Bram Bogart, primarily self-taught, is interested in the material possibilities of painting itself. Like contemporaries Alberto Burri, Antonio Tapies or Lucio Fontana, Bogart challenges traditional notions of his mediums, exploding and expanding his canvases and subjugating them to thick, crusty applications of colorful paint. Bogart’s early experimentation with materials led him to create and use a concrete-like mixture of oil, varnish, mortar, raw pigment, siccative, powdered chalk, and water, which he applies in extremely thick layers, building up a sophisticated, textural surface which he calls the ‘script’ of his work. Throughout his estimable career, Bogart has steadfastly explored issues of balance, between harmony and discord, two- and three-dimensionality, color and structure.
