Jan Astner – CUMULATIONS – post-painterly abstract painting at IAXAI gallery

CUMULATIONS – post-painterly abstract painting

CUMULATIONS is another series of works by Jan Astner – the works were created in the style of post-painterly abstract painting. The theme of the series are social relations. Astner’s paintings are not a literal message. The artist chose the formula of abstraction to analyze and present issues of interest to him.

Post-painterly abstract painting is a thorough, systematic analysis of the concept of interpersonal relations. The artist deals with the subject from the perspective of symbolic interactionism. In his works, he creates multi-level structures with various degrees of interdependence. He presents the world of relations as complex compositions, showing individuals from the perspective of entire social groups and entire communities in relation to the individual.

For the CUMULATIONS series, Astner chose post-painterly painting on purpose. The style is characterized by a more rigorous approach to abstraction. Moreover, he put his approach to painting on a much cleaner abstract basis than before.

Mysticism of abstract art

By applying abstract painting, Jan rejects the interiority and mysticism of abstract expressionism. Instead, it deals with the subject of references to the outside world. However, his approach to composition should be considered the most important. He creates art that functions in terms of basic elements of the painting medium itself. He is fascinated by form, color, texture, scale, and composition.

Using compilations of oval forms, the artist moves from presenting the relationships of individual elements to entire systems. In his compositional arrangements, he surprises with the richness of colorful and formal symbols. Thanks to this, his post-painterly abstract painting is a visually intriguing and socially unique message. Astner paints instinctively. He trusts in his artistic intuition, and as a result obtains the artistic ambiguity of his paintings.

At the basis of his formal choices is a visually and socially dramatic metaphor. The chosen form of the oval does not mean unambiguous, simple in transmission and reception, interpretation. On the contrary. His painting statements are an abstract language. The language of pure form, post-painterly abstract painting. The language of unambiguous color, multi-layered image structure.