Two Thousand Eleven

The publication Wendingen was published monthly between 1918 and 1932. Edited by the architect H.Th. Wijdeveld the magazine's content crossed a variety of disciplines operating in the fields of architecture, art and design whilst developing a distinctive in-house graphic style. In utilizing the font populised by the magazine artist Thomas Raat draws on the radical and pioneering movements Wendingen promoted at the time. The interest here is not in the stylistic, graphic implementation of design but in the broader visual language of the avant-garde as it is consumed and appropriated within mainstream culture. However instead of focusing attention on that which has become culturally populised Raat prefers forms of visual representation that have stalled in the slipstream of history's movements and radical ideals. What remains is a language that depicts a lost spiritual relevance, carrying outdated forms of premonition. Individually these examples might harbour empty ideals made manifest in their antiquated mediocrity. Collectively however they represent the power and the force of radicalism and the bastions of Modernism. In his production of sculpture and painting Raat offers new functions to that which initially appears old and outdated. A movement of the slipstream that reveals alternative ideals encapsulated in our visual language's constant and determined desire for change and implementation.

ANDOR Gallery