Grey Cell 2001

JCJ Vanderheyden made Grey Cell as a kind of environment, not just a painting, using simple materials in a thoughtful way. I really respond to the way he understands art making as a process, and how that is made visible in the final artwork. The grey color is, well, gray, and it's all over the place, which I think is really great. The texture is smooth, but you can see the marks where he's applied it, and that makes it feel very human and approachable. There are these other little objects included, a blue semi-circle and a checkered rectangle which act like paintings within the painting and add to the ambiguity of the piece. The way the paint is applied is like a conversation, each mark responding to the previous one, in a way which feels very intimate and personal. Vanderheyden reminds me a little bit of Blinky Palermo, both of them exploring the power of simple shapes and colors to create something really profound. Art is a constant dialogue, a never-ending conversation across time.