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note: The late eighties were very productive years for Gerard: in order to accommodate the numbers of works we have divided this aspect of the gallery into several sections, of which this is the Painting Gallery for "Red - Blue - Yellow Works". To view the "Sculpture Gallery" please click here". For the "Drawing Gallery please click here". To return to the "Red-Blue-Yellow Lobby please click here". To view all the "Works of the Eighties please click here".
| Red
- Blue
- Yellow Works
Paintings  |
... click on any image for an enlargement ...
| Red
Blue Yellow Works All the paintings in this gallery are Watercolour on Paper |
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| This
is the first study
/ watercolour painting which began the Red Blue series 1986. "Baruch Spinoza, in his work 'Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata', chose the geometrical method of presentation in order to free his arguments from arbitrary or casual interpretation - in that same Dutch tradition so did De Stijl and so did I." G. Pas |
| i observed a disparity between the theory and praxis of pure form |
| Red
Blue Works has its focus on the Study of Architecture. What is Architecture but the study of People. What is the study of People but the study Architecture. |
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| "The
sentiment of art, like the religious sentiment, like scientific curiosity,
is born of wonder; the man who wonders at nothing lives in a state of
imbecility and stupidity. This state ceases when his spirit, disengaging
itself from matter and from physical necessities, is struck by the phenomena
of nature, and seeks their meaning; when he is impressed by something
in them grand and mysterious, a concealed power which reveals itself".
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel |
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| people inhabit architecture unless architecture becomes art then it doesn't matter |
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| Figures
with Red Blue Crutch |
1987 |
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| "The
figures, like the Red Blue Crutches Sculptures, work both ways: from
the applied working form to the abstracted or dysfunctional and back
again. The first figure uses its abstracted body and crutch and moves
towards to the applied healthy image in the last figure and visa-versa.
There is hope of healing but like Lazarus also in time the certainty
of death." G. Pas "We must have the courage to reach for joy as pain has a way us finding us anyway." G. Pas |
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| the reality is that the ideal pure form ironically points to our human condition: one of frailty |
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| Vision
of Utopia |
1986
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please
click here to view musical version 143k |
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the above painting has been animated using Macromedia Flash "please
click here".
this was Gerard's first Flash project: "Vision of Utopia" Gerard Pas © 2000 |
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| a vision of reality is a vision of utopia - a vision of utopia is a vision of reality |
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| Composition
with Red Blue and Yellow Confronted by the Red Blue Crutch |
1986 |
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"We have established the true place of color in architecture
and so declare that painting without architectural construction (that
is easel painting) has no further reason for existence." De Stijl (Magazine), VI, 6/7 (1924) pp 89-91. "Any ideology, aesthetic or otherwise, that pontificates 'It has found The Answer', should be cautioned of it's myopia and the danger of it's own dogma. The search for Pure Form is littered with many casualties along it's path. For example the Suprematists, Constuctivists, Bauhaus, etc. were not permitted to proselytize or exhibit their art during the late 1930's early 40's, by the ruling German 'Social Realists' who felt that they had the answer to Pure Form and Abstraction was not part of it. The only answer that can truly reflect Pure Form is the 'search' for Pure Form - it is the SEARCH which is the answer." G. Pas |
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| accepting the human condition is a dialectical solution to the variances in pure form theory |
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| Supremus
50 Draped by the Red Blue Crutch |
1986 |
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- In Dutch, the word "schoon" means "clean, pure"
as well as "beautiful." - The above triptych is after Kazimir Malevich's painting titled "Supremus No. 50" 1915. I subtitled it "Sieg uber die See" (Victory over the Sea) as a commemoration to the incredible engineering project "De stormvloedkering in de Oosterschelde", which had just recently been completed in the Netherlands. It is the damming of the interior waters of the Eastern Schelde of Holland, protecting us against the huge storm surges of the North Sea. The other two paintings gain their names from a construction ship "Cardium" and a work island "Neeltje Jans" which were used in the project. G. Pas "In 1988, I had the rare opportunity and good fortune of visiting the Malevich Exhibition, at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Through the invitation of Joop Joosten Chief Curator of Research and Documentation, I was able to visit the exhibition entirely by myself before the throngs of people who visited it everyday. Standing there alone with Kazimir Malevich and his work had a profound effect on me and my work. I had dedicated the above work to Joop Joosten years before this show, but remain grateful to him for this very unique and generous experience. Thank you Joop, through you and your many learned writings and works I learned to love art. We are all forever in your debt!" G. Pas |
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| acknowledging our vulnerabilities can also reveal our strengths |
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| Tableau
1 - Unie, Union with Red Blue Crutch |
1986-87 |
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The painting on the left is based on the Theo van Doesburg / C. van
Eesteren collaboration 'Axonometric Drawing for A Private House',
1922. It is titled "The Public Red Blue in the Private House".
- For the center panel I combined a painting (streetscape) of J.P.P. Oud's recently reconstructed Café De Unie on the Mauritsweg in Rotterdam, together with Mondrian's Tableau 1. I arrived at this synthesis after reading a critique (seen below) levied by the prominent Art Historian Robert Welsh - to whom this work is dedicated: "Café De Unie façade design of 1925, a work which, in this writer's opinion, is susceptible to the long-standing charge that De Stijl architecture is untrue to its medium. Family tradition rightly maintains that Oud consulted his small but significant personal collection of Mondrian paintings only - like a devotee of contemplation - in order to find a sense of intuitive balance that would produce similarly harmonious results in his own designs. Yet, Mondrian's justly honoured Tableau 1 of 1921, is so close to the café in its general composition and projected colour disposition that a more organic functional relationship might be presumed." Robert P. Welsh "De Stijl A Reintroduction"; De Stijl: 1917-1931 - Vision of Utopia. Walker Art Center - Minneapolis & Abberville Press, New York, 1982. p. 37 |
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| See
a photo of the reconstruction of J.P.P. Oud's "Café De Unie" on the Mauritsweg in Rotterdam click on image |
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| See
a study / painting of the original Café De Unie click on image |
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| See
Gerard's drawing which preceded the above work click on image |
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| if all art is but vanity then what is the search for pure form preoccupation's synonym is abstraction |
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| Nach,
Nach, Nach thesis / antithesis / synthesis |
1987 |
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"Nearly 200 years ago, Novalis asked, "Do not the best things
everywhere begin with illness?" He further stated, "Our
illnesses are all phenomena of an enhanced sensibility which strives
to change into higher powers." Egon Friedell, in his cultural
history of the modern age Kulturgeschichte der Neuzeit, even
considered the "Black Death", the midwife of our era and
mentions numerous scholars, explorers and artists whose physical handicaps
clearly triggered compensation in higher fields of endeavour..." Uli Bohnen, "From Opposition Through Affirmation to Dialectics - The Artistic Development of Gerard P. PaS". McIntosh Gallery Catalogue: "Less of More - More of Less (PaS Plus - PaS Moins)"; The University of Western Ontario, London Canada. 1987. p. 3 To read this online catalogue "please click here". "This work is based on a paiting by Otto Coenen from 1969 which was itself a homage to Otto Freundlich's linocut Theses - Antitheses - Synthese of 1937. Thus the title Nach which translated from the German means after. This is a homage to the third power: after, after, after - oder nach, nach, nach." G. Pas |
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| it is ironic how so many of us clearly compensate our weakness with the zealous pursuit of strength |
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| Simultaneous
Counter Composition with Red Blue Crutch axonometric / trimetric / altrimetric |
1987 |
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| - The triptych is based on a work by Theo van Doesburg in which he introduced diagonal lines into the painting. This apparently so angered Mondrian, whom insisted on horizontal and vertical planes, that the two did not speak to one another again for sometime. This is probably all part of a modern myth surrounding Mondrian and while the event may have happened the results were not so draconian. Nevertheless, I so liked the story that I created these works around it. G. Pas | ||
| THIS
WORK OF ART WAS STOLEN FROM GERARD PAS IN 1988. It was sold and never paid for by Gerard's then German Art Dealer GALERIE BURGIS GEISMANN - COLOGNE, GERMANY They were last seen in Cologne and were allegedly destined to go to the eastern regions of Germany in the possession of a Mr. Peter Smith, Smit? THERE IS A MODEST REWARD FOR ANY INFORMATION LEADING TO THEIR RETURN "PLEASE CONTACT US BY CLICKING HERE" The tragedy of losing any piece is that it's lost to us all. |
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| if Hegel or Schoenmaekers were painters would they only paint in greys |
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| The
Scope of Total Architecture |
1988 |
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| "He
is sure that violet induces melancholy; that yellow is an energizing
colour, conductive to conviviality, increased brain activity and a
sense of well being, and that classrooms painted yellow are good for
retarded children,..." (Quoted from 'Howard Ketchum - Color Engineer',
The New Yorker, New York, U.S.A. March 8, 1952, issue?.)" Walter Gropius, "Scope of Total Architecture", George Allen & Unwin, London, UK. 1956. "As any individual who has a certain level of cogency, it often angers me, when I believe that an architect or a designer is attempting to play with my minds or emotions. When for example, we are hurriedly motivated through the grocery store by (bad) music or any other of numerous psychological interventions, such as colour theory, it becomes insulting, agitating and certainly not soothing. Imagine if you'd like, Franz Kafka's reaction to having his prison cell walls painted yellow, as Ketchum suggests above... does the word 'livid' spawn into mind as he'd scream "Stop playing with my mind!" I resent these attempts at manipulation through architecture and consider it truly loosing scope in parading its own self importance..." G. Pas |
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| if there is pure form could it be corrupted - of course it can: that's also the human condition |
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| The
Modular Ambulant |
1988 |
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| "It is a range of dimensions which makes the bad difficult and the good easy" were Albert Einstein's comments on the Modular Equations of Le Corbusier. The reality of design and architecture is that they use basic common denominators which create havoc for those of us who don't fit into the quotient. Le Corbusier set a standard of equations forward which assumed a general height (sitting, standing, etc.) for all peoples. These figures were then used to set door handle, toilet, entrance ways and other structural heights in a building. This worked well if your own physical dimensions fit into the equation but failed if you were, for example, in a wheelchair or just short for that matter. Additionally his formula was somewhat patriarchal as it assumed men to be at a height of 1.80 metre, were as women were only 1.60 metres. On the basis of my own experiences at 1.70 metres I have known many women whom would have had a hard time dealing with this formula and I'm talking about praxis and not theory. Einstein was indeed a clever observer of Le Corbusier's math. "How many of us have had to stand in a line dancing, waiting to void to ourselves at the water closet / washroom? Imagine that same wait frustrated by not being able to fit through the doors or get up the steps when your turn finally comes!" G. Pas |
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| the difference between theory and praxis is sometimes just a question of degrees |
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| Ontology
of Red Blue Crutch |
1988 |
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| "...precision
and exactitude can only be realized with strictly determent geometrical
elements, which do not include the arbitrary forms of perceived
objects. Abstraction requires precision and precision is - as in
music - the only way to render harmony... harmony did not mean a
restful, reassuming balance: harmony for them was the law of the
entire universe. This law and the rules derived from it were only
veiled and obscured by the arbitrary form of objects. Nature presented
only variations of this law, and what the artists had to seek and
reveal was the theme behind these variations." |
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| to me perfect symmetry often seems so unbalanced |
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| Aaron's
Rod plasmolysis / osmotic / hypertonic |
1988-89 |
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| "...
The Dutch national character owes a great deal to the influence of
16th - century Calvinism. As a matter of fact, almost the first act
of the early Calvinists was the destruction of images of worship in
their churches. The De Stijl artists, who can be regarded as descendants
of these earlier iconoclasts, had similar reasons for their banishment
of every representation of nature: any representation of a natural
object was, for them, a distortion of the divine purity of the laws
of creation. Abstraction was the only way to maintain their faith
in universal values." Hans L.C. Jaffé "Introduction"; De Stijl: 1917-1931 - Vision of Utopia. Walker Art Center - Minneapolis & Abberville Press, New York, 1982. p. 13 "To the regret of my own being Dutch and truly celebrating De Stijl: they, as did our iconoclastic forefathers, neglected to remember "...God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." Genesis 2:31 "I am a part of nature so how can I deny a part of myself?" G. Pas |
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| my crutch is made of wood, my paint of minerals, oils and dyes and my body is made of flesh |
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| Installations
and details of Red Blue Yellow Paintings |
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| to
view additional details from the triptychs and installation documentation click on the above image |
| sometimes the truth is revealed in the details |
... click on any of the above images for an enlargement ...
