Notes

Zander Blom has established himself as an admired painter with a distinctive, if hard-to-pin, aesthetic. Notwithstanding occasional forays into deconstructed figuration, Blom’s overall output of the last two decades has largely been abstract in nature. It is the product of a disciplined studio regime that places a premium on both art-historical research and enthused making. Blom is always discovering new techniques. His painting tools have included brushes, squeegees and palette knives (the latter used for this lot). His energetic compositions are the outcome of sketching, dabbing, brushing, dripping, smearing, cutting, or some combination of these actions.

Notwithstanding his irreverent attitude to the fundamentals of composition – line, form and colour, Blom’s paintings exhibit a remarkable sensitivity to finish. This large composition is a fine example of how his experimentation is directed towards a settled outcome. Singular daubs of vibrant sunflower yellow and titanium white paint are laid down at varying intervals and in growing proximities to one another, and yet the individual marks never overlap or commingle. Blom introduced this compositional strategy in a series of black-and-white paintings from 2012. He promptly abandoned it to pursue other investigations, but returned to it again in 2013; this time employing a gentler touch and lighter palette.

“Last year’s feverish, almost violent desire for simplicity and a narrowed focus seems to have opened up into a space of subtle de-materialisation,” wrote Blom of his new work, including the present lot. “Solid shapes and large masses are gently breaking down into smaller particles, forming soft textures and dissolving into the picture plane.” Blom’s embrace of colour was prompted by his rediscovery of Seurat, Pissarro, Van Gogh and Monet. The arrangement of the dabs was also influenced by his longstanding interest in free-form making music. “Musical terms like tone and rhythm suddenly seem important in my painting and a direct relationship between the two forms has become visibly and audibly apparent. Some paintings appear to look like musical notation or scores.”¹

^1. All quotes Zander Blom (2013) Artist statement for New Paintings, Stevenson, Johannesburg, online, http://archive.stevenson.info/exhibitions/blom/index2013.html, accessed 24 January 2024.

Provenance

Stevenson, Johannesburg, 2013.

Private Collection.

Exhibited

Stevenson, Johannesburg, New Paintings, 15 August to 27 September 2013.