Tacmo

Thilo Heinzmann’s Tacmos, on display here in his second show at andersen’s contemporary, are situated in an unexplored place within the realm of painting. Their base is an intricately structured black surface that one hesitates to call ‘ground’, because its quality surpasses that of mere canvas-treatment, and its formal weight within these works exceeds that of a mere backdrop. An acknowledgement of the tradition of color-field painting, these black planes also become the site of inscription for sparse and well calculated movements which the artist executes with a brush and his hands. In a reversal of the way in which these are traditionally put to use, namely to apply color, i.e. to add layers of paint, hand and brush here work in a subtractive and smoothening mode. The outcome are elongated swings, elegant curves, straight lines of varying length and width that result from working into the paint, by removing an ever so slight upper level, by brushing over it while it is still fresh. Each canvas is hence the product of a particular temporal economy that combines extended, meticulous and sustained investment – the preparation of the surface – with a decisive moment in which brush and hand need to intervene fast. Executed with the confidence that comes from skilled craftsmanship, these sweeps capture and reflect the light in a rich variety amidst the matte black that surrounds them. They produce a visual suppleness, and the impression of speed that they project emerges amidst the general calm that exudes from these five paintings.