2017

Mickael Marman – title delay
Ausstellung zum Ruisdael-Stipendium 2017

Artist Mickael Marman is the recipient of the 2017 Ruisdael Stipend – an exhibition project for young artists intended to foster international cultural exchange. The Ruisdael Stipend was introduced in connection with ‘Residual’, an installation produced by Willem de Rooij for ‘kunstwegen/raumsichten’, a sculpture project held at Bentheim Castle, Lower Saxony, in 2012.

The abstract paintings by Mickael Marman (who was born in Oslo in 1983, and currently lives and works in Frankfurt and Berlin) reveal characteristics of the material used such as the texture of the substrate and the paint’s consistency. Even the movement involved in the application of the paint and the process of layering are normally completely perceptible.

For this exhibition, Mickael Marman has painted a series of new pictures returning to the context of the landscape raised by the historical painting by Jacob van Ruisdael displayed close by. Following the principles of his painting, Mickael Marman uses certain shapes and colours extracted from memories of landscapes. Accordingly, the motifs remain almost completely integrated into the process of painting. Yet he also adds objects such as pebbles or grains of corn which, like the painting materials used, primarily communicate about themselves while simultaneously prompting conceptual associations with the surroundings in a largely agricultural region. In addition, other recent works by Marman are displayed to which strips of coloured printed material have been attached, at first glance creating an ‘African’ impression. In actual fact, the various pieces of fabric used come from the Netherlands and recall how centuries ago, knowledge of textile printing arrived in Africa from Asia partly thanks to Dutch merchants.

At Bentheim Castle, Mickael Marman’s works are being exhibited in a joint installation with objects by Reece York. Three benches from tram stops have been reworked, their background story creating a different take on the furniture traditionally seen in museum galleries. Moreover, as works of art, they engage in dialogue with the paintings by Mickael Marman.