Max Frintrop
Mad Max
Mad Max
26.11.2022 - 24.01.2023
A+B gallery
Corsetto Sant'Agata, 22
25121 Brescia
Frintrop is a big guy. He shows me some paintings
via webcam from his studio in Düsseldorf. He moves
the frames using the whole body while he explains
that he works the canvases by fixing them to the
floor. To each one corresponds a pictorial attempt.
It’s do or die. He shows me some peculiar brushes
with long handles, which he builds to achieve a particular effect and to cover more area. There is much
technique and physicality between the canvas and
the artist. It amazes me that any fight disappears
at the end. And, like in a magic trick, the paintings
appear so natural.
The exhibition in Brescia includes a wall
with twelve works on paper. The quick practice on
paper has always been part of Frintrop’s routine,
but rarely it’s shown. On this occasion those offer
an intimate encounter with the translucent pictorial universe. Still, it reveals the painter’s intention
to use gimmicks and to play with time and space
to preserve the same automatic and lighthearted
humour of the works on paper at a larger scale.
Also, the water-like nature of the colours
sows seeds of doubt that pigments and acrylics
never entirely dry. The fields are deep, and the gestures across them solicit their energy, revealing
dense and unsettled materials. Chaotic wetness
of the matter arises, contrasting with the neutral
background. The extension of the white collocates
the colour event in a symbolic infinite, allowing the
hues a projection outside the frame, forgetting the
physical limits of the object and vision. The vertigo
of the void is translated into a disorientating experience of the intangible. In fact, in the painter’s mind,
the experience of the painting shouldn’t be about
how it’s done. And all the material involved should
evaporate in a weightless and immediate image.
Western culture has loaded artistic expression with political, social and civic burdens. The narrative of concepts, articles and texts nurture the idea
that art plays a prominent role in the major changes
of our time. In such a demanding scenario, filled
with good intentions, it’s easy to forget the spirit
of the game, losing sight of the primitive reasons
that ignite the urge to create images and manipulate
matter. Fortunately, artworks like Frintrop’s, keep
a spontaneous and ancestral relationship with the
act of creation. The painting portrays its untamed
nature on canvas, regaining a sense of play. This
autoimmune process frees art from the false weight
culture invested in it, giving back a potential and
pristine form of expression.
The title Mad Max relates to a picture taken
by Frintrop near his studio. The apocalyptic reference, the universality of an intimate place, and the
pun on its name are possible reasons why the title
felt honest for the occasion, with a simplicity that
comes with many implications. As lightly as painting acts without pain, making the viewer feel when
language and identities are lost, and when the game
becomes as simple as the flow of a watery pigment.
It may be only from such a position that one
can appreciate an image today lowering defenses
and expectations. By forgetting the present, the
genre, the history, and the messages. By liberating
art from culture and society. This madness is something to be enjoyed.
Text by Gabriele Tosi