Bode is pleased to present Painting the Infinite: Power & Process, a group exhibition with works by Kadar Brock, Jeremy Lawson, and Ben Tong curated by Dexter Wimberly.
Painting The Infinite: Power & Process is an exhibition about the physical act of painting and the limitless possibilities of the medium. The process of making a painting is an intricate journey that involves not only technical skills but also emotional and intellectual engagement. It begins with inspiration, which can stem from myriad sources: nature, personal experiences, social issues, or abstract concepts. Some artists work from detailed preliminary drawings, while others may prefer a more spontaneous, intuitive approach. The first layers of paint are often broad and loose, establishing the composition and major areas of light and shadow. Subsequent layers add detail, depth, and texture. This stage requires a delicate balance of technical skill and creative expression, as the artist manipulates the medium to convey their intended message or emotion.
Kadar Brock’s works are created from accumulations of mark-making and erasure. Painted images and text—often specifically drawn from the artist’s past—once completed are sanded, primed, and scraped to the point of near-removal, only to then be covered up by another layer, which is then subjected to the same measures of physical effacement, inevitably creating gouges and scars on the surface of the canvas. Emblematic of the ways in which our own personal histories are built—ever shifting reflections and constructions accumulated over time—Brock’s process abstracts the information that had previously been at the fore, leaving behind traces of a slowly and painstakingly assembled chronicle of an individual’s acts.
Inspired by the bold and luminous colors observed in the later exhibitions of Howard Hodgkin, Pablo Picasso, and Claude Monet, Jeremy Lawson applies oil paint using his hands and paper palettes, creating depth and texture that add complexity to his works. Lawson has stated, “There’s a very direct relationship between the length of looking and the suddenness of the mark. Most of the time is spent staring, trying to relax into the space that’s coming into being and feeling what it wants. When I see something, I just do it very quickly then live with the result for days before they either stay or are destroyed. Sometimes I do see something immediately upon coming into the studio and rush to do it before I lose my nerve, but more often I’m staring, pacing around, trying to convince myself of my own taste.”
About his painting process, Ben Tong has said, “The effects probably have something to do with how I paint. And I’m increasingly using less traditional painting tools like paintbrushes. I’m experimenting with making marks in different ways, like using rags and adding and taking away part of the image. I’m also experimenting with mechanical percussive devices. The more traditional means of applying paint, with brushes perhaps conveys a more analog signal, whereas the rhythm of the mechanical means of applying paint signals the digital, with its frequencies and sinus rhythms. More and more, when I’m painting, one of the sorts of goals that I have is to create something that has a property of emergence. Something that emerges and, in many ways, involves working with the medium’s active accidental properties. So, when I’m applying paint I’m working haphazardly, chaotically. And in some ways, I would like it to mimic the qualities of being-in-the-world – a will of communing with things that are outside of myself.”
Dexter Wimberly is an US-American curator based in Japan who has organized exhibitions in galleries and institutions around the world including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City; The Green Family Art Foundation in Dallas, Texas; The Harvey B. Gantt Center in Charlotte, North Carolina; KOKI Arts and STANDING PINE in Tokyo, Japan; BODE in Berlin, Germany; Lehmann Maupin in London, U.K.; SECCI in Milan, Italy; and The Third Line in Dubai, UAE. His exhibitions have been reviewed and featured in publications including The New York Times and Artforum; and have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and The Kinkade Family Foundation. In 2023, Wimberly participated in Hauser & Wirth’s International Curatorial Residency Symposium in Somerset, England. Wimberly has been profiled in Elle Decor and Artnet News. Wimberly is a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art, and the founder and director of the Hayama Artist Residency in Japan. He is also the co-founder and CEO of the online education platform, CreativeStudy.