TERRY RODGERS – APPROXIMATIONS OF THE SUBLIME
2013-06-17The artist continues to develop an iconography of muscled young men and slender young women, all more-or-less (un)dressed, adopting lascivious poses in a luxurious décor, ostentatious and baroque. Beyond one’s first impression, that of a contemplative voyeur snatching a glance of an orgiastic fest, what then suddenly hits you is the absence of rapport amongst the protagonists, the eerie sense of detachment. The characters seem isolated in their own bubbles, gazes never cross. “My paintings describe imaginary worlds born out of ‘offers’ peddled by the media – luxury, riches, as well as a ‘validated’ version of beauty and desire – but then always with a dose of reality running through it. Just how difficult is it for the participants to get out of themselves and to ‘connect’ with one another?” Each composition is realized starting from individual portraits, portraits of persons crossed in the street and asked by the artist to pose for him.These anonymous figures, who had never previously met, are then brought together at the heart of vast compositions. More rarely, they appear alone, but their attitude always suggests the presence of others outside our view.
In this process, photography plays a preponderant role – the models are photographed before being painted – but Rogers’ approach is decidedly painterly. His technique is perfectly mastered, but has nothing to do with photorealism. It goes right to the essential to better emphasize the play of artificial light on the skin, or to highlight the éclat of a piece of jewellery or a fabric.It is also particularly interesting to see him mutate into a veritable photographer, because these images are fundamental to understanding the thinking that underlies his work. Contrary to his paintings, the photographs have no special set or setting: the models emerge against a black background, plain, and appear as still more fragile and solitary. Beautiful as they may be (and indeed are), the bodies do not have the perfection that the brush provides them. And what is more, they do not benefit from the eternity that painting brings: they again become mortal.
Opposite – Marjin, 2013
Exhibition runs through till July 21st, 2013
Aeroplastics Contemporary
32 rue Blanche
1060 Brussels
Belgium
