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Correspondences

Duo exhibition by Ivan De Menis and Catherine Seher at Galerie Biesenbach

BY HANNA STYRIE

The works of Ivan De Menis and Catherine Seher have already been shown several times in solo and group exhibitions. Galerie Biesenbach is now dedicating a show to the Italian (born 1973) and the Frenchwoman (born 1958) under the title ‘Dualis’.

At first glance, there are no similarities, but the exhibition is so skilfully hung that one discovers correspondences.

De Menis' small-format square and rectangular wall objects have a matt or seductively glossy surface made of epoxy resin. The intense luminosity – often yellow, orange and red, occasionally with fine gradients - lends them a strong presence.

Only when you look at them from the side does a second level open up, because behind them you can see a rough, gestural painting with streaks and drips of colour and flaking layers. The production process is lengthy: the painting is enclosed in a mould, then the artist pours layers of synthetic resin over it – a process that has to be repeated many times. In a final step, the surface is then sanded and polished. The duality of the materials lends the pictorial objects a special tension.

Catherine Seher's mysterious paintings, in which constellations of figures can be seen, oscillate between figuration and abstraction. There are usually two people, occasionally also children, who are obviously in motion. The painter creates a peculiar feeling of uncertainty in the viewer through strong reduction, rough brushstrokes and shadowy silhouettes.

The abstract, often scenic backgrounds against which Catherine Seher places her protagonists are also created by alternating between addition and removal.

Blurring, dissolving contours and a restrained use of colour reinforce the ambiguity of these narrative images, which always remain enigmatic.