About

“Abstraction is what gives Verheul the latitude to explore the grey area between gesture and gravity (understood by physics as: the universal force of attraction acting between all matter). His practice finds a way to approach and convey form through materiality - with this notion of form regarded as a dynamic entity. Weight and speed describe the type of rhythm and composition sought after by the artist, as he works through canvases, textiles and fabrics. His method includes natural processes: soaking, staining and wrinkling allow him to embrace chance, expanding the possibilities inherent in mark-making.

A mark is the trace of movement, and Verheul delves into the material aspect of gestures. They are the traces of the perceivable memory of both deliberate and accidental acts. What emerges is a loose writing, unmistakable in its intention, yet freed by conventionality. Verheul pulls together weaving and writing; two natures already associated by their flows and inherent gaps - those unavoidable intervals of the trace-leaving process. Yet, what really calls for attention in Verheul’s work are the tensions that run silent: sometimes found in the material exertion of forces, other times a feature of his tracing. despite its flow, the tracing imparts a ‘hesitation of the edge’ - the anticipation of an abrupt and sharp break within.”

Text by Elisabetta Cuccaro, artist, curator and writer based in Milan:

Line: traverses the edge between the idea of form, and the presence of these forms in the world; a boundary between areas and simultaneously a connector - a bridge. The line itself becomes a space between one quality and another. In an experimental exhibition at RE:Search:Gallery, Groningen-based artist Paul Verheul presents Bind.Divide, in which he uses line predominantly in the form of rope and yarn to create tactile environments. The work extends a vibrant contradiction, the structures appear solid yet are in reality unerringly delicate and flexible. The artist is also a painter, and questions traditional notions of painting, dividing the surface while accentuating qualities such as transparency and lightness. Notions of weaving and writing are explored; trace-leaving actions with inherent flows and pauses: a rhythmic movement of touching the surface leaving a mark, and lifting - forming a pattern of presence and absence.

For the artist the allure of fibre based craft (weaving, lacemaking, rope making, net making) is not only making an object, but also recording and conveying movement. Line becomes representative of journey, twisted, knotted, woven together into surfaces in which the original threads now figure as traces, yielded to the regular pattern formed by their entwining.

Through movement, gesture, rhythm and repetition, this artist creates a poetically weightless world in his spatial installations and paintings. Using earthy textiles, sewing, drawing, and etching techniques, he knows to connect with the elusiveness of light, air, and space subtly and abstractly. The gravity disappears, and as a spectator, it feels like being lifted for a moment. All of this is an intriguing experience. We see the versatility and drive of this artist as a significant source for his further development.

https://jegensentevens.nl/2023/08/stille-klanken-klinken-langs-draden-van-paul-verheul/