Barbara Seiler

Barbara Seiler, Zurich is pleased to present The Eternal Temptation of creating a Masterpiece, Bob Eikelbooms’ (*1991, Leeuwarden) first solo exhibition at Barbara Seiler and first solo exhibition outside the Netherlands.
With the title The Eternal Temptation of creating a Masterpiece Eikelboom refers to the history of painting and his own practice of questioning the fundamentals and relevance of painting. What makes a painting a painting, and what do we expect a painting to set apart from other media? In his recent series of magnet paintings he studies the process of composing a painting: similar to the process of adding and subtracting paint onto the canvas he adds, re-arranges and subtracts magnets in different shapes and colors onto a metal board. However, different to the medium of paint, the flexible nature of the magnet renders the possibility to refine the process of composing the painting almost indefinitely which reflects Eikelboom’s desire to have a more flexible approach to creating compositions. These works defy our fixed expectations from paintings as they stretch their potential for transformation into infinity. Thematically the work’s figurative content is derived from art history and popular culture, mixing high and low culture, art history books and internet. Subtle sexual references can freely intermingle with hip hop, Lamborghini, Matisse and Courbet.
A second body of work studies the nature of light. Large, round-shaped paintings that morph into the gallery space remind of, but are not influenced by, the “Light and Space” artists like Craig Kaufmann and Billy Al Bengston of the early West Coast art scene. Similar to the Los Angeles “Finish Fetish” tradition of using car lacquer Eikelboom works with paint used in the car industry, the name of the car paint providing the title of the work. Again the desire to create a process that can stretch into infinity drives this body of work, allowing the painting to transform with the influence of light and the perspective of the viewer.
Bob Eikelboom graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK) in 2012. He was the youngest artist ever to graduate from KABK. His work has been shown in group exhibitions at the GEM in The Hague, Dürst Britt & Mayhew, The Hague, Le Plafond Project Space Amsterdam (duo with Martin Kippenberger), at Biennale de Jeune Creation and the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. Recently he had his first solo exhibition at Boetzelaer|Nispen in Amsterdam. In October 2014 he won the Dutch Royal Prize for Painting. His work is represented in private and public collections including the Gemeentemuseum The Hague, Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht and the KRC Collection in Amsterdam. He currently lives and works in The Hague, and will start his Master at the Royal Academy of Arts in London this fall. He is represented by Boetzelaer|Nispen, Amsterdam and Barbara Seiler, Zurich.