Stepping into the gallery space at Yavuz Fine Art, a sense of calmness and serenity comes over you. The exhibition gathers together a collection of dark, thoughtful paintings. They appear sombre and monumental in their colour and form, whilst also capturing an organic, fluid energy – as if the canvases were created through fortuitous meetings of ink on canvas, taking shape through fluid and unpredictable interactions.
‘Looking For The God Particle’ is a solo show by artist Saskia Pintelon. It draws upon her fascination with the scientific possibility of many other dimensions than those known to us, as advocated in the String Theory. In her quest to create paintings that are the culmination of all experience and of all that matters, Pintelon reflects on the concept of the ‘God particle’ and the vibrating strings. It is this that imbues the artworks with their simultaneous stillness and feeling of flux.
The show deals with the most universal and existential preoccupation of man: understanding the forces that hold the universe in place. The artist approaches this concept with captivating, simple renderings of grand theories in her characteristic visual language – a monochrome palette that brings to life vibrating, shimmering particles and suggests the unknown. In some places there are physical strings protruding from the canvas.
The paintings Ashes to Ashes and Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust allude not only to the inevitability of death but also to the saying “from gold to garbage and garbage to gold”, which manifests itself in the use of recycled rags – making beauty out of the discarded.
The artist has created meditative, captivating canvases: immersive environments for viewing and contemplation that draw us in and make us pause, at first beguiled by beauty and then pulled into the mesmerizing quality that suspends time between viewer and canvas.
There is a desire within each of us to feel part of something universal, as expressed in Pinelton’s painting ‘The Show Must Go On.’ Gazing at her inky, marbled surfaces, we might join the artist in asking ourselves: ‘where am I going to, and where do I come from?’
Saskia Pintelon has exhibited extensively, she lives and works in Sri Lanka. The artist will be donating all proceeds from this exhibition to Building a Future Foundation in Sri Lanka.
Looking For The God Particle
1 December 2012 – 15 January 2013
Yavuz Fine Art, 51 Waterloo Street, #03-01,
Singapore 187969.
Images courtesy of Yavuz and the artist.
