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Phillips x AQUALEX: Summer Wave 2024

Bram Bogart - Zuidgrond

  • mixed media on panel
  • 160x 161,2cm / Executed in 1963
  • price upon request

'For many years now I've met the painter Bogart in Paris, and yet I cannot forget the impression that I had when watching his paintings the first time when I saw them in his studio'. -Lucio Fontana

Dutch-Belgian painter Bram Bogart (1921-2012), alongside contemporaries such Jackson Pollock, Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana and Willem de Kooning, was one of the revolutionary pioneers in the field of painting in the mid-20th Century. Experimenting with the sculptural potentials of paint, his expressive, large-scale, paintings pushed the boundaries of the medium in a radical new direction. Extending outwards into the viewer’s space, the thickly applied layers of pigment (comprised largely of organic ingredients including various oils, adhesives, powdered chalk and water) allowed him to create a multitude of three-dimensional textures, colours, structures and forms, resulting in immensely physical, corporeal abstract works.

Bogart was born in Delft, Netherlands in 1921, and by 1959 had moved to Belgium. Here he started to paint on the floor, permitting him greater freedom to increase the density and weight of his painted surfaces. Often experimenting with varying gradations of one overall colour, he would utilise the materiality of the medium in order to create depth, contrast and texture as opposed to relying on two-dimensional tonal difference. Executed in 1963, Zuidgrond, with its thick, homogenous yellow surface, characterises his works from this period.

In 1970, Bogart represented Belgium at the 35th Venice Biennale. His estate has been represented by White Cube since 2019, his work recently garnering revived critical acclaim. His work features in many museums and public collections including Tate, London; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Mudam, Luxembourg; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; S.M.A.K, Ghent, Belgium; and Yuan Art Museum, Beijing.

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