Matter Is Not Dead: Manu Engelen’s New Materialism
Julie Van der Wielen
To think intuitively is to think in duration. Intelligence starts ordinarily from the immobile, and reconstructs movement as best it can with immobilities in juxtaposition. Intuition starts from movement, posits it, or rather perceives it as reality itself, and sees in immobility only an abstract moment, a snapshot taken by our mind, of a mobility.
— Henri Bergson
Manu Engelen’s paintings have a contemplative and introspective feel. This is not surprising, since they are the result of a rigorous thought process: in his works, Manu departs from mental images stemming from his past perceptive experience, on the basis of which he composes the completed work in his mind before creating it materially. He thus follows one of the main principles of abstract art according to the radical movement of Art Concret — “a work of art must be entirely conceived and shaped by the mind before its execution”[1] — but not without giving it his very own twist.
Manu’s early works are inspired by technology and outer space. As such, they produce a surreal, science-fiction atmosphere. Several of these works represent planes and spacecrafts (Arrow and Spoiled Smog from 2011), trains (Nice, 2010), or metal scraps (Turned and Shelter, 2011); others feature the green shades of night vision cameras (Night Vision, 2014 and the more recent Alg, 2020); and still others depict discomforting scenes, such as desolated, shady toilets (Off Target, 2011) or strange flying creatures (Pass By and Scramble, 2011).
Recently, his work has become more abstract and more focused, even though the technological and aero spatial motifs remain. Manu has represented aerodynamic shapes, for example. He has drawn them on paper (2017), and they are also the subject of a streamlined sculptural work that is still in progress. In the drawing, the sleek shapes appear on a white background, seemingly suspended in an abstract, empty space, and pencil lines suggest scientific calculation. Other more recent works feature physical elements. These works depict balls and beams of light (see for example the Flash series from 2020), the round shapes of celestial bodies (notably in a series works of on papers from 2022), and polygons — which appear in the paintings but also as canvasses — and geometric lines (notably BP Love, 2020). Their originality lies in that, unlike many abstract paintings inspired by nature, they do not depict organic forms or earthly landscapes and elements, but elements from the realm of physics and astronomy.[2] In this way, Manu gives his own take on abstract painting, by introducing and exploring new motifs, which evolved from his earlier works.
The forementioned focus allows the artist to experiment with various techniques to create distinctive textures. The main techniques that are used are dripping and spray-paint, brush, and pantone marker strokes. Through their textural aspect, these works evoke energy and vibration, which are things that usually remain invisible. It is obvious how light represents energy. More remarkable is how, in some of his works, Manu seems to make matter vibrate and come alive.
This is the case with Sint Monica and Sint Joris (2020), which each present three sketchy rocks in oil pastels, on the backdrop of what appears as an empty space (the canvases are painted white greyish in acrylic paint). Because of their vague contours, their soft, rounded shapes, and the suggestion of a white aura around them, the little rocks seem to levitate, to swim around, animated. The way in which they are depicted reminds of the way in which biology represents its subjects, so that they could as well represent living cells or little animals, rather than the presumably dead matter of asteroids. To an imaginative and sympathetic viewer, they may seem cute and friendly.
These paintings thus blur the distinction between organic and inorganic matter. In doing so, they do not express a vitalist posture, as works depicting organic forms do, but rather a new materialist one,[3] which considers that all matter is energetic and alive. This stance goes beyond the customary distinctions between the organic and the inorganic, and the natural and the cultural realm (which includes science and technology). It has ethical and political implications because of its origin in feminism and its critique of modern binaries and anthropocentric biases. By being interested in the force of matter, and by ascribing it a kind of agency, it gives a sense of perspective and sensibility, with which Manu’s works resonate. Thus, there has been a real shift in Manu’s work in recent years: even though some motifs remain present, his works now have a very different connotation, and their atmosphere has changed.
Another good example of a rendering of energy is 6 x Subdued (2020). Burnt spots appear on a white background (charcoal on acrylic and oil paint). This painting alludes to some works of Arte Povera, for which matter, and combustion are also motifs, but where matter is usually actually present, and the canvas would be actually burnt.[4] In contrast to this, in Manu’s works the subjects are not really present; they are represented through painting techniques. This gives the works a contemplative and even philosophical feel. One could even say that it makes them meta-physical, since matter is represented and reflected upon rather than being present. In the case of 6 x Subdued, this feeling is reinforced by the thin, almost aethereal geometric lines of a then red cross that appears in the background.
For this exhibition, Manu has chosen to show four works, which are displayed in such a way that they are moveable, and that they resonate between themselves and with the other works of the exhibition. A first large work, Twisted Asteroid (2022, 170x170 cm), is mounted on a metal stand. This impressive painting shows a dodecagonal shape, which is sharply delineated even though its texture resembles that of its background. The dodecagon is diagonally cut across by a brown gradient in long oil paint brushstrokes, as well as by black spray-painted strokes. In the background, the black spray-paint strokes are horizontal, and golden oil paint is applied in shorter brushstrokes, marking the contrast with the inside of the polygon. The golden paint is inspired by roman art, and thus evokes a sacral nature. A second large work, with the same dimensions, is composed of eight triangular wooden frames, which are pieced together so as to form a disassembled octagon (Shifting Mars, 2022). This work is installed on a mobile wall, and it strongly resonates with Twisted Asteroids in that it has similar colours and also features strokes in black spray-paint. But this time a more reddish paint is applied, in shorter brush strokes and a dripping technique. Because of their colours, these paintings evoke the elements of fire and earth, and the strokes evoke energy and vibration.
The much smaller but noteworthy Sunrise (2016, 27x35 cm) is mounted on the other side of the mobile wall, on which Manu has painted a mural: an aerial gradient of greens and browns. This small painting from 2016 forms the starting point for Manu’s subsequent work and hence constitutes the cornerstone of what his shown at this exhibition. It features a black polygon, which is cut across (also diagonally) by the colour gradient our atmosphere shows at sunset. Again, the shape appears on a white background, which this time has been painted over the mountainous landscape that previously inhabited the canvas. On the white background there are paint spatters and pencil stripes from sketches of polygons that have not been pursued, which seem like accidents and contrast with the substantiality and science suggested by the geometrical shapes and the horizon. An experienced eye may notice the unusualness of the canvas, which Manu took back from Brazil. All of this contributes to a certain spirituality, able to embrace both ideal nature (represented by the geometric shapes and the aethereal nature of the atmosphere), and the more concrete realities of the accidental and the aesthetic.
This spiritual quality this work is reinforced by the spatial relation it entertains with another work in the exhibition space: Pei-Hsuan Wang’s Monkey (2022), a brown, glazed stoneware sculpture on a wooden crate, faces Sunrise. Its colour resonates with Twisted Asteroids and Shifting Mars, and because of the position of its hands, which refer to the hand gestures of the Eastern faiths (mudras), the monkey seems to be adoring or blessing Sunrise.
Finally, another small work, Aerial view (2021), is located at the other side of the exposition space, next to the works of Juan Pablo Plazas, who invited this work by Manu into his part of the exhibition. This work resonates with the mural, with Sunrise, and with Twisted Asteroids: a brownish and pink gradient, which culminates in a golden layer, is spread across the frame with horizontal brush strokes.
A lot of elements in Manu’s works could remind of Suprematism.[5] They also feature geometric shapes, white backgrounds suggesting an infinite space, and aeronautical motifs. Just like many Suprematist paintings, his works represent a physical nature, but one which belongs to space rather than to our earthly environment. However, there is an important difference, since Suprematism aims to be objectless, and to distance itself from concrete matter, in order to create a pure idealistic artistic realm, while Manu’s painterly explorations of geometric shapes, celestial bodies, and beams of light go together with representations of matter, which is suggested to have a kind of agency. A spiritual, contemplative dimension is combined with a careful attention to the concrete reality of matter and texture. As a result, just like the Suprematist pioneer Kazimir Malevichadvocated in reference to abstract forms — “[i]n the art of Suprematism, forms will live, like all living forms of nature”[6] — Manu also makes matter live, like all living forms of nature. In this way, instead of taking an idealist and subjectivist stance, his work explores the possibility of finding the delicate balance between the ideal and spontaneous subjectivist world of science and geometry, and a sensibility that goes as far as attending to what otherwise is considered as brute, dead matter.
[1]Art concret, vol.1 no.1, Paris, 1930. This French art magazine, of which only one issue was published, featured a manifesto about radical abstract art.
[2] There is a vitalism for example in CoBrA and Abstract Expressionism, which often represents round, biomorphic shapes.
[3] New materialism is an interdisciplinary movement, which emerged at the turn of the millennium, mainly from science studies, feminism, and philosophy, in response to the prominence given to language, representation, and ideal articulations and models in different disciplines. Some of its main actors are Karen Barad, Rosi Braidotti, Elizabeth Grosz, and Manuel DeLanda.
[4] Think for example of the works of Jannis Kounellis.
[5] Suprematism advocates an abstract art originating from a purely idealistic, artistic feeling rather than from objects.
[6] Malevich, K. “From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: The New Painterly Realism (1915),” in John E. Bowlt (ed.), Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism, 1902–1934. New York: The Viking Press, 1976, p. 123.