Paul Beumer’s painting practice oscillates freely between figuration and abstraction. His recent works on paper, made with watercolour and ink, bear a strong relation to the manifold spontaneous processes happening in nature and its ever-changing scenes and colours. Just like one cannot predict the shapes of a cloud or the structures of semi-precious stones, Beumer leaves it partly up to chance how his work will turn out. He mixes inks and watercolours with materials from nature, such as mud, leaves and twigs, to create compositions, which for the greater part depend on gravity and viscosity to reach their final form.
For his presentation in the Goethe Pavillion Beumer will exhibit a floor-piece consisting of various painted textiles, ranging from useless cloth to a lavishly embroidered kimono. The installation does not fix itself to only one reading or meaning. On close inspection notions of process, natural philosophy and Romanticism come to the fore.
Paul Beumer (1982) received his BFA from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and in 2014 completed a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. In 2015 he was a resident artist at the Chinese European Art Center (CEAC) in Xiamen, China. Recent solo exhibitions include Dry Landscape at CEAC in Xiamen, China, I won’t have the luxury of seeing scenes like this much longer at Dürst Britt & Mayhew in The Hague and Tomorrow’s Harvest at Bosse & Baum in London. He participated in various group exhibitions, including The Dutch Identity? Half Sugar, Half Sand at Museum De Paviljoens in Almere, Netherlands (2012) and Now or Never at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (2010). Work by Beumer is held in various private and public collections including the AKZO Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam; the collection of the District Court of Law, Amsterdam; and the KRC Collection, Voorschoten.
In collaboration with Palais Schardt and the Hague based gallery Dürst Britt & Mayhew.
Photo credit: Svante Kerstingjohänner