Double Image Catharsis (2005).
It’s my pleasure today to interview a young Canadian painter, Chris Floodberg, whose work resonates with many of the concerns of our times. You can see the full gallery of his work at his Website
here.
ToB: Chris, thank you for talking to
Histories of Things to Come about your paintings from the past Millennial decade. You received a lot of attention for your 2004-2005 series,
Matters of Denial. The painting above,
Double Image Catharsis, is an example of apocalyptic scenes that you presented, of a devastated, haunted and gutted society. Many of the richly-coloured paintings feature opulent settings and half-eaten feasts, as the viewer comes to the leftovers after the party is done and nightmarish urban scenes have surrounded the table.
To start, I was thinking about the painting title,
Double Image Catharsis. Is there a metaphorical duality embedded in the
Matters of Denial series – two perceptions, two realities? I wondered if these pieces present a viewpoint from the other side of the looking glass. That is, are they mirrors, which, when held up to a brightly packaged reality, show ruined truths? And if the paintings do reflect an ‘other’ or alienated voice, was there an implied generational shift in perspective here?
Chris Flodberg: I don’t like to think of the paintings as having one fixed interpretation. I think of them as fin de siècle narratives; the picked over foods, messy tables, and destroyed backgrounds could be a collective metaphor for the end of abundance and optimism. The viewer is left to pick up the pieces so to speak, and consider how to find meaning, or at least negotiate a relevant position for themselves in a world ravaged by excesses carried over from the past. Giant oil paintings are inherently decadent as objects, and there is an unavoidable irony in the work. The pieces critique gluttony, but only the wealthy may own them. I find this really interesting, and often humorous. I’m surprised that anyone would hang such a negative indictment of themselves in their own home.
Freakish Acts of Nature and Other Distractions (2004).
ToB: Of course, you painted these pieces when a lot of people were still riding high and the early Millennial boom was on. Have you found that people look at your Matters of Denial series differently now, perhaps as prescient, given post-2008 Recession attitudes?
Chris Flodberg: The paintings definitely play into a particular paranoia and cynicism that evolved out of the geopolitical and economic conditions of the past 5 years. At the time they were painted, the images struck a chord in many viewers and seemed to echo their own post-911 anxieties. While the paintings poke at real, immediate events, I don’t think of them as being historically specific. The dramas that play out in the paintings are ancient and persistent. Hopefully the paintings will always be relevant.
Waiting for Simon (2007).
ToB: In your artist’s statement, you remark:
“In a world where newness has become a value in and of itself, I am more moved by the compliment that what I am doing technically feels like something from the past, while embodying something that is currently relevant.” Your piece from 2003, ‘Fruit, From Orchard Trees and Other Myths,’ has a Renaissance quality, but the title disarms that stylistic choice. The Matters of Denial series offers late Renaissance still lifes against Baroque and Neoclassical versions of Postmodern backdrops. Did you ultimately merge artistic styles in a neo-historical way? Did your choices of styles from different eras intentionally portray a temporal disconnect?
Chris Flodberg: I’ve always loved old museum paintings. My impulse as a painter has been to emulate the bravura and painterly skill of the masters. In terms of style, the language is fundamentally descriptive and ultimately aligned with pre-impressionist 19th century painters. This kind of painting is showy direct, and flourishy, which I think suits the themes. I don’t think of the paintings as having mixed styles in so far as technique, but I do see various references to different historical subjects mashing together with entirely current images.
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