Han Schuil in an e-mail dated 22 February 2012: “The theme of all art is universal: the mystery of life. So not the world revolution, a traffic sign, an explosion or the bank crisis. This mystery is unnamable and not presentable. In my work it yet tries to manifest itself through the various motifs in the paintings. A case lost beforehand. But as far as I am concerned the most beautiful lost case!”
In the “giving shape” to the mystery in paintings the oeuvre of Han Schuil is subject to constant changes. Some of the new motifs in this exhibition of recent works are infrared radiation (the heat series) and empty boxes: possible carriers of content to be completed by the viewer to his own liking. As usual the motifs stem from observing things in reality. Already for years now Schuil has fixed his attention on different sorts of signalling. The empty boxes for instance derive from internet graphics.
As ever the paintings are made in mixed techniques (alkyd, enamel and spray paints) on aluminium. Industrial, sharp looking supports, heavily dented here and there, with an immaculate and delicate surface.
Once Han Schuil formulated his aspiration as follows: “I want my paintings to have the
impact of traffic signs but at the same time have the charisma of a Flemish Primitive.”
