Villeroy & Boch have only been painting together since 2007, but two years later they had already created 268 masterpieces. The title of their presentation leaves no uncertainty about their artistry, while doubt reigns supreme in the work. In their monumental, brightly colored paintings, they regularly feature as (anti)heroes who have to hold their own in an over-coded society.
Ellemieke Schoenmaker (1968) and Alex Jacobs (1973) are no strangers to the Rotterdam art world. Schoenmaker is a painter of beautiful, mystical landscapes and is part of the Kimberly Clark collective with Iris van Dongen and Josepha de Jong. Alex Jacobs makes installations, sculptures and paintings in which he regularly puts himself and art into perspective. For their collaboration, Schoenmaker and Jacobs borrowed the name of Villeroy & Boch, the chic glass and ceramics manufacturer that unmistakably gives status to the cups and glasses that bear its name. Status, money and power – these are subjects that Villeroy & Boch often address in their paintings.
In Desperate Ambition (2008) we see a woman hitchhiking. She stands in front of a large landscape painting, as if that is the path she wants to take. It is unclear whether the hiply dressed woman will ever be able to travel away, but it is clear where she wants to go: her hitchhiking sign reads 'Basel', the city where the largest and most important international art fair is held and where artists' careers are made and broken. In the painting Escaping Criticism (2009) we see the painting duo sneaking away like thieves in the night at the back of the canvas. It is precisely the back that we see: although the artists are hiding, they know that the public ultimately determines the value of their work.
Villeroy & Boch compose their images by staging a situation, photographing it, and then editing it or supplementing it with images from the internet on the computer. The painting is not a reflection of this, but rather a reconsideration or appropriation of the resulting image. The works are painted on a large scale in a realistic, at times photorealistic style. Contemporary urban furniture such as a waste bin and a telephone booth, trendy clothing and (spray can) colours such as bright yellow, light orange and fresh green give the paintings a contemporary look. Recognisable objects flow out amorphously, paint becomes matter, and the spray can is used to conceal parts or create trendy colour accents. And yet, behind the lively use of colour, the free references to the domain of art and the up-tempo battle between form and content lies a critical vision of the way in which man shapes his culture and makes use of it.