15 October 2016 till 22 January 2017

Tomas Rajlich.

Structures in paint

For Tomas Rajlich (b. 1940), the grid is the measure of all things. Rajlich’s starting point is usually a network of horizontal and vertical lines, which he lays down and then covers with loose brushwork. The result – constructed with an exceptional feel for colour, sheen and the substance of his materials – is a painted surface in which texture and structure predominate.

With a loose handling of paint and a strong feel for matter, he endows the painted surface with an inimitable sense of cadence.

Surrounded by artists like Jan Schoonhoven, Armando, Herman de Vries and Henk Peeters, Rajlich developed his unique visual idiom in the course of the 1970s. Initially, he concentrated mainly on ink and paper drawings of linear structures. Later, he discovered the potential of paint and brush, and rose to be one of the chief exponents of Fundamental Painting. Related to Minimal Art, Fundamental painting is a collective term for works that focus on exploring the formal properties of painting (such as scale, line, form, colour and material).

Tomas Rajlich’s oeuvre is distinguished by his sensitive approach to materials. With a loose handling of paint and a strong feel for matter, he endows the painted surface with an inimitable sense of cadence.