Rezi van Lankveld: Figures in the Abstract at Friedrich Petzel Gallery

Published by Gallery Crawl, March 12, 2010

Friedrich Petzel Gallery, a modest space, was perfectly suited for the second New York solo exhibition of Amsterdam-based artist Rezi van Lankveld. The exhibition only contained nine paintings of varying sizes, however, each work is powerful enough to stand on its own. Upon first glance, the thickly layered oil on canvases seems to be of the Abstract Expressionist style: forceful, energetic, and spontaneous. But Van Lankveld goes beyond the post-war style by organically painting her canvas to look like objects found in nature, in particular marble rock. Through a careful balance between calculated painting and free-flowing movement, the artist subtly inserts all kinds of objects throughout her paintings, such as human facial features, animals such as a penguin, bear, and swan, and landscape silhouettes. The inconspicuous figuration begs the viewer to look closer and longer to find the hidden figure, much like a less dizzying version of the Magic Eye book series.