MAX VOGELSEE VERT

Exhibition dates. 22 Feb - 5 March 2023
Opening Reception : Thursday 23 Feb 2023, 6:00 - 8.30pm.

BEHIND THE SMILE, A CUTTHROAT

‘IT is the dark that engulfs the blinding light of day.’

‘Behind the smile, a cutthroat’ sees an exploration into behavioural and psychological habits we contain, yet suppress - a venturing forth into the void that hosts fear, shame, inadequacy, and grief.

Upon first glance, or from a distance, Vogelsee’s acrylic and ink based works form peaceful and fluid bodies, ebbing and flowing as rivers or mountains do, mirroring the fluctuation of moods and feelings as they peak and dive. It is in this way that Vogelsee presents his personal journey inwards, a deep reflection on what leads one to live a life of atonement, as a product of realising aforementioned suppressed behaviours.
As one pays closer attention, or approaches the work, it becomes more evident that these gentle forms are built from minute, precise, and structured detailing. The forms are accompanied by Vogelsee’s own lettering, wispy drifts of ink one might have taken for decoration, which are in actuality decodable, and further bring to light the existence of secrets buried in the works, buried in the artist’s palms, buried within yourself. Inscribed across the unforgiving nature of paper, and the strict division of works into panels serve to highlight the difference between the resulting effect found at the surface, and all that lies beneath. It is the base on which beauty is built, the roots diving forever deeper into the darkness that give the tree the strength to reach the heavens. A deep dive which leads to realisation, which leads to atonement. The flower comes to bloom.

The artist acknowledges the anatomical forms of Rodin, the drapes and cloth of Duccio and Titian, as well as the ribs and dark swells of H.R. Giger, and contemporary sculptors Hedi Xandt and Jeremy Blincoe, the likes of which led Vogelsee to seek out his own method of creating movement from rigidity, beauty from cold structure and ultimately, his own coded yet perceivable depth.