Beyond Freedom

Voorbij de Vrijheid

2022/23

Beyond Freedom features a selection of new and older magnet paintings by Bob Eikelboom (1991). Featuring shapes cut from magnetic strips stuck on a metal background, these works allow the artist to experiment in a new way with composition, colour, form and how the artwork relates to the viewer. Bob Eikelboom grew up in the Netherlands and America, and this is reflected in his work, which uses humour to question the role of painting. It combines both the irony of European art with the audacity and grand gestures typical of American art, including the focuson the banal, which has occasionally resurfaced in contemporary art ever since the days of pop art. Eikelboom is clearly aware of the tradition of painting, and he ‘paraphrases’ art history. As such, he stands on the shoulders of artists who went before him. In the final years of his life, for example, Henri Matisse made compositions from shapes cutout of paper, and in his final works – like Victory Boogie Woogie – Piet Mondriaan used coloured tape in his search for the ideal composition. The digital world has changed the way artists, particularly young artists, work. Hence the term ‘Painting after Technology’. Using digital design programmes, it is possible to repeatedly adapt compositions by moving elements of the image. The magnet paintings suggest this profusion of choice, as the composition can in theory be changed using the magnets. ‘Actually, the magnets are like an analogue computer screen made tactile’, Eikelboom says. To Eikelboom the magnet paintings also have a metaphorical meaning. Composing and dissecting are an essential part of the process of forming an opinion and establishing the truth. In this way, therefore, his work also reflects the order and chaos in today’s society.

- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 2022