SKELETON
MITSUKO MIWA
GALERIE GRETA MEERT, RUE DU CANAL 13
BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 29 - APRIL 28, 2024
through the large windows
on the ground floor
I see these three paintings
I'm attracted by their colours
with a pleasure similar
to the one I feel in Italy
in front of luxury shop windows
and their delightful combinations of colours
The dominant
is a light green-yellow
with bluish effects
on which a dark brown appears
with highlights
of translucent caramel varnish
The gallery makes the link with
Magritte's colours
but I remain in Italy
In the background
the calm of a High Renaissance
landscape
against which stands
an antique piece of furniture
with three shelves
with no back panel
In my mind this piece of furniture
is of average size
but here it occupies
three separate frames
162 x 130.3 cm
The frames follow one another
with parts of the furniture
frame #1
middle of the piece
a line can be seen from the floor
the second and third shelves
the latter with
a multitude of small columns
frame #2
bottom of the cabinet
first and second shelves
placed at an angle
on a brown clay floor
which takes up half of the painting
frame #3
top of the piece of furniture
cut off at the top
and shelf with all the colonnades
an internet search
on this piece of furniture
gives me the following result
antique side etagere turned legs
with a 19th century Victorian model
which also has the particularity
to have the last shelf filled
with turned wooden columns
apparently designed
to hold crystal jugs
This set of lines
vertical and horizontal
is enhanced at the edges
by translucent caramel additions
A succession of light and shadow
that creates a rhythmic optical effect
reminiscent of Mondriaan's grids
but the title of the paintings
SKELETON in capitals
puts us on another track
just as rhythmic
that of the Danse Macabre of the Middle Ages
a sort of popular Memento Mori
to remind us
especially at carnival time
of our common and inexorable end
and it's true that these little columns
in turned wood
seem like clattering phalanges
as if these strange pieces of furniture
inherited from our grandparents
carry within them the dancing imprint
of death
the three paintings are sold separately
it's a pity
Roshan Di Puppo