The simultaneous exhibitions of Stanley Brouwn and Peter Struycken have renewed a controversy that originated in the 17th century: whether line or color is primary in painting. The early protagonists in the dispute—Poussin and Rubens—seem to have found present-day representatives.
Peter Struycken is probably the most extreme example of Dutch artists who demonstrate the tendency towards dry rationality. He describes himself as an unemotional person: “I have no high flying feelings, no frustrations, no poetry, not even aggression or a sense of humor.” So it is no surprise that Struycken has been intensely involved in developing computer programs for the past 10 years. Initially he treated color and line as equivalent elements, but gradually the former took over his interest. Struycken’s computer programs serve as scores for his paintings which in turn can be seen as performances of these scores. Since he has become increasingly obsessed with color he has concentrated on developing programs derived from A. Hickethier’s color space models, which present designs on a television screen.
The human eye can distinguish some eight million different nuances of color. Struycken’s works, such as Plons (Splash), Wave, Vloei (Flow), Square and Field, open up undiscovered territory within this spectrum.
Struycken’s orientation creates extremely distanced work that sometimes seems sterile. Before his computer work, Struycken produced superb abstract paintings that set a high standard that the artist has not since matched.
—Paul Groot
