In many respects, the work of Marijn van Kreij (1978, Middelrode) is infused with uncertainty. In his monumental murals, modest A4-sized drawings, videos and objects, the artist is steadily building a body of work that centres on polar opposites: order vs. chaos; language vs. image; representation vs. abstraction; logic vs. irrationality. Van Krei’s practice is a remarkable combination of contrasts: on the one hand it records an analytical study of the relationship between language and image, in the tradition of 1960s conceptual art; on the other hand it involves an explicitly process-oriented approach, in which the various steps taken by the artist in realizing his work are fully traceable and the notion of ‘trial and error’ serves as a primary theme.
Both artistic positions are combined in Van Kreij’s series of ‘duplications’. The concept is simple: Van Kreij produces a drawing on a sheet of A4 paper - usually an impulsive, stream of consciousness-like merging of textual fragments, lines, scratches and figures, which together form a chaotic whole. The artist subsequently produces detailed copies of these drawings, which he presents side by side with the ‘originals’. In the meticulously fabricated copies, the riotous chaos of the originals is suddenly transformed into an unreal order: each wildly scratched dash, each ‘subjective’ act of drawing is duplicated in the facsimile, lending structure to the spontaneity.
Through modest, intimate gestures and everyday musings, Van Kreij gains control of the disorder of the creative act - objectifies subjectivity. Text, so ubiquitous in the artist’s work, often takes the form of poetic observations on life, relationships, dreams and wishes - one can even recognize pop lyrics among the text fragments. Whereas in conceptual art the relationship between text and image is generally dealt with in analytical terms, Van Kreij manages to create a situation where existential uncertainty, or perhaps even
romantic desire, manages to derail such inquiry quite effectively.
(Xander Karskens)
Marijn van Kreij 2009 I did not know what I had to tell you but now I am sure, all my drawings were preface to this, all my exercise but a clearing of my throat (#2) Acrylic and oil stick on paper 150 x 150 cm Courtesy of ZINGER presents, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
