Bernard Frize

For Bernard Frize, the adventure of painting hardly lies in any portrayal of anecdotes or expression of emotions. He aspires to a pure type of painting, one which is free of subjective elements. His techniques change constantly. With these he makes use of rather common implements, such as the wide brush and the roller, as in this painting. Frize’s experiments have resulted in an oeuvre that consists of highly varied series. There is no distinct stylistic coherence, but his works are nevertheless easily recognizable. The avoidance of the personal brushstroke stems from the wish to allow the painting to speak for itself as much as possible. In that sense his work bears some likeness to that of the American Robert Ryman, who once defined his manner of painting as ‘to paint the paint’.