Gerbrand Volger | Wormer, Netherlands
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Yellow Glow II, 1992
oil on canvas, 170x201cmThe Bueler-Bernard collection contains some of the most important works of the Blast Furnace series of 1988-90. Volger’s regular trips to the furnace, has led him to explore his subject almost obsessively. This is evident not least in the size and weight of some paintings, which he completes with iron frames! Volger casts the volcanic forces of this ancient industrial process (dating back to 5000 BC) onto canvas.
Upon closer inspection of the Blast Furnace series, it becomes apparent that with very few lines Volger gives the scene gritty character. The artist contrasts light and dark in an ingenious way, by injecting vivid flashes of colour to the otherwise gloomy setting. Volger has turned the workings of the furnace into an alchemistic affair. To quote Volger: “Perhaps we need to drive the process of creation further in order to awaken an immaterial truth. People don’t feel happy without romance: in the absence of fundamental concerns life does not suffice.”
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Welder, 1989
chalk, charcoal, pastel (soft) on paper, 200x150cmThe Bueler-Bernard collection contains some of the most important works of the Blast Furnace series of 1988-90. Volger’s regular trips to the furnace, has led him to explore his subject almost obsessively. This is evident not least in the size and weight of some paintings, which he completes with iron frames! Volger casts the volcanic forces of this ancient industrial process (dating back to 5000 BC) onto canvas.
Upon closer inspection of the Blast Furnace series, it becomes apparent that with very few lines Volger gives the scene gritty character. The artist contrasts light and dark in an ingenious way, by injecting vivid flashes of colour to the otherwise gloomy setting. Volger has turned the workings of the furnace into an alchemistic affair. To quote Volger: “Perhaps we need to drive the process of creation further in order to awaken an immaterial truth. People don’t feel happy without romance: in the absence of fundamental concerns life does not suffice.”