Sam Hersbach (1995) is an all-encompassing painter. An artist mindful of every single layer of meaning a work might have: from the meaning conveyed by the depicted image or paint pigments to that of specific exhibition spaces, and the processes leading him there. At Prospects, Hersbach shows a series of three paintings and a skirting board that together offer an insight into his site-specific approach.
The first two paintings represent the formal beginning and ending of the Artist Start trajectory, the grant that led him to the Prospects exhibition. Hersbach depicted the conference room at the Mondriaan Fund’s offices where committee members take decisions about things like Artist Start grant applications. The painting next to it shows the Distribution Centre, the location where the Artist Start recipients are now showing their work. Hersbach plays with reality in his work. Instead of painting the conference room on location, for instance, he deliberately used a digital image made by the interior designers. And his depiction of the exhibition hall is based on a 3D-drawing. By adding ‘fantasy’ creatures and references to submarines, deep sea animals, cat fish, and marram grass to his images, he also infuses them with various layers of fantasy and reality.
Hersbach treats the material and immediate surroundings with the same respect as the depicted subject matter. He therefore creates his own pigments and manipulates the space surrounding his work by installing his own skirting boards. All these different layers —from skirting board to pigment — culminate in the creation of a single large artwork.
Text: Milo Vermeire
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang