Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled

René Daniëls

1987

Attribution

René Daniëls Dutch, born 1950

Medium

Oil on canvas

Physical dimensions

149.9 × 200.7 cm (59 × 79 in.)

Credit line

Through prior gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin E. Hokin

From the museum

René Daniëls’s work emerged from punk culture in his native Eindhoven, Netherlands. The deceptively casual canvases operate through image association and perceptual confusion, becoming what the artist called “visual poetry.” Daniëls has developed a number of signature motifs over the years, including skateboards, records, swans, and fish. This lively work features the motif of a long, black-walled room rendered in classical linear perspective; resembling a bow tie, the shape is repeated against a vivid green background, reading sometimes as a flat pattern, sometimes as a depiction of illusionistic depth. With its potent optical play, this work is, above all, a painting about the process of seeing.

Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0