About being and doing and watching
About the social and individual
About the emotional and rational
About questioning places, believes and being free
Walking, Meeting, Reading, Listening,
with a sense of rhythm and moods
About the struggles, beauty and being in making and
showing
2026 ERf_
Drawing what the body
remembers requires a search for essences.
The consequence of this search
calls for an approach that attempts to detect blind spots, puts certainty on
the shelf, and sets aside assumptions about works of art.
I see people as
‘experimenters’ who test opportunities for space, freedom, and escape.
What is successful is stored
in the body, as is the opposite.
Where is the short circuit?
Emotions that arise unexpectedly (as researched and described by Marcel Proust)
are the key to blind spots.
The subjects in my work are
not consciously chosen but have been wandering around me like satellites for a
long time.
As I get older, I have become
more curious about my unconscious memories. How can they be traced.
The drawings of the past 5
years have begun a search for this.
2014
In her artwork Ellen Rodenberg gives both a differential as well as an apt dynamic picture of her
progress. Initially the artist was self-taught and subsequently she continued
at the Royal Academy of The Hague, The Netherlands to obtain her Degree in Fine
Art over a two-year period. Besides paintings she also makes three-dimensional
installations and videos; which have been frequently
used in music performances in the The Hague
underground scene where her videos have been shown as a part of the overall
programme. This broad range of activities appears to have consistently
contributed to a painterly development, which has lead to an interesting new body of work. In the
paintings the previous formal characteristics continue to prevail; they have
been divided in four squares. In the four forms a different approach is used,
but throughout this approach in all four the same subject or motif flows…
http://rdpauw.blogspot.nl/2013/04/ellen-rodenberg.html
2010
The dynamics of Ellen Rodenberg
In her artwork Ellen Rodenberg gives both a differential as well as an
apt dynamic picture of her progress.
Initially the artist was self-taught and subsequently she continued at
the Koninklijke Academie in Den Haag to obtain her
Degree in Fine Art over a two-year period.
Besides paintings she also makes three-dimensional installations and videos; which have been frequently used in music
performances in the The Hague underground scene where
her videos have been shown as a part of the overall programme.
This broad range of activities appears to have consistently contributed
to a painterly development, which has lead
to an interesting new body of work. In the paintings the previous formal
characteristics continue to prevail; they have been divided in
four squares. In the four forms a different approach is used, but throughout
this approach in all four the same subject or motif flows.
This subject is recognizable at times, at times only partially and in a
few works it disappears from sight altogether
enabling the painting to become a complete abstract geometric canvas although through the
transparent layers of paint it is still possible to detect a suggestion of the
original subject matter. In some instances the subject
matter deals with landscapes in which the spatial referential remains. For instance: in
a recent canvas the landscape is divided in four sections unto which a disco
ball is painted, which in itself has again been
divided in four different sections and through this process the disco ball acts
as a repository. If one wonders what exactly is going on here the fist
thing that becomes apparent that the internally
divided and at times faded landscapes are an important and informative element
in her work; as memories partially faded and tinted.
On the other hand these elements have been
sufficiently incorporated that the painting can be
seen as an autonomous abstract work. The cross, which divides the canvas, forms
an important part in the whole picture; the four approaches, separations appear
as an integral part of the canvas and structure and thereby further support each other’s context. The more flat painted canvasses strongly suggest the flag motif
and its suggestive countenance makes it an important theme in the artists work.
Ellen Rodenberg has also discovered a third dimension to her work; the need to
investigate her concerns with other means at her disposal such as making
installations out of Styrofoam and in which she employs toys, photo’s and small dolls to make
these spaces dynamic. Photographs made of these installations can act again as
a source of inspiration for new paintings.
In 2004 the artist began a web log ‘MULTI-IMPRESSIELOG’ where she noted
personal observations and experiences and in doing so positioned herself in a
different manner in the art world.
.
In the new studio in de DCR a
number of things took place in the development and progress of her work.
In the paintings a concentration unto two subject
matters takes place. Firstly a number of used motifs
in the work are erased and in doing so these abstract elements used in the
process strengthen themselves The abstract elements flowing out of the motifs are used in
rhythmic patterns and again in these paintings the aforementioned
characteristics emerge: the canvasses are colourful, contain depth
are dynamic and contain a confrontation of different picturorial elements.
Conflicting ideas move and collide in the pictorial space.
Photographs taken from the video projections emerge subsequently as a
source of inspiration for work to follow. Paintings with text and in a flag pattern suggest memory; filtered, coloured and fragmented.
Simultaneously the paintings are completely abstract
and the flag motif adds to its autonomous identity. The way in which they are
worked out refers to Modernism and even further to formalistic work. This explorative way of working
is extended in the current series: the separating cross moves across the surface
and in doing so it causes the divided surfaces to become asymmetrical.
You could surmise and say that Ellen Rodenberg would like to be called a painter whose idea’s are formulated and executed
in multiple and dynamic ways. She develops her ideas and
themes in a constant state of flux and motion and
through experimenting with all sorts of different media and techniques. The
confrontation of her work with work done by others and her own by form a continuous challenge in her work practise. The paintings
which emerge out of this process balance on the edge of figuration and abstraction
which equally occurred at the time of the transitional stage of Modernism: the
tension found in the opposites and the energetic research by the artist are
visible in the strength of the paintings by Ellen Rodenberg.
Adaptation Ineke Van der Wal
Taken from the original text by Kees Koomen of October 2010.
2008
Following a Trail, Creating Texture
I don’t think
Ellen Rodenberg is just playing with the dozens of objects she collected during
her residency in Jogja, after I observed the way how she arranges the various
plastic toys, such as toy soldiers, tanks, cars, motorcycles, trees, flags,
etc., on her worktable. Her methods recall the joys of a child in selecting
whatever she likes and placing them into positions. This, collecting various
objects that caught her fancy, was the first thing Ellen did upon arriving in
Jogja.
It was interesting when Ellen, an artist born in
Amsterdam in 1955, shared her worktable with her children. It is probable that
we, adults, would be annoyed with sharing the space, because the objects Ellen
collected were similar to her children’s toys.
However, Ellen partitioned the table, drawing a clear boundary between her
children’s playing area and her own art space. This proves she was not just
playing, as she was busy arranging and rearranging, repositioning the various
objects, while trying to identify them and understand their symbols and
meanings. Ellen is currently conducting historical research on these objects
that she will present as footnotes. There is a deep conviction to follow the
history of these objects. For instance, the swastika is a Nazi symbol
associated with the terrifying and oppressive Hitler regime. However, this is
not the symbol’s meaning for which Ellen is searching; rather, she is focusing
on the other meanings and relevancies that developed and are used in other
contexts. The swastika is also a devotional symbol for the Hindus. These
contrasting and contradictory meanings become the base for Ellen’s research.
She focuses her attention on the diverse perspectives of a symbol. In essence,
she wants to prove that any one symbol does not belong to any specific group,
language, or discourse, but rather a symbol can have different meanings, uses
and rites in different contexts. Ellen’s background in painting explains how
she views these objects in two and three dimensions.
At this point, I see Ellen’s unique artistic language.
I think her experience in conducting this unusual exploration provides a
valuable opportunity to witness the process behind a final product. The
stability of painting conventions that represent two dimensions on a canvas
seem to be shattered by Ellen’s exploration process. For her, process
represents the basic foundation of the final product.
She demonstrates how a miniature landscape of flags must be seen from two
visual aspects, i.e., flat and three-dimensional. Ellen’s artworks are
explorations of thought and intuition, a balance between mind and soul.
Sometimes, she intuitively seizes objects she finds without needing any
previous intense contemplation.
The final result
of this process is an installation in the Cemeti Art House
exhibition space. This is Ellen’s painting. Not a two-dimensional painting, but
one with volume that fills the space. Various compositions of objects are
spread out; some in miniature form, others that have been magnified. Dragon
Ball, as a hero from a Japanese comic series, is present in life-size form, in
the four corners of the simulation arena. The Dragon Ball character and a number of other objects were chosen because they are
cartoon figures and are associated with strength or can be perceived as
metaphors of authority.
This Landing Soon #7 project has enticed Ellen to
become familiar with, understand, or, to be more
specific, play, with the similarities and differences of cultural symbols.
Three months is too short to understand the cultural milieu of Yogyakarta, as
the heart of the Mataram kingdom, which has a long
history in the crossroads of Javanese traditions, diverse religions and the
formation of a modern society. Of course, one of the unique features is how the
colonial Dutch presence in the past remains in buildings, language and various
cultural practices. Ellen is aware of this past from the Netherlands, a
European country that has complex history. Differences, similarities and
various relationships in the past form a kind of collective memory that can be
recalled, forgotten, or become a symbol ready to be deconstructed. These
symbols may at one time have been sacred signs of reverence and nobility, but now have assumed totally opposite meanings.
Symbols are the most articulate signs of a perspective or ideology. The use of
symbols in society represents a kind of undivided bond. The presence of these
symbols is a way of identifying and marking an existence. The need for the
presence of these symbols is as old as humanity, homo symbolicum.
During the period of her residency in Jogja, Ellen
became aware that following the trails of symbols was one way to get to know a
new place, space and culture – both universal symbols, such as the popular
Dragon Ball, who everyone knows, regardless of territorial boundaries and
national ideologies, as well as symbols used actively in local contexts in
Yogyakarta.
This can be seen in the documentary photos and videos
Ellen recorded of various monuments, landscapes, plants, animals, and people
that she felt were potentially both similar and different. This recording
process took place not only in Yogyakarta, but also when she visited and made
presentations in Solo and Semarang. Symbols, in the context of Ellen’s search,
are like a spider’s web. The symbols exist in a structure and are experienced
culturally. One symbol is like a footnote for a supra-structure. I think Ellen
stops here. She guides us to the face of this symbolic structure. Perhaps
“symbolic texture” is more accurate. As texture, it becomes a composition. We
can see this in a number of two-dimensional painting
fields, where colors and lines form specific symbolic
contours. What is Ellen searching for through this long process that involves
interpretation and duplication of various signs? I think Ellen is one who
ponders.
Beneath her methods in learning about a new place and
culture, there is another underlying process, as if she wants to redefine
herself as a “new symbol” in various forms of language play that are constantly
in the process of evolving
A. Sujud
Dartanto 2008
(text:
Landing Soon #7 catalogue)