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.
