Halfway between painting and digital image making, Amsterdam based Jean-Baptiste Maitre (FR) explores new methods for figurative representation. Images of still lifes and horror scenes inspired by Dutch paintings as well as 1980s horror movies are translated into technically ambiguous paintings. First, a thick white layer of acrylic paint is applied onto resin-coated paper. The paint is then quickly manipulated with fast brushstrokes to create the base of the painting. In the second phase, Maitre scans and digitally analyses the visual structure of the brushstrokes. Using image editing software, colors are carefully applied and printed onto the painting through inkjet. The result is a visually contrasted painting that combines a fast hand-painted image with digitally precise color printing.

Death Ship Paintings
The exhibition title is inspired by a 1980 movie, The Death Ship. Its poster is used to produce one of the paintings exhibited. It also refers to the technical ambiguity of the paintings and their subject matter.

They’re like ghostly process
Like they are paintings, and they are not
Like dead and undead
Like in horror tales

Endless Love Contracted/Expanded
The two works Endless Love Contracted/Expanded are made by using the poster of the 1981 movie titled Endless Love. One movie poster is cut into 25 pieces and expanded evenly on one wall. Another poster is also cut into 25 pieces and is put back together on a smaller sized canvas so that it appears contracted.