Catalogue How to disappear completely

Black predominates in earlier paintings by Joan van Barneveld, artist and musician. They are sinister compositions which resemble negatives of reality. For some time Van Barneveld has concentrated more on over-exposure. This transition from dark to light results in ephemeral images that are almost mystical. Unlike his darker work, the light work seems to be trying to imitate an alchemy-like process of sublimination, the transition from a solid material to vaporisation. This displays similarities with Van Barneveld’s own desire for disengagement, a state of mind that is also evident in his repetitive, psychedelic music: submission, together with your onlookers, to something that is larger than yourself. The images, sometimes barely discernible (a mirror, a car) do not vanish behind veils of paint, but move forwards and hover, eviscerated of all substance in a limitlessly light colour space. The over-exposure absorbs all patterns and content, while the painting itself seems to dissolve into the wall.