joseph scissorhands: Michael Raedecker: Amplifier

Sunday, 14 May 2023

Michael Raedecker: Amplifier

Michael Raedecker - the experiment, 2023 (detail)

I first encountered Michael Raedecker's work way back in 2009 in his solo show at the Camden Art Centre. I felt a certain affinity with the work as here was another male artist using stitch and thread as a part of his process on large, sparse, ethereal canvases. I have seen very little of Raedecker's work exhibited since, so took this opportunity to visit GRIMM in Mayfair to see his most recent work. Raedecker's art has a narrative, filmic quality where every element is immaculately composed. He still employs largely the same imagery he always has - foliage, buildings and landscapes with the complete absence of the human figure creating a mysterious sense of tension and estrangement. Where these subjects were formerly presented as ghostly traces and pale washes on the canvas delineated by thread, they have now had an injection of strong colour, creating images which are more tangible and vivid. Radecker's process has changed. He photographs and digitally manipulates an initial sketch before scaling this up and transferring it to canvas, then works back into the composition with acrylic paint and thread to create line and surface texture. I enjoyed the splashy, painterly drips of acrylic which built up the ground layers, and then seeing the thread densely, but delicately stitched and glued like cobwebs onto the surface building lovely textures. New additions to the surfaces of the paintings were the use of sequins and also broken glass shards which hint at future developments in Raedecker's art. The strange addition here was the inclusion of the painting Still Life, depicting a space ship amongst the stars, something different and totally in contrast to Raedecker's usual imagery, again hinting at possible new directions for the artist.