Blue Square No. 1
120 x 80 cm, 2020, Oil paint on glass, with aluminium hanging system

Blue Square No.1 takes Donald’s research into the possibilities of oil paint and glass to the next level. A blue gradient of oil paint is painted on top of a sheet of glass in the shape of a square, hiding the hanging system and suggesting as if the shape is floating in thin air. This complex work brings together many elements. Not just the Minimalist use of un-painterly materials such as glass and aluminium that are being juxtaposed to the use of the age old medium of oil paint, but also concepts of abstract art itself. As in abstract art all reference to the outside reality was erased, for the sake of creating an world of abstract shapes that seem to float on top of or in between one another, following their own rules; like famously explored around the 1910’s by artists like Malevich. In this work of art this shape all of a sudden literally floats on top of a glass substrate and in front of a real wall, alluding to the abstract art’s early mission and breaking it down at the same time. For Donald it is also the use of glass as a translucent material that interacts with oil paint on a deeper level, as oil paint gains its characteristics from the translucency of oil.

Donald Schenkel, Blue Square No.1, 2020, 120 x 80 cm, Oil paint on glass with aluminium hanging system
Donald Schenkel, Blue Square No.1, 2020, 120 x 80 cm, Oil paint on glass with aluminium hanging system
Donald Schenkel, Blue Square No.1, 2020, 120 x 80 cm, Oil paint on glass with aluminium hanging system
Donald Schenkel, Blue Square No.1, 2020, 120 x 80 cm, Oil paint on glass with aluminium hanging system