Catalogue Behind Images

The group exhibition Behind Images is about abstraction and the battle between ratio and intuition. What is hidden behind the reality we observe? How is the invisible made visible? Emotions, coincidence and context play an important role in the grey area between imagination and images.

In his work Das Ich und das Es, psychoanalyst Freud states that thinking in terms of images is an unfinished form of becoming conscious. Thinking in images is much closer to our subconscious than thinking in words. In the history of mankind, thinking in images is also ‘older’.

Only a creative act can turn these images into objects, and into works of art. These original inner representations are transformed into concrete objects. In principle, the ratio does not even have to come into it. Visual artists often even consider ratio as a burden. Perhaps this is why, in the history of art, there are not many 'philosophers' among visual artists.

There is a similar process in music. ‘Thinking in music’ is more like thinking in images than in words. This abstract way of thinking is then turned into sounds. In the end it is not about the notes itself, but how they appear in the composition. The representation of sounds. Without a composition, the music will remain hidden in the composer’s mind.

In Beyond Images, the six visual artists are also looking for the underlying truth. Their work is no longer a representation of a reality they observe – it is a new reality, driven by inner images. When has an image spontaneously appeared in their minds and when has it been carefully thought out? There is a fine line between intuition and ratio.