WHAT

Continuing his analysis of the compression of time into painting, and the speed of making and unmaking an image, eight new paintings by Toby Ziegler are presented. The works in this exhibition find their origin in the 17th century still-life tradition, from the works of Flemish master, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and the German artist, Abraham Mignon. Ziegler’s attraction to the vanitas theme lies in its power to express a moment frozen in time while nonetheless emphasising its fragility, thereby articulating a sense of duration.

WHY

In these new paintings, the line between representation and abstraction is blurred, collapsing narrative and pictorial space and dismantling chronological time. At first glance, the paintings might appear recognisable as the historical paintings they reference. However upon closer inspection, areas of the substrate – aluminium or pink gesso – interrupt the picture plane. Using an orbital sander to efface the surface of the panel, the artist has contrasted the time-consuming process of figurative painting with the rapidity of erasure.