Le Corps de la Couleur

Each work from the series "Le Corps de la Couleur" embodies a color, to which Zandvliet assigns a suitable form - an image in which the color manifests most optimally. This selection is based on the artist's subjective perception, but its starting point is always the color itself. Against this background, questions arise about the interplay of form and color, which are discussed again and again in the contexts of natural sciences and cultural studies. The titles of the works highlight the interplay of associative and intuitive color perception that is alluded to in them. The term "Vos", for example, carries within it the Dutch name for the animal fox, whose sorrel coloration can be found in the corresponding painting. On the other hand, it is the word used in Dutch to name the kind of chestnut colored horse whose forehead with blaze can also be seen in this work.
The etymological dimension of the "Le Corps de la Couleur" series as well as the motifs, color compositions and genres of its paintings reflect Robert Zandvliet‘s interest in forms of variation; perhaps they even show a little play. For in his works, the pictorial subjects are reversible figures situated in the space between abstraction and figuration. This detachment from representational traditions as a means of gaining knowledge through painting itself has its starting point in Zandvliet's artistic practice. The artist’s use of varying painting techniques enables the exploration of different approaches to a color’s physical shape. While the natural deepness of the work "Git" stems from the use of a paint roller and acrylic paint on an unprepared linen canvas, "IJs" displays bits of the underlying canvas and pastose reliefs created with a spatula as points of light that, combined with layers of spray, oil and acrylic paint, let the observer dive deep into a sea of floating ice.

With his "Le Corps de la Couleur" paintings, Robert Zandvliet lets the audience participate in his search for the ultimate form of color with regard to phenomena of human perception. In close reference to previous works and series from his oeuvre, the artist thus illuminates color by means of its most elementary components: optical stimuli, physiological valences, and psychological sensation. More