Untitled 2011

Curator: Standing before us is an Untitled work by Daan Lemaire, created in 2011, with what appears to be acrylic paint, perhaps using an impasto technique to build texture. Editor: Wow, immediate visceral reaction here. It feels almost violent, like looking into the heart of a storm – dark, swirling, a bit scary if I'm honest. Curator: The heavy application of paint definitely contributes to that intensity. Observe the bold use of color – the contrast between the somber blacks and reds against that vivid yellow, see how they don’t quite reconcile? Editor: Exactly! I think this disconnect is what really hooks me. Are we talking about raw emotion here, uncontrolled, unrefined? Like a battle happening right on the canvas? Curator: Indeed. If we situate this piece within the broader context of abstract expressionism and neo-expressionism— both are evident in Lemaire's gestures—we see echoes of artists like de Kooning, but stripped down and brutally direct. There is a strong emphasis on material presence. Editor: I like the brutal description! Looking at the layers now, I’m picking up a slightly different tune. The composition itself has its own logic. Those dark masses almost create an anchor for the wild splashes of yellow to play around. There’s movement, sure, but some restraint also, it would seem? Curator: Restraint might be overstating it. It lacks a clearly discernible center; forms emerge and recede without resolution. It pushes back against conventional harmony or beauty. Editor: And maybe it’s in that unresolved state where its beauty actually resides. The push and pull between colors, and densities—that’s the conversation that captivates me. It becomes a stand-in for complex emotions that words fail to articulate. It might be a feeling? Curator: Precisely, it is the inherent ambiguity of art of that particular time—where the materiality of the paint and canvas takes center stage in meaning creation and what is conveyed to the viewer through such gestural applications. Editor: It is intriguing how this Untitled artwork invites you into this turbulent, almost performative state. There’s more depth here than I first registered; more life beneath the storm. Curator: The lack of explicit narrative and intentional ambiguity leaves us contemplating just what the art means, what has impacted our perception of that art and even perhaps questioning that emotional core.