Matisse's misery

200x360

oil on canvas

2019

Images from a bygone era. Family pictures from the old box, found in the attic and stripped of their personal information by the painter by blurring the faces and place of appearance. It is indefinable. The men and women stand still, isolated or in small groups. The moment is there for them. Which moment is of no importance. It is one recording of meaning in their own existence, to look back on, but another spectator finds no meaning or importance in the image processed by the painter. This history has long since passed, all that remains is the small photo, and it will disappear with time. One could experience the emptiness and absence as negative, but that is not the message of the painter. It's just like that. The omission, the void or the lack, can always be found in Roes' work. Blank signposts, frames, placards, books, sheets, hands and glasses ... Empty until you become uncomfortable with it, and begin to desire and search for content or story to be able to orient yourself in this chaos of indefinability. A reference point could provide you with guidance, but the painter ignores that. It is a game. Like chess. You can follow rehearsed centuries-old traditional chess movements, or you can also move more intuitively with the wooden blocks, until an unexpected pattern pops up in your mind, and you suddenly experience beauty, even though there is (at first sight) nothing to see. That is the only form of meaning that Roes seeks while playing in his own work.

Frayed flags

Nowadays a lot of people are waving with flags, a sign of searching for identity and confirming differences between groups of people. The flags of Roes are not recognizable. They are crumpled, damaged, stored away or cut up. Their current function is unclear. Do they still have a purpose? Their representation seems absurd, like props in the wrong place. Unrecognizable symbols with different colors adorn the flags. It could be about past glory and power ... and the influence of time.

an interpretation of a great work by Géricault: the raft of the Medusa. A raft with drowning people who see a bright spot on the horizon in extreme need. The Argos ship comes to save those who are still alive. With this interpretation by Bob Roes, entitled "David, you sexy b * tch", only 6 figures can be seen. They seem to be in a sort of Tomorrowland party. There is no interaction, they seem to be waiting aimlessly for something. A new number from the boxes, or rescue of their raft? There is certainly nothing to be seen on the horizon of the dark waters. Only the zwerk shows condensation stripes of passing jet aircraft. Worry determines the atmosphere in this work. At Géricault there is the accomplished fact of the final rescue, despite the many victims. The viewer is reassured, salvation is on its way. The corpses lie on the left-hand side, the arms outstretched on the right-hand side towards the rescuers.  With Roes there is nothing in the air, there is no expectation. The figures therefore radiate apathy, you cannot even suspect the lady lying in the inflated duck of holiday feelings. There are no corpses, but there is also no hope, only figures at rest and inertia. Only the DJ seems to play an other song ...