An Eye for Art: Rinaldo Klas – ‘Composition′

In collaboration with art critic Rob Perrée, Readytex Art Gallery has developed an informative initiative: An Eye for Art. Once every two weeks Rob Perrée discusses a work of art from the collection of Readytex Art Gallery. This week he talks about ‘Composition’, acrylics on canvas, 126 cm wide x 110 cm high, 2015, from Rinaldo Klas.

Rinaldo Klas, ‘Composition’, acrylics on canvas, 126 cm wide x 110 cm high, 2015 – USD 1400 / PHOTO Readytex Art Gallery/William Tsang

This recent work by Rinaldo Klas (Moengo, 1954) surprised me. In recent years his work was generally figurative. They were based on reality, albeit somewhat stylized. The environment surrounding the people or the animals was abstracted. You could venture a guess at the identity, but it was not clearly given. There was often a social message hidden within. For Klas for example, nature, the preservation of nature, is an important theme.

This work is completely different. My first association is an explosion of shapes and colors. This assumes a high degree of coincidence. That is not so. There is after all a reason why Klas calls it a ‘Composition’. Those apparently random shapes and colors have been composed indeed. The colorful, whimsical shapes disperse from a center – black hole? – in a shape resembling a star. They partially overlap and at the same time they manage strengthen each other. The image is full of movement. Not in the least because the strokes and the splatters of paint are engaged in some sort of battle. Was Pollock looking on over his shoulder? Even though on the whole it seems abstract, there are still enough shapes that stimulate the imagination and that can lead to interpretation. Moreover, an explosion of forms and colors can also symbolize liberation. Is it psychology of the cold soil or is it possible that Klas feels liberated because he no longer has the responsibility of the academy resting on his shoulders?

The public generally expects an artist to stick to a certain style or a specific theme. That makes looking and understanding less complicated. On the other hand however, an artist who always stays within the lines, shows very little in the way of artistic development. I suspect that in this case, Klas was trying something out. Is a painting strong when it limits itself to abstract shapes and colors?

If that was his intention, then he was indeed successful.

TEXT Rob Perrée, Amsterdam, May 2015

TRANSLATION Cassandra Gummels-Relyveld, 2015

Want to see this and other work of Rinaldo Klas ‘up close and personal’? That’s possible at Readytex Art Gallery, Steenbakkerijstraat 30, Paramaribo. www.readytexartgallery.com. For more information about Rinaldo Klas please visit the website http://readytexartgallery.com/rinaldoklas.

More work by Rinaldo Klas available in Readytex Art Gallery:

Rinaldo Klas, ‘In Space’, acrylics on canvas, 144 cm wide x 110 cm high, 2015 – USD 1500 / PHOTO Readytex Art Gallery/William Tsang

Rinaldo Klas, ‘Toekan’, acrylics on canvas, 60 cm wide x 80 cm high, 2015 – USD 800 / PHOTO Readytex Art Gallery/William Tsang

This edition of An Eye for Art has been sent as a RAG-mailing on May 6, 2015 and was published in Kunst en Cultuur in de Ware Tijd on May 6, 2015.

Because really looking at art and understanding art are not always obvious and easy to do, we hope that these regular reviews will at least offer you some insight into the process.  You will get to see how a connoisseur looks at art, discusses it, and then links the work to others within the international art world.

Of course you can only truly judge a work of art when you are actually standing in front of it yourself. We therefore hope to see you soon in Readytex Art Gallery  and are eager to hear what you think of this artwork, and which other works of art you find yourself drawn to. Please note that the artworks discussed are still available for purchase at the time that the review is published.

Rob Perrée is art historian and works as freelance writer, art critic and curator, specialized in contemporary (Afro-) American art, African art, Surinamese art and art using new media. His work has appeared in countless catalogues, books, magazines and newspapers. He is editor of Sranan Art Xposed, editor in chief of Africanah.org and a member of the editing team of Pf Photo Magazine. His website: http://robperree.com.