I saw some work of Johan Patricny at Liljevalchs Konsthall, and I was very interested. So when I found out that he had a solo exhibition of his most recent paintings at Galleri Agardh-Tornvall, I went there to see it. You can see that Patricny works in a traditional technique; it is mostly oil on canvas, layered up to create depth and natural colour. In my previous blog post, where I mention his work, I wrote about his museum paintings: “It is art within art, painted in a traditional technique, with a funny twist.”
According to the gallerist I have it all wrong. I asked him about Patricny’s technique (I was right about that part), and wanted to know whether he painted at the museum to make these works, or made photos that he used at his studio. The gallerist assured me that he worked at the museum, with his model who we see in the paintings, and that pleased me: it is how a classical artist should operate.
But the ironic twist that I happen to see in his work is “in the eye of the beholder”: according to the gallerist the artist is very serious about his work and did not intend to add some irony. But then: why this subject? Why make the art viewer the subject of a painting? Why the Old Masters in the background, and modern people in the foreground, with their much too serious faces? Is it a tribute to the old masters? Is it a form of ‘moving on’; extending the classical tradition to this era? In my opinion that is not enough to cover it. That alone can’t be a reason to go and paint at the museum; the selfreflexivity with a twist is there, right under our noses, and it has to be understood as a little wink. And that very wink makes it interesting.
There were also other works hanging at the gallery: mostly flower- and landscape paintings. His technique is rougher, and in my opinion it misses something that the museum work has: somehow they don’t intrigue me that much. It is as if the subject that inspires him is not there. In his model work you can see what makes the model interesting for him: the pale skin, the rosy cheeks, the young and slightly naïve look on her face. In the landscapes I get the idea that it does not really make him tick.
For more art in a classical technique with a wink, see the work of Maarten Welbergen.
On show until tomorrow:
Galleri Agardh-Tornvall
Sibyllegatan 65, Stockholm
