Cycle
(Rotterdam / Veerlaan 13, Katendrecht, Fenixloods 1 – first floor)
In his animations Jacco Olivier (1972, the Netherlands) blends painting and moving image. He paints an image with acrylic or oil paint and takes pictures from slightly different angels. Next he paints over the image and takes more pictures. This working method is repeated until he has reached the final step in the making process. Oliver uses computer software to add layers to the image. The viewer discovers only very gradually the movement and depth the artist has added. Cycle, the long-drawn-out video installation by Olivier was made during a residency at Artpace, San Antonio, Texas (US). Mexican influences are omnipresent in this southern city with many handpainted billboards and houses with brightly colored façades. The painted colorific splendor and Olivier’s introduction to the Colorfield Painting by American artist Helen Frankenthaler (1928- 2011) are reflected in the work. Cycle is a ‘road movie’ shot from the perspective of a cyclist. The landscape slowly passes by, from the muggy city to the dry, hot hills past the built environment. The artist often took his bike to escape the city and ‘assimilated’ in his bicycle tours the colors and shapes of the houses and landscape and created from memory a new personal colorful and moving panorama that lasts about a quarter of an hour.