ART BASEL OVR:2020

For Everett, the studio becomes akin to a stage where he moves around and creates temporary props and situations that all take part in the making of the work. In turns, his abstract and energetic paintings seem to oscillate between their ontic and indexical nature; between their state as the by-products of a set of performative reactions, and the naturally autonomous inclination of abstraction. This in-betweenness forces his paintings to remain in a perpetually provisional state, questioning traditional notions of composition and ‘aesthetic finish.’ Everett has said that he hopes for his work to ‘continue working’ upon leaving the studio.

A recurrent concern in Everett’s spatial and choreographic painting practice, the floor and its horizontality constitute a cardinal point of reference. In heres says on Horizontality in the 1996 catalogue for the exhibition Formless: A User’s Guide, Rosalind Krauss also refers to the idea of spatial mapping while defining the operation by which the floor became a production site. LiamEverett approaches the floor as such a site and subsequently as a system of support for the picture plane, which entails a larger cultural shift in how one considers the role of form, its relationship to the body, and to our perceptual apparatus.

By adding many layers of ‘pictorial material’ and subsequently sanding or erasing layers with caustic everyday substances like salt, lemon juice, and alcohol, the artist also foregrounds paintings’ earthiness while highlighting its kinship with the practice of alchemy. Gestural smears, smudges, lines, creases, traces of rust or spray paint make up compound surfaces that challenge the terms of our engagement with his work. Viewers become the audience for the play or the performance that they did not see. Like a steam locomotive, rollin’ down the track, Everett’s paintings are brought forth in such a way that they are ‘always painting,’ even when He’s gone.

Courtesy Galerie Greta Meert