MAAIKE LEYN / DRAWINGS going on • September, 23  > October 30, 2011, Свободные Пространства, Free Spaces, Special Program of the Moscow Biennale  Opening: September, 23 Venue: Agency.Art Ru, Ozerkovskaya emb., 26, 115184, Moscow Artists: Kawarga (RU), Annouk Thys (BE), Vika Begalska (RU), Maaike Leyn (BE), Debby Huysmans (BE) Curator: Maaike Leyn (BE) Photo’s: Siska Vandecasteele  To the image Representation is the making of an image, not just showing it, the materialization of this image and the making of it being crucial. Navigation between thinking and doing, between the image and the concept or a pure portrayal do not matter. It is the image that matters, in its reduced, but not simple shape, it is the meanings associated with the image that matter as far as the form and the content are concerned – they always trigger discomposure, as Maaike Leyn’s charcoal drawings show. She produces layered, “polyglot” images where the act of looking, the image itself, and not just its pictorial content, are the theme the artist works with. She emphasizes composition by the use of collage, by the integration of recycled parts, pieces of her earlier drawings combining charcoal, paint, varnish and the raw canvas where the drawing is placed. Shirking refined, detailed drawing, virtuoso gestures of the artist’s hand, her drawings have something rudimentary in them, immediately capturing the essence of being and of the objects; and that is associated not only with the “bare” canvas, the base of her work, but also with the way she nails her drawings on the wall without frames. Maaike Leyn reveals various essential aspects of her subject through variable compositions not only in the drawing itself, but also in the combination of all the drawings of the exhibition as a single installation. In her work, often comprising monumental canvases, dark colors suggest that her subject is identified with the earthly element, with the material itself, while both the object, and the subject retain their value for her. “I look for the object and the image, not for the image on painting, but for our image, our looks and appearances and views, definitive and total,” wrote Gerhard Richter on 23 may 1977 in a letter to Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, the professor of Modern Art at the Harvard University. (Inge Braeckman)  ‘One of the most noteworthy special projects is “Free Spaces” to be held at Art Ru. Curated by Belgium’s Maaike Leyn, it features works by Annouk Thys, Maaike Leyn and Debby Huysmans and Russia’s Dmitry Kavarga and Vika Begalska. The project’s concept is based on the idea that the availability of huge free spaces in Russia contributes to a feeling of freedom, as opposed to Western Europe, where spaces are strictly controlled and regulated.’ (Vladimir Kozlov, The Moscow News, 19.9.2011) texts and info free spaces
dogs, dogs, dogs http://www.google.com/allehonden.htmlshapeimage_5_link_0
ukraine: the countryside