Hans Theys

Hans Theys is a twentieth-century philosopher and art historian. He has written and designed dozens of books on the works of contemporary artists and published hundreds of essays, interviews and reviews in books, catalogues and magazines. All his publications are based on actual collaborations and conversations with artists.

This platform was developed by Evi Bert (M HKA / Centrum Kunstarchieven Vlaanderen) in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (Research group Archivolt), M HKA, Antwerp and Koen Van der Auwera. We also thank Idris Sevenans (HOR) and Marc Ruyters (Hart Magazine).

ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS

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Walter Swennen - 2024 - What the Body Can Do [EN, interview]

Hans Theys

Interview , 1 p

ink on paper

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Hans Theys

What the Body Can Do

Conversation with Walter Swennen

At the end of November 2024, Swennen invited me to visit his home. I asked if there was anything I could do for him. “Actually,” he told me, “I’ve been trying for three months to write a text about the drawings I exhibited at Nicolas Krupp’s in 2022. I promised this text to a publisher, but I can’t do it. Won’t you help me?” “Tell me what you want to say,” I replied, “and I’ll put together a text for you.” You can find this text below.

When Nicolas Krupp suggested I exhibit some paintings in his gallery in 2022, health problems prevented me from finishing the paintings I was working on. I was talking about it with some friends, who suggested I rummage through the studio. On a shelf they found some papers that I had occasionally stored there in the hope of one day doing something with them. To my surprise, some of the papers turned out to be good paintings. I had to admit it.

These paintings were made gradually, without intention, following the rule of accumulation. That is to say, every time you pick up a piece of paper like this, you look for an empty space to do what needs to be done: mix a colour, apply a small area of colour, test the effect of two colours next to each other, experiment with a brushstroke, wipe your brush to remove excess colour. These papers had been a studio tool. I had used them for the work that takes place alongside the painting. They contain all the preparatory and intermediate work.

They were paintings made without any pictorial concern, without wanting to be paintings. They were things made. Made by the body. It’s as Spinoza says in the third part of Ethics, in a scholium that is part
of proposition XLIV: “No one has yet determined what the body can do.”

Tom Mason compared them to drawings from the 1980s and 1990s, drawings where the artist sat on the bench, like at a football match. Deleuze says that intention always leads to clichés. Which would mean that
a painting made without intention might not contain a cliché.

That said, this story is still a bit hypocritical, because the fact of using paper prepared for oil still indicates
a certain desire.

You know what Kierkegaard says somewhere about Schelling? That he’s rambling. Let’s not forget that.

Montagne de Miel, 22 November 2024

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