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A momentary rise of reason @ Beers Lambert – London

12/04/2013 @ 6:00 pm - 18/05/2013 @ 5:00 pm

free

A Momentary Rise of Reason is the first UK-solo exhibition of the work of Romanian painter Dan Voinea which constitutes a deliberated exercise in sanity and the absurd in the realm of the surreal. Hailing from a new school of contemporary realist painting, Voinea and his contemporaries have not only endured an early 20th century phase that appeared to prefer whimsy and liberty over realism but have prevailed, spearheading the recent reinvigoration of realist painting occurring on an international scale to an unprecedented degree.

Dan Voinea - Playboy Afternoon (2011), oil on linen, 150x130cm (Courtesy of Beers Lambert)
Dan Voinea – Playboy Afternoon (2011), oil on linen, 150x130cm (Courtesy of Beers Lambert)

Take Playboy Afternoon, one of the paintings shown @ BL; it represents an x-ray of suspended gestures in the aftermath of our daily tremor, lazily unfolding as a sequence of celluloid frames.The main characters skid surrealistically out of an ordinary emotional wireframe, fill the void in the imaginary and then transfer our reality into a Hollywood-type mind-set, with some tongue-in-cheek classical references. In Dan Voinea’s vision, the kiss scene is recalibrated and the main characters are only capable of a self referential kind of love, caught in a hunt for alter egos.

Dan Voinea - Performance (2012), oil on linen, 150x130cm (Courtesy of Beers Lambert)
Dan Voinea – Performance (2012), oil on linen, 150x130cm (Courtesy of Beers Lambert)

His works are characterized as much by their apparent lack of realism: their fantastical tendencies, collapsing or nondescript environments and preference for magic realist narratives. One need look only at the simple brilliance in the titular A Momentary Rise of Reason, 2012 to see the painter’s signature style: the pallor of bare skin against a stark, painterly background; a style situated paradoxically between the looseness of an sketch and the obsess of the hyperreal; all combined with thoughtfully restrained palette and an intense jolt of vibrant color; an obvious affinity for appropriated imagery and a narrative that simultaneously invites and resists the whims of the viewer to understand the tableaux. From one boldly confident painting to the next, one can almost hear the artist’s working whispers: there are no rules to Voinea’s world – and what a wonderful world becomes manifest for the viewer.

Dan Voinea - In Absentia (2012), oil on linen, 150x130cm (Courtesy of Beers Lambert)
Dan Voinea – In Absentia (2012), oil on linen, 150x130cm (Courtesy of Beers Lambert)

An extremely rich proposal from someone who could perfectly be a a disciple of celebrated American painter Andrew Wyeth, but at other times he throws the viewer back 100 years and his references are full of richly self-aware references to the fanciful Edwardian paintings of the 19th century. All happening @ central Beers Lambert. From mid April to mid-May. 

Details

Start:
12/04/2013 @ 6:00 pm
End:
18/05/2013 @ 5:00 pm
Cost:
free
Event Categories:
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Venue

Beers Lambert
1 Baldwin Street
London, EC1V 9NU United Kingdom
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Organizer

Beers Lambert
Website:
http://beerslambert.com