Joseph Cornelius: Shift
31 August–21 October 2023, Marseille
On the occasion of the Artorama Fair, La Traverse is pleased to present the second solo exhibition by painter Jospeh Cornelius, in Marseille.
The exhibition will be open for the duration of the fair, on 09.01 to September 3 from 11am to 7pm. Then open on Saturdays and by appointment.
Joseph Cornelius presents a series of large-scale paintings in which evocative abstract compositions are contrasted by the appearance of generic words. In Shift Cornelius draws on organic forms from nature to depict an abstract feeling of it.
Words are used descriptively or onomatopoeically, thereby confronting the viewer to contemplate the abstract compositions from a figurative point of view.
In new moon valley, blurred reds that range from pink to a bluish purple are flanked by gestural green strokes. The eye wanders between the atmospheric color blends in the background and the quickly painted strokes in the foreground, but before one gets caught up in possible interpretations of what is seen, the words (new) moon and valley already suggest a sober description of what is depicted. In their clear and sleek appearance the words evoke aesthetics of labeling and thus confuse the viewer in their absoluteness. It seems impossible to distance yourself from the words you read and look at the picture without bias. They are framing the paintings without, however, providing a clear picture.
Cornelius chooses common typefaces, aiming for an informative and authoritative character while diminishing the authorship. In this they strongly contrast the emotive compositions and seem to open up a conceptual level alongside the painting. This second level, however, is characterized by ambivalence; the letters, that appear to be printed, are painted in carefully selected deep browns and grays. Through this act, they resist mere conceptual use and expose themselves as painterly vocabulary. And yet, writing as a painterly vocabulary creates a strong perceptual tension in the works, since it is not possible for us to perceive them as simple shapes, but rather we recognize them as words that are immediately processed by our brain into an image. The possibility of adding a figurative moment to the abstract compositions opens the space of the canvas to the viewer and at the same time directs his perception.
The use of various punctuation marks creates the impression of a personal remark, which in turn seems to negate the claim of non-authorship. Ocean splash is a minimal, gestural work in which blue strokes on a mainly white background, suggest organic forms of waves. Interspersed with traces of blue paint, in one place also yellow, the white looks reworked several times. The words ocean and splash are painted only in outline, which contributes to the reduced aesthetic of the painting. While ocean seems to describe in a banal way what the blue strokes and shapes suggest, the quotation marks in splash appear as onomatopoeic ornaments. The simplicity of the words and the use of punctuation marks reveal an ironic undertone that seems to question the claim to the sublime that often is inherent in abstract painting.
Loose shapes and mundane words, abstraction and concreteness, imagination and determination. Joseph Cornelius’ work oscillates between one and the other, inviting us to challenge our perception.
Zoe Lang
