Maarten Janssen
“Paint runs and missed spots” – painting in a coded gravitational field.
May 30 to June 27, 2026
After I showed Hans Walgenbach a work a year ago, he asked me to create the final exhibition. The work in question is a rack with shelves, coded, set upright, and painted in various colors. Traces of gravity in the wet paint reveal the painting sequence. Prints of books from my own library behind the rack form the context and a source of inspiration for the painting.
For the final exhibition at Walgenbach Art & Books, I went through the approximately three thousand books in the visual arts department one by one. I photographed titles that have influenced me at some point, positively or negatively—through the work and/or through the artist. In the exhibition section of Art & Books, this selection serves as the context for a number of rack paintings. In the display window, I am creating a work consisting of moving boxes with the four flaps in a constantly changing position, open or closed. [xxxx, xxxo, xxox, xoxx, oxxx, xxoo, xoxo, xoox, ooxx, oxox, oxxo, xooo, oxoo, ooxo, ooox, oooo]
For a long time, I searched for a method to produce paintings that explain themselves; without prior knowledge, one should be able to see why a work is the way it is. Art Concret and Minimal Art/Fundamental Painting find a solution in not referring to sensory reality. But not referring to sensory reality can only be done by decree (“This gray square must not be seen as part of a concrete wall.”). I thought I had found a way out by coding the support with gambling material and keeping that coding visible. That helps, but it does not explain everything. What attracted me to the non-figurative tradition, and where does my (psychological) fixation on causes come from?
When I started using playing cards alongside dice, tops, coins, and raffle tickets, I stumbled upon richly illustrated tarot decks. These allowed me to bring biographical aspects within the boundaries of a painting, alongside formal causes. I designed a card system that zooms in on the first 25 years of life and that can serve as a support for a painting or drawing. Later motifs and inspirations also reappear in the work for art & books, that is to say, insofar as they are present in the collection.
In May, the shop section of art & books becomes increasingly empty. When the exhibition opens at the end of May, it refers to what once was. The relocation of the books and the farewell to the building thus receive a somewhat melancholic and hopefully also powerful framing.”
Maarten Janssen, 2026