aaaa nordhavn, Copenhagen
Romain Blanck
For Art-o-rama, french/german artist Romain Blanck presents a series of paintings, inviting us to look closer at the traces and objects we leave behind, to rethink their value and look at them as the containers of stories and life.
The paintings from the ongoing series EG, the German abbreviation for “Ground floor” proposes a displacement of the window the artist observed during his daily walks. The painting consists consists of dark grey painted panels decorated with what could appear to be children’s drawings or brightly colored stickers, augmented with a shelf containing various found objects, bought from flea markets or eBay, found left on the artist’s apartment staircase or gifted from friends and family. The work is part of the sampled and refigured versions of the ground floor windows Blanck has continuously photographed on his regular walks. He has especially been drawn to the window glue paint and small toys, souvenirs and ornaments that could be characterized as non relevant, cheap, or even naïve. It is through these personalized decorations and objects, the windows not only become openings into houses but also into people’s lives.
Leaving a mark, a trace of existing is a human condition, dating back to cave paintings. Romain Blanck is deeply interested in the objects and marks we leave behind for others to find, while he speculates, who left them there and why? In his artistic practice he sources and collects traces from his everyday surroundings including bamboos, note pads, and by browsing the digital sphere.
By recognizing these objects as traces of time passed and witnesses to lived experience, Blanck does not only question their inherent value as image and object but he also forces us to reevaluate our own value systems of looking at image and artwork.
