The Approach is pleased to present the latest exhibition of new paintings by the Dutch artist Rezi van Lankveld, whose new series of works take the viewer on a journey of perpetual movement. Following a thorough re-evaluation of the painting process and a continuous search for intuitive works, the artist broke free of any possibility of narration and liberated her works from all remnants of concrete figuration. While the importance of the medium has remained unchanged, the figures have freed themselves from the idea of implicit unity and synchrony, and metamorphosed into varied shapes and patches of colour. The surface of the painting is now purposefully interrupted and mixed into near-collage, denying utmost precision of the pictorial surface, and thus making way for expression in its purest form. Consequently, the art of painting becomes similar to a dance, building the story of a movement, which refrains from any sort of recounting and aims to appeal to its viewers in a visceral manner.

Van Lankveld’s works are in constant motion, with undulating swirls reminiscent of human shapes and nature. Presented as multi-layered compositions, the viewer is invited to enter the artist’s subconscious and to experiment with psychedelic readings of the works. Each newly formed layer of paint adds a textural dimension, accounting for the works’ strong bond with their materiality. While the general colour palette employed by the artist had previously been lyrical and predominantly composed of complementary colours, this new series is in a constant quest for renewal: bold colours are freely paired on the canvases, permitting the works to attain a less curated form.

The distinctiveness of these works goes far beyond their renunciation of photographically-rooted inspirational sources, and stems from their unrepeatable nature. The medium’s immediacy and spontaneity make each work unique, constantly reminding us of the individual nature of our lives, irreproducible and unpredictable until the end. The present exhibition seeks to offer a thorough overview of the artist’s new pictorial direction, looking deeply into her working process and new stylistic development. Not only will the exhibition present a highly innovative body of works, it will also propose a new approach to figurative painting.

Rezi van Lankveld (b. 1973, Almelo, The Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam. Recent Exhibitions include: Inevitable Figuration: A Scene of Painting Today, Centro per l’arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy (2013); Absolute, Dirk Braeckman Rezi van Lankveld, Rue Julien Dulait, Charleroi, Belgium (2012); Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, USA (2010); The Approach, London, UK (2010); Christopher Orr & J. Parker Valentine & Rezi Van Lankveld, The Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, USA (2009); Back to Black, the color black in current painting, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany (2008). Rezi van Lankveld’s works are part of public and private collections, including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Rabo Art Collection, Utrecht; Eneco Art Collection, Rotterdam and the Zabludowicz Collection, London.