Press release
“I’m always painting, always, always, always…” (Don Van Vliet, 1991)
Galerie Michael Werner is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of paintings by American artist Don Van Vliet, also known as Captain Beefheart (1941-2010). The exhibition focuses on the painterly work of the artist. Featuring small- and large-format paintings and drawings made between 1967 and 1994, the exhibition reveals the compelling evolution of Don Van Vliet’s oeuvre.
Don Van Vliet was mainly known as a musician under the pseudonym Captain Beefheart working among the likes of Frank Zappa, although he maintained a career as a visual artist as well. Since the 1980s, Don Van Vliet devoted himself to painting and made his debut as a painter at Galerie Michael Werner in 1985. At all times, Don Van Vliet remained closely connected with music. Unexpected mental leaps characterize his lyrics as well as his paintings. Some titles refer to his own compositions: for example, the exhibited work Crow dance a panther (1988) cites a line of the song Ice Cream for Crow (1982).
“I do not paint according to specified rules. I am just exploding. Vegetation inspires me, but I like the desert too. And cities – oh, they are great, as soon as people are sleeping,” the artist said in 1990. “I feel closer to animals than to people, and animals play an important role in my paintings. It is difficult to define this role precisely….” The paintings by Don Van Vliet oscillate between figuration and abstraction. The figurative representations – people as well as turtles, lions and panthers – are combined with black hatchings and paste-like application of patterns of color. Frequently, the canvas or the grain of the wood shines through the white-painted surface. Bright yellow, red and blue are sometimes applied to bare canvas, sometimes on a white ground coat. Clear contours are faced with expressively colored areas. Animals and abstract constructs seem to float or to be enshrined in the ether. Soft and hard, abstract and concrete elements are placed side by side but disconnected, unable to interact spatially. German artist A.R. Penck (b. 1939) described the bipolar character of Don Van Vliet’s art in 1993: “poor and rich / dark and bright / soft and hard / sweet and sour […] nobody knows / what number two means / ask Don / he knows.” Van Vliet’s work creates a combination of contrasting elements forming a harmonious whole. It is in that harmony that Don Van Vliet’s sensitivity to man and nature is revealed.
The painting oeuvre by Don Van Vliet approaches the limits of stylistic category and defies linguistic absorption. Despite – or perhaps precisely because of – this openness, the viewer remains in fascination. It does not need a mystical charge or glorified words to explain that fascination. The huge attraction of the paintings amounts to nothing more than their clarity and incisiveness, thus prompting A.R. Penck to say: “The Captain paints a painting / The painting is very good / He is a good painter…”
Since 1985, Don Van Vliet's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and Europe, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art and MoMA P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York.
The exhibition opens at Galerie Michael Werner in Märkisch Wilmersdorf 8 September and remains on view through 24 October. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm. Booking in advance is recommended by phone +49 (0)33731 32010 or email galeriewerner@michaelwerner.de.