Anthony Pieters, Limitatio, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 76 x 91 x 3.8cm.Photo: Rohan Thomson. Courtesy: the artist
JOHN STAFFORD
Director, Onespace Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Part of a series titled Divine Suffering, Limitatio continues Anthony Pieters’ theme of individuals encased in emotional determination – perhaps not of their doing. The figure is constrained, almost embalmed by heavily textured iconic paint treatment, suggesting their plight is worthy of biblical contemplation from the Renaissance, yet grounded in earthly human condition. The blue-eyed young female initially appears powerless to address her sadness as she gazes off, perhaps into her fate. Her depiction seems at odds with many young contemporary women who are less idealised. The artist entreats us to will her escape from normative entrapment and expectations – to shed the societal carapace and regain her agency and self-determination.
AMBER CRESWELL BELL
Creative Director, Michael Reid Northern Beaches, Sydney
Pieters has cleverly employed luscious texture in this piece to relay a sense of swelling emotion. Fields of varying texture and pattern ripple outwards,radiating from the central figure. There is a curious juxtaposition of a photorealistic rendering of a face and eyes, which then bleeds into an abstract montage of tactile colour fields. Its power lies in what it asks of the viewer – not only in subject, but in the materiality and process itself.
FELIXE LAING
Curator, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland
In Limitatio, Pieters highlights the figure’s struggle for composure within a chrysalis-like form. The contrast of texture and colour of the background and surroundings merges with their muted flesh tones, which distorts the figure’s form. The sense of transformation is highlighted through the visual references of colour and texture to the butterfly’s aesthetics and metamorphosis.