Every Reform Movement Has a Lunatic Fringe

“We prefer to free art of the demand to proclaim its legitimacy beforehand. Art doesn’t need the reasons it was given in the 90’s. There is no reason for us to take away from art exactly that what sets it apart from other activities”

These words come from the text “Beside itself” [1] written by Martijn Hendriks, in which he demanded a new form of autonomy for himself and his colleagues. I met Martijn Hendriks exactly one year ago when he participated in the exhibition Rhodondendron in W139, curated by Harm van den Dorpel.

Postmodernism is a great invention of the last century. It taught the artists to consider themselves in a context together with the past as infinite stock of sources. Everything was declared conceptual whereby the new always stands in relation to the old. In fact, Martijn doesn’t want to turn against it with his call, but he refuses to be still governed by it. Speaking with the curator and art critic David Joselit's essay “Painting Beside Itself” [2], Martijn considers his created objects as “transitive”, which means that his created works are part of a network of references and players in which object and subject permanently shift back and forth. To put it simply: I determine my painting and the painting determines me.

Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Martijn Hendriks pursue a similar approach. Both of them describe their image production as a social act or performance and the outcomes as agents of a pictorial discourse. Yet, they couldn’t be more different: In contrast to Martijn, Matthew turns more to the imaginary, fantastic and marginal. His forms shift through the space and want to move the spectator to dance, while Martijn looks for the rather silent dialogue developing his shapes within the search for the paradox and doubt in objectivity.

Both as programme maker and viewer of W139 I have a deep longing for commitment. I was very impressed by Martijn’s and Matthew’s attitude. So, what about image production today and what are its conditions? Do we as producers, like in the way of the old avant-garde, finally orient ourselves towards impossibilities rather possibilities? Ha – again trapped in history... I will have to find a new form to speak about both their works.

Tim Voss, Artistic Director W139

[1] W139 Journal #5 'Art N’Polltix’
[2] October Magazine, Fall 2009, No. 130, Pages 125-134

Martijn Hendriks

Martijn Hendriks's (1973, NL), practice appears to pull us in two opposite directions - on the one hand, it draws on the art historical legacies of abstraction and the highly concentrated formal vocabulary and reductive approach of minimalism. Yet, on the other hand, it brings these legacies into a process of continuous reconfiguration that explores their possibilities in relation to the permanently destabilised state of contemporary images and objects. It unfolds as a state in which value, meaning and context are constantly shifting.
His work has been exhibited in Europe and the United States. Recent exhibitions include ‘Autumn of Modernism’ at De Vleeshal, Middelburg (2012), ‘Memery’ at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art -MASS MoCA (2011), ‘Free’ at the New Museum, New York and ‘Smooth Structures’ at Smart Project Space, Amsterdam (both 2010), among others.
Website Martijn Hendriks: http://www.martijnhendriks.com

Matthew Lutz-Kinoy

Matthew Lutz-Kinoy (1984, New York, US), followed a recidency at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam from 2010-2011.
Lutz-Kinoy on his work: "Ah! Let’s talk about pleasure! My work is a point of return in the process of documenting and re-presenting a collection of performances using video, sculpture and live action. It compounds the accumulation of this material and creates a new social space made real by the audiences viewing it. This assumes that a work, when presented, always mixes a new context: it is extraordinarily sensitive and could not be any more wrong than right." http://www.rijksakademie.nl/NL/resident/matthew-lutz-kinoy
Lutz-Kinoy’s work has been exhibited around Europa, the US and Taiwan and include among others exhibitions in Silberkuppe, Berlin, ‘New Season’, (2011) and ‘Extatic Resistance’ in X-Initiative, New York (2009). Recent performances include ‘Expanded Benefits Package’ in the New Museum, New York and at the Liste Fair in Bazel (both 2011).
Website Matthew Lutz-Kinoy: http://www.thewildandexcitinglifeofmatthewrobertlutzkinoyswebbasedspace.com

Scouting - Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, MetropolisM Feb/March 2012
metropolism_feb_maart_matthew.pdf (7.31 MB)

With thanks to the Rijksakademie voor beeldende kunsten Amsterdam for their support