In his 1995 video Painter, Paul McCarthy is dressed as a disturbing, overblown absurdist cliché of an artist and is filmed in a cheap studio. He smears paint on a canvas with an oversized brush, mumbling “God” and blowing raspberries. He rubs a giant paint-tube against a canvas with his body like a sexed-up cat against a pole. The result is an abstract painting – the most ridiculous form of artwork McCarthy could think to parody. Yet over ten years later something has happened. Abstract painting feels fresh again.
Contemporary abstract painting is different to previous incarnations for a few reasons. It did not emerge in opposition to representational painting. It’s not like we are living in times where painted images of the world are dominant. The grand history of paint is also not the point. It’s almost 100 years since Kazimir Malevich painted “Black Square”, and its utopian aspects feel old-fashioned. Gone is the enticing communist idea that anti-representation meant anti-establishment. The modernist abstract paintings of the 1930s and 40s, the minimalism of the 1960s and 1970s, even the neo-abstraction of the 1980s seem long past. And yet regular visitors to exhibitions or art fairs today can’t help but notice the prominence of abstract artworks on the walls.
“The Edge Of Abstraction” highlights a real sense of cross-media experimentation around contemporary abstract art. The main thing this new generation of artists is using to rethink abstraction is an emphasis on Process with a capital P. The journey appears to be the focus far more than the results these days. There is a fascination with materials that borders on fetishism. How the work is made is arguably the whole point.
(text fragment by Francesca Gavin in www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/15728/1/the-return-of-abstract-art )

YEAR
Editorial directors : Sonia Dermience, David Evrard, Alberto García del Castillo
 
Editorial board : Devrim Bayar, Yann Chevallier, Véronique Depiesse, Jill Gasparina, Pierre Huyghebaert, Jean-Paul Jacquet, Agata Jastrzabek, Elena Sorokina
 
-Black & Vases : Sonia Dermience & Alberto García del Castillo, Felicia Atkinson, Aline Bouvy / John Gillis, Kjersti G. Andvig, Filip Gilissen, Steinar Haga Kristensen, Mai Hofstad Gunnes, Lars Laumann, Gérard Meurant, Jurgen Ots, Zin Taylor, Philippe Van Wolputte
 
-After Howl : Grégoire Bergeret, David Evrard, Sofie Kokaj & Master Sculpture ERG
 
-Ile 2 France : AVAF, Yann Chevallier, Vava Dudu, Théodore Fivel, Azzédine Saleck
 
Book contributors: Damien Airault, Shane Anderson, Sylvie Arnaud, Isabelle Arthuis, Sven Augustijnen, Patrick Bobilin, Francisco Camacho, Ellen Cantor, CAREFOUR, Gabriella Ciancimino, Contour, Boris Crack, François Curlet, Mathis Collins, Carles Congost, Anna Davinski Foundation, Isabelle de Visscher-Lemaitre, Federico del Vecchio, DSCTHK, Etablissement d'en Face, Jean-Yves Evrard, Tatiana Fernandez Echeverri, France Fiction, FLINT-FUYT, André Fortino, Michel François, Charles Garcin, Jill Gasparina, Mathis Gasser, Armand Gatti, Laetitia Gendre, Adel Ghezal, Karl Holmqvist, Huz & Bosshard, Vincent Honoré / Ben Cain, Hotel Charleroi, Jean Paul Jacquet, Benjamin Jaubert, Renaud Jerez, Agata Jastrzabek & Laszlo Umbreit, Ilja Karilampi, Kim Kim Gallery, Lucas Knipscher, Estelle Lecaille, Erwan Mahéo, David Malek, Fiona McKay, Estelle Nabeyrat, Michelle Naismith, Lise Nelleman, Bavo Olbrechts, Douglas Park, Gianandrea Poletta, Carl Palm, Yann Perol, Guillaume Robert, Viktor Rosdahl, John Russell, Gio Black Peter, Fabrice Pichat, Emilie Pitoiset, Sten Are Sandbeck, Timothy Stappaert, Jaro Straub, Peter Sutherland, Fleur van Muiswinkel, Benjamin Valenza, France Valliccioni, Joelle Van Autreve, Lauren VHS, Wepion
 
Design by Überknackig
 
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YEAR is the annual yearbook showcasing a subjective, abstract, moving scene. The third issue of YEAR is, again, an almanac, a programme, a diary and a lot of glam shit handsome gorgeous terrific “blah blah blah” gathering together more than 85 prospective and retrospective contributions. Theory, poetry and narration mingle with the visual in what unravels, page after page - a landscape full of details and perspectives. On the one hand it is a printed exhibition, on the other a garden hosting an experimental barbecue with dead lipstick and redneck zombies, plus a lake and a few books. Can you smell that? Where does this come from, huh? And discussions behind every bush and column.
It’s not really necessary to number the pages, we think, as it’s just like having a map in each room of your apartment. Nor is it arranged in the order of the twelve months between May 2012 and April 2013, but rather around twelve sections named after Belgian discos. This dancing factory was generated through research led by the DSCTHK collective, which gathered together the historic material, and then formalised it in the twelve inside covers by Überknackig.
 
In this edition of YEAR, the seasons are introduced with musical notes by Jean-Yves Evrard, mirrored with images of scattered glasses by Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez. Anthea Hamilton painted the sides of the pages: Each book is a piece of the puzzle of a pile of eighteen YEARs.
 
y11.otf - aka ‘Melody’ - is the first font composed from the first YEAR pages, scanned and processed by Fonzie (thanks to Pierre & Pierre). Its jumping and bumping characters happened to be ideal for poetry and music lyrics, unlike ‘Gentium’ - a typeface for the nation - used elsewhere in the book.
 
Three editors have completed special sections, unfolding YEAR in an exhibition at Komplot : Île 2 France curated by Yann Chevallier, Black and Vases curated by Sonia Dermience and Alberto García del Castillo and After Howl directed by David Evrard.
 
Once all the contributions arrived at this surprise party, YEAR’s third anniversary was celebrated on March 1st 2013. We ate the tiger - and a good year strikes again!
 
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Komplot
 
295 Av. Van Volxemlaan, 1190 Brussels
www.kmplt.be