BERNARD FRIZE
2004
145 x 175 cm
Inv. Nr. 8
Born in 1949 in Saint-Mandé, France
Lives and works in Paris, France & Berlin, Germany
Since the late seventies, Bernard Frize has been painting pictures based on the highly logical principle of using tools “for what they can do.” His paintings are made in series according to specific procedures and rules he defined himself, which prevent the intrusion of choice or expression as much as possible, relying only on material and external constraints. The artist playfully explores by all available means the conditions under which a painting could almost independently create itself. “I want my traces to allow viewers to reconstitute what happened,” Bernard Frize states. The “traces” of the brushstrokes are to be considered as records of the painterly process, allowing the viewers to unravel the story of the work’s making. Many of his paintings, such as Reneta, isolate and exaggerate these traces made with acrylic resin in extremely visible bands, which inscribe themselves directly within the actual materiality of the painting. His way of randomly combining many different colours avoids any dominant shade and confirms his ideal of neutrality.