Kadlites RS 6-17
In these new works the pictorial surface is reduced in order to give a greater importance to the content, and it turns into a space for contamination of repeated and layered lines, that confer density, rhythm and harmony.
Schröder presents conceptual painting in its multiplicity of action, in which the constant gestural practice is both meditative and performative. These 'energy signs' are repeatedly marked by the graphite pencil and the brush, mixing the turpentine with lead powder. By erasing some traits by means of a rubber or another painting, Schröder then multiplies the previously traced signs, which cross over into new directions.
Repetition is "inverted memory", according to Kierkegaard, a production of something new, and not merely a reproduction of what already exists. The works of Schröder act in the substratum of abstraction: gestural signs form layers of levels and become actual experimentations. These temporal and spatial traces represent a record of the artist's pictorial experience. The marks invite you to get closer to the canvas, to study the lines and their progressions more closely. They become a perceptive challenge for the viewers, who find themselves in front of an idea that is being energetically translated into painting.
The boundaries between drawing, writing and painting appear to be already overcome. What the artist is interested in is the process, the repetition of the gesture, the study of the possibilities of the becoming of the work, as well as of the overcoming of its limits. The sign language expands on the surface of the canvas, in which the centre doesn’t exist anymore, and goes beyond the limits of the space.
Schröder presents conceptual painting in its multiplicity of action, in which the constant gestural practice is both meditative and performative. These 'energy signs' are repeatedly marked by the graphite pencil and the brush, mixing the turpentine with lead powder. By erasing some traits by means of a rubber or another painting, Schröder then multiplies the previously traced signs, which cross over into new directions.
Repetition is "inverted memory", according to Kierkegaard, a production of something new, and not merely a reproduction of what already exists. The works of Schröder act in the substratum of abstraction: gestural signs form layers of levels and become actual experimentations. These temporal and spatial traces represent a record of the artist's pictorial experience. The marks invite you to get closer to the canvas, to study the lines and their progressions more closely. They become a perceptive challenge for the viewers, who find themselves in front of an idea that is being energetically translated into painting.
The boundaries between drawing, writing and painting appear to be already overcome. What the artist is interested in is the process, the repetition of the gesture, the study of the possibilities of the becoming of the work, as well as of the overcoming of its limits. The sign language expands on the surface of the canvas, in which the centre doesn’t exist anymore, and goes beyond the limits of the space.
Jana Schröder
acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
Kadlites RS14
2019acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
Jana Schröder
acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
Kadlites RS15
2019acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
Jana Schröder
acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
Kadlites RS17
2019acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
Jana Schröder
acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
Kadlites RS7
2019acrylic and graphite on canvas
120 × 95 cm (47 ¼ × 37 ⅜ inches)
A review by Vanessa Murrell
For artist Jana Schröder, paint is a form of erasure. The more activity takes place on the canvas, the more elements are edited, erased and added anew. The artist has been working on her ‘Kadlites’ series since 2017 - a body of work now on view at T293 that combines control and coincidence, collapsing them into a precarious equilibrium through the play of repetition. This layered process gives rise to spontaneity, with the artist unaware of where her gestures will take her. She sketches lines directly onto the canvas, without any prior planning, almost as if investigating how to make handwritten elements unrecognisable and unreadable. Her movement is intuitive, and Schröder allows us to accelerate and decelerate in between the contaminating yellow glaze on the surface of her canvases. There is often both a seeming struggle in the unexpectedness and uncertainty of the outcome, and a certain inherent order in her impulse to scribble and instinct to paint. The works carry the sense of an impending accident, and yet this adrenaline is harnessed to produce a determined order: the artist paints against the wall, rather than on the floor, giving her greater control; the palette is limited to black and cadmium yellow, which Schröder considers ‘a mean colour’; the mediums used on the canvas are reduced to acrylic and graphite alone; her works are all sized 120 cm x 95 cm; the titles are added in numerical codes, in order of completion. Control both triumphs over and enhances the gestural; the more rules she imposes onto her process, the greater the possibilities of her mark-making.
For artist Jana Schröder, paint is a form of erasure. The more activity takes place on the canvas, the more elements are edited, erased and added anew. The artist has been working on her ‘Kadlites’ series since 2017 - a body of work now on view at T293 that combines control and coincidence, collapsing them into a precarious equilibrium through the play of repetition. This layered process gives rise to spontaneity, with the artist unaware of where her gestures will take her. She sketches lines directly onto the canvas, without any prior planning, almost as if investigating how to make handwritten elements unrecognisable and unreadable. Her movement is intuitive, and Schröder allows us to accelerate and decelerate in between the contaminating yellow glaze on the surface of her canvases. There is often both a seeming struggle in the unexpectedness and uncertainty of the outcome, and a certain inherent order in her impulse to scribble and instinct to paint. The works carry the sense of an impending accident, and yet this adrenaline is harnessed to produce a determined order: the artist paints against the wall, rather than on the floor, giving her greater control; the palette is limited to black and cadmium yellow, which Schröder considers ‘a mean colour’; the mediums used on the canvas are reduced to acrylic and graphite alone; her works are all sized 120 cm x 95 cm; the titles are added in numerical codes, in order of completion. Control both triumphs over and enhances the gestural; the more rules she imposes onto her process, the greater the possibilities of her mark-making.
