RaphaĂŤlle Goethals | The Memory of Persistence
Turner Carroll Gallery 725 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.986.9800 turnercarrollgallery.com info@turnercarrollgallery.com ©2020 Turner Carroll Gallery Essay: Jeffery Kuiper Design: Shastyn Blomquist Photography: Tasha Ostrander, Lindsay Holt, and Jeffery Kuiper Front Cover: Séléné, 2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 73 in. diameter Back Cover: Waimoku, 2019-2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 87.25 x 63.25 in.
Raphaëlle Goethals | The Memory of Persistence Raphaëlle Goethals’ practice comes from a desire for larger truths, a search for the timeless and the infinite, and a cultivation of both devotion and humanism. Through her process, she allows her psyche to drift into a deeply instinctual place where each body of work, each painting, and each mark or gesture advances from the one preceding it, developing intuitively within a framework of layered content and coded vocabulary. “My internal language of mark-making evolved from my early interest in the semiotic, the study of signs and symbols and how we assign them meaning. This is where I am called to search for the sublime,” says Goethals. The evolution of this body of work led to several key developments. The conceptual exploration of transforming micro to macro and breaking away from the conventional rectilinear canvas is evident in one of the cornerstones of the exhibition: Séléné. The circular form, once only used by Goethals as an anchoring mechanism, has no beginning or end, no straight angle; it is the suggestion of space and our place in the cosmos. Séléné takes on this round format, a new direction for Goethals, one that allowed her to explore on a detailed level the same shape that she had previously used to create subtle grid structures within her paintings. Taking this form to the macro level allows the viewer to dive into a painting such as Séléné the same way we can allow our imagination to sink into infinite space itself. Two of the largest works in this series are profoundly immersive. Waimoku, inspired by the Waimoku Falls, a majestic waterfall situated at the head of Ohe’o Gulch in Maui, Hawaii, captures the atmospheric mist, cascading movement, and the raw force of nature in a freshly liberated, more painterly style. Eidolon is Goethals’ largest work to date, and was the initial painting that spurred this current direction. At nearly ten feet wide, this tour de force work, an engulfing panorama, abundantly illustrates the artists mastery of composition and her recent aesthetic advancements. Raphaëlle’s early influences originate not only from the devotional painting of Flemish Masters but also with painters such as Per Kirkeby and Lucian Freud. Post-minimalist artists like Eva Hesse and Wolfgang Laib also fed her creative impulse in their exploration of materials and forms, moving away from revealing the “hand” of the artist in the artwork. The Memory of Persistence reflects years of developing and perfecting Raphaëlle’s unique vision and history—a history that began for her as a bold, expressionist painter. It took decades for Goethals to distill and to circle back to embrace her beginnings as a painter of movement, space, and energy. This series presents a highly mature, more sensitive, and meaningful manifestation. It captures the essence of swirling cosmic dust clouds in a feathery application layered over the previously tranquil, meditative surfaces. The result is a monumental advancement in composition, a richness of emotion, technique, and movement, where the viewer can effortlessly escape further into the depths of mystery and meaning in her works. To fully engage in the experience of these paintings asks the viewer for a suspension of time and a suspension of belief. And, while there is nothing representational or descriptive about the work, it unfailingly acts as a portal of exploration and a familiar reflection of ourselves, our stories, and our deepest questions of human existence. Jeffery Kuiper Director, Turner Carroll Gallery
“I long to be engulfed; to be in awe.” -Raphaëlle Goethals
Waimoku, 2019-2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 87.25 x 63.25 in. 2
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Disrupted Currents II, 2019-2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 48 x 46 in. 4
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“I was never interested in the entertainment, the theatrical, or political side of art. It is how art can deeply affect us emotionally that fascinates me.” - Raphaëlle Goethals
Currents I, 2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 49 x 45 in. 6
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Eidolon, 2019-2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 57 x 115 in. 8
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“The paintings themselves require time to come to fruition, where mark making, memory, and process are extremely important.” -Raphaëlle Goethals
Séléné, 2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 73 in. diameter 10
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Synesthesia, 2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 49 x 53 in. 12
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Miserere (Mercy), 2020 encaustic, oil and mineral pigment on birch panel 83.75 x 63.75 in. 14
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RaphaĂŤlle Goethals in her studio, June 2020. Photo: Jeffery Kuiper
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Raphaëlle Goethals Focusing on painting as a space of exploration, Raphaëlle Goethals has used wax and resin as her signature medium for nearly twenty years. Probing the physicality of the materials, Goethals works in a process of layering, pouring, scraping off, effacing, leaving traces of earlier information; having established her own vocabulary in the form of distinctive groups of paintings which evolve concurrently. Through repetition of process and the sheer physical effort of applying countless layers in her work, she aims for a deep level of emotional resonance which can only be achieved once subject matter and narrative are out of the way. Goethals preoccupation with space, depth, and the fundamentality of light testifies to her continuing interest in the evolution and history of painting. Her vast surfaces refer to a Jungian space, a semiotic world, an uncoded, unarticulated space of interpretation.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS Art in Embassies Program, Namibia Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico Paul Allen Collection, Seattle, Washington Blue Oak Capital, Palo Alto, California Daniel and Daun Dees, Aspen, Colorado Linda Givon, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa The Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas Henis Technologies, St. Louis, Missouri Hewlett Packard, San Francisco, California Holdenried Collection, Grünwald, Germany Hutchinson Telephone, Hutchinson, Minnesota Kennedy Group, Dallas, Texas Lincoln National Corporation, Radnor, Pennsylvania Metz Collection, Sioux City, Iowa NB Design Group, Seattle, Washington Ritz Carlton, Palm Beach, Florida St. Regis, Bal Harbor, Florida Ring and Associates, Los Angeles, California Sidley Austin LLP, Dallas, Texas Time Warner, New York, New York Ruth Ziegler, New York, New York University Museum of Art, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico US Department of State, Washington, D.C. Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York City Winston and Strawn LLP, Dallas, Texas Stephen A. Wynn Collection, Las Vegas, Nevada
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turnercarrollgallery.com | 725 Canyon Road | Santa Fe, NM 87501 | 505.986.9800