Tàpies in the 1960s - Scars of the Real @ Axel Vervoordt Gallery

I liked to imagine artistic activity being a task as intense as possible, 
in the service of knowledge, influencing our life, 
making us see the falsity of what surrounds us, 
and permitting us to accept authentic reality. -Antoni Tàpies 




It is a beautiful accident how works (books, music, paintings, sculptures, and even conversations with strangers) seem to find you when you need them the most. “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.  And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” ― Albert Camus, The Stranger.  Axel's work, and his gallery continues investigating the soul, the artist, in a way that very few are able to achieve. A chance to learn, or to remember, it's all the same when we return to the source. - David John


"Tàpies. A Catalan name derived from the word tàpia, meaning wall. Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies (Barcelona, 1923-2012) could not have been born with a name that suited him any better. Growing up during the Spanish Civil War under the Franco regime, Tàpies has always been surrounded by walls on which people inscribed their fears and doubts, their desires and frustrations. The walls of Tàpies’ youth bore witness to the horrors of the inhuman turn Spain and the entire world was taking at that time. They were charged with emotions, marked by violence, grief and by the desperate longing for another world.

"Tàpies’ works are eruptions of the Real that are silenced in a condensed, material message. When he makes a painting, Tàpies engages in a respectful, yet sometimes violent dialogue with the pure nature of matter. He lets his unconscious take over and creates the work in a permanent, open exchange with the true qualities of the rough and humble materials he is working with, without imposing any lies on them. For Tàpies, making a painting means diving into matter and going on a journey into its deepest, darkest and most obscure recesses. The critical moment when he feels that the essence of matter converges with the essence of his own being, is experienced by the artist as a mystic touching of the Real and results in a creative act. His paintings thus bare the traces of the impact of an encounter with the Real, in all its beauty and cruelty." 

text taken from here.








 Axel Vervoordt Gallery 
Vlaeykensgang - Oude Koornmarkt 16 2000 Antwerp Belgium tel +32-477 88 80 60 info@axelvervoordtgallery.com Gallery: Open Wed-Sat: 14:00-18:00 or by appointment




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