ink cartoons emulsify out of what is essentially an abstract field.
Rezi van Lankveld’s practice closely mimics that of the abstract expressionists or that of the Surrealist ‘ecrire automatic’. Unlike her predecessors, her process must reveal a conscious image. Risk then plays a decisive act. It is the risk in this limited process that the painting will not lead to the right image or any image at all for that matter. Therefore concentration and precision become the major factors in the moving and setting of the paint. It is this oscillation between abstraction and figuration that completes van Lankveld’s process: her works are at once the image and every mark that has gone into making the paintings.
Rezi van Lankveld graduated from Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht in 1999. She lives and works in Amsterdam. She has shown extensively throughout Europe. Her recent exhibitions include: Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover; Museum voor actuele kunst, The Hague; Museum Kunst Palast, Duesseldorf; Diana Stigter Galerie, Amsterdam; ‘Interested Painting,” Gallery 400, University of Chicago, the ‘Prague Biennale 1’; and The Approach, London.