Paul Bruijninckx - It's raining Cats and Dogs
This exhibition marks Paul Bruijninckx's return to the world of printmaking and painting. After years of intensive collaboration with Nol Breebaart, developing a series of abstract works and exhibited at the Klinkenberg Galleries earlier this year, Paul returns to a more personal and narrative form of art.
Many of the works in this exhibition were created and evolved on the iPad, using the ProCreate programme. This digital tool allowed Paul to create and explore new images, resulting in a rich collection of figurative drawings created at home in the evenings.
In his abstract work with Nol, Paul followed an art historical line from expressionism to abstract geometric art. This journey, inspired by movements and artists like Marinetti, Malevich, Mondrian and 1960s minimalism, reflects an era when the artist's visible handwriting was considered hopelessly romantic and gave way to objective experience.
At the same time, Paul explored another possible line in art history at night on the iPad. These narrative, figurative drawings continued expressionism in a figurative painting with naive characteristics, inspired by the COBRA movement and Art Brut. The start of this process led to the works now on display.
Paul's figurative works sublimate personal experiences and are inspired by Biblical stories and Hollywood films. Many of these films, like the Old Testament, revolve around the struggle between good and evil. Paul's attempt to bring together the private and universal is reminiscent of poetry or prose, but it is ultimately about the image itself.
With this exhibition, Paul hopes to offer the public an experience that is both alienating and familiar, perhaps even evoking admiration and disgust. Evoking a paradoxical experience is no easy task; Paul is just an artist, not a superhero. But, as they say, ‘May The Force Be With You!’ Come see and judge for yourself!