Grund

Six vertically oriented paintings held at a point of balance between the painting as a concrete object and the image that might be just about to emerge.

24 May 2025 — Grund

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 картин стояли в углу мастерской. мы решали не заварить ли чаю и думали о Хоре. О Хоре как месте происхожения вещи. гнезде вещи. Grund. Если мы говорим об общем то мы не можем говорить о происхождении вообще

Можно говорить о грунте: нашем личном поиске основания, можно говорить про грунт как о техническом аспекте художественной работы, в данном случае картины. Мы можем рассказать как мы грунтовали. Сперва мы натягивали холст, забивали гвозди, варили клей и много-много клеили. Потом мы еще много-много намазывали джессо слоями, ждали пока высохнет, курили, варили кофе, ходили в магазин и гулять с Левой. Потом опять покрывали джессо и уже в самом конце на последнем слое мы начали использовать воду и заглаживали последний слой.

Group view of all six Grund paintings, 2025.

22 May 2025 — painting note

они все белые/ примерно/ но не совсем

они тактильные/ напоминают кожу или старую бумагу

все поверзхности картин отличаются по размеру/ тону/ фактуре/ по взаимоотношению формы темной рамки и светлого фона/

не понтно то ли они выгорели на солнце/ то ли рисунок затерли

28 July 2025 — Grund series — Dresden

Marika and Anton presented a new series of paintings titled “Grund” in Dresden. Six vertically oriented canvases, each slightly smaller than human height, are covered with an uneven layer of gesso and several layers of colored oil glaze. The gesso was applied by hand, giving the surface of each painting a distinctive texture.

“At first, we had to reflect on what a painting is in principle—ontologically. Once we arrived at a fundamental understanding, we began working with the material step by step. We chose not to go too far and stopped at a point of balance—between the painting as a concrete object and the image that might be just about to emerge. We didn’t give the paintings any titles other than their catalog numbers, so that each viewer can have their own personal experience.”

The exhibition will be on view at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts until September 8.

#contemporarypainting #nonknowledge #poorart #ontologyofart #whitepainting #origins

Later authorial reading — Not-yet-image

A later authorised formulation reads this threshold as a state in which an image has begun to assemble but has not yet stabilised. This is a later reading, not a phrase attributed to the May 2025 notes.

This operation remains even when the geometric form disappears. In later painting the plane can be opened not by a cube, tube or cone but by fog, indeterminacy, a state in which the image seems about to appear but has not yet appeared. The means change, but the same problem remains: how to hold form at the moment of emergence, preventing it from finally closing into a sign or a stable image. Noise Index, White Mold, spatial forms and the later “fog” can therefore be understood not as separate stylistic periods but as a sequence of different instruments in the same work of opening form.

250506 GrundA warm off-white field fills most of the tall canvas. The darker brown-grey support remains most exposed across the upper edge and in a block-like interruption at upper left; elsewhere the boundary narrows while hand-worked marks remain visible across the pale surface.
250508 GrundA pale field is held inside an uneven brown perimeter that widens into long exposed vertical sections at lower left and lower right. The gesso boundary bends inward around these openings, leaving the light field visibly asymmetrical.
250510 GrundThe canvas carries a pale field close to the side edges while a thin dark perimeter remains visible around most of the support. The exposed band is strongest along the upper edge and widens again near the lower left; faint directional working remains visible across the surface.
250518 GrundA warm pale field sits inside a narrow, irregular dark perimeter. The exposed support is strongest along the upper edge and at several interruptions on the right side, while the gesso surface remains comparatively continuous across the centre.
250520 GrundThe narrow vertical field is densely hand-worked, with curved and diagonal marks remaining visible across the pale gesso. A thin darker rim runs around most of the canvas and widens slightly at the upper edge and lower corners.
250521 GrundA pale field with rounded upper transitions leaves the darker support visible along the top and both sides. On the right, the exposed perimeter opens into a longer, wider vertical section before narrowing again toward the bottom.