Couch and Painting

A genre ridiculed in public, but secretly enjoyed; the ‘couch painting’ has a bad reputation. Yet, the unbreakable but limited connection between the couch and the painting is the subject of ‘A Couch to Match the Painting’.

Anti-Illusionist

The resentment against the couch painting is not merely being reversed. The painting is reduced to what it really is: an object made of the materials stretcher frame and canvas. So the connection between the couch and the painting is not being affirmed, but stripped down to its constituent parts and redefined.

Presented with Jan van der Ploeg

The installation is exhibited alongside Jan van der Ploeg’s Wall Painting no. 397. While Stallinga reduces the painting to its bare material essence, Jan van der Ploeg, by contrast, elevates the wall into a canvas. In his wall-paintings, he applies a minimal palette: monochrome coloration, repetition, and anti-illusionist depth are the elements he borrows from industrial imagery.

Location

The installation was on display at New Dakota Centre of Contemporary art in Amsterdam from January 11th till March 8th 2015.

Photography: Michael van Oosten