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A remote control, colourful soft drink cans, folded newspapers protruding from letterboxes. Dante van Elburg (1997) gathers a wide range of everyday impressions in the form of photographs and screenshots. In his collage-like artworks, he intuitively brings these elements together in painted compositions.
At Prospects, Van Elburg presents three new pieces that hover between painting, sculpture and assemblage. Intended to be hung on the wall, they draw on painterly principles such as composition and framing. He also actively plays with volume: some elements remain flat, while others protrude from the canvas. Van Elburg does not work according to a predetermined plan. With a curious attitude, he questions each step he takes, and responds to it with the next. The artist often works on multiple pieces simultaneously. One of the recurring threads in his practice is the synthesis of old and new. Van Elburg places classical painterly conventions – such as oil paint on canvas – on unconventional supports and combines them with what he calls ‘ornaments of the now’: shiny objects from late-night convenience stores, or packaging found on the street.
Van Elburg does not seek deeper meanings in his work. He treats images and words as autonomous forms that carry both superficial and underlying connotations. In his artworks, these are detached from their original contexts and enter into new relationships with one another. He sees his artistic practice as a form of resistance to the functional, the useful and the explainable.
Written by Sarah van Binsbergen