Permeating Painting— Matter and Image

Artdyne presents Permeating Painting— Matter and Image, a group exhibition opening August 8. Taking staining as a starting point, the exhibition explores the relationships between matter and image, intention and chance, and paint and its support. The exhibition brings together works by seven artists, tracing one strand of painting from the postwar period to the present. Rather than treating paint simply as a means of creating an image, these works draw attention to what happens as paint flows, seeps, spreads and reacts with the materials it meets. From the 1950s onward, artists in the United States developed staining techniques by allowing diluted paint to soak directly into unprimed canvas. In Japan, artists from the late 1960s and 1970s also began to focus more closely on materials, processes and the relationship between artworks and their surroundings. Koji Enokura, for example, created works by soaking oil and waste oil into paper, cloth, walls and floors, allowing the act of penetration itself to become part of the work. The artists in this exhibition do not necessarily share a direct connection to staining or Enokura's practice. Each approaches painting from a different background and perspective. Yet their works share an interest in allowing materials to play an active role in the making of an image. Paint is allowed to flow, soak, bleed and overlap, while the support becomes more than a passive surface. Once paint begins to penetrate cloth or paper, its movement can never be completely controlled. Gravity, moisture and the absorbency of each material introduce elements that cannot be fully predicted. Artists then respond to these traces, choosing what to accept, alter or develop further. In this process, deliberate action and chance continually meet. By bringing together works by seven artists from different generations and backgrounds, Between Matter and Image looks at painting through the act of penetration, exploring what can emerge between paint and support, intention and chance, and material and image.