Rob Verf presents his series based on the painting The Potato Eaters
Van Gogh Reinvented at Nora Fisch
By Marina Oybin, July 2, 2023
The Dutch painter Rob Verf, who has been living in Argentina for over ten years, has taken one of his most celebrated compatriot’s paintings as the starting point for his abstract series The Taste of Red, which brings to the foreground the dangers of using the food coloring Red 40 (E-129) in the food industry.
Rob Verf, The Taste of Red
Verf transformed one of Vincent van Gogh’s darkest and most harrowing paintings—an image that bears witness to the harsh lives of nineteenth-century peasants—into a critique of contemporary consumerism. This is the result of an extensive investigation undertaken by Rob Verf, the Dutch artist who has lived and worked in Argentina since 2000.
Drawing on The Potato Eaters, an early painting by Van Gogh depicting five figures seated around a table eating boiled potatoes in a somber interior, Verf created his compelling series The Taste of Red. The exhibition, presented at Nora Fisch Gallery, consists of three paintings and an object containing red candies. Through an economy of means, subtle transparencies, and a restrained palette, Verf achieves a striking exhibition in which light plays a central role.
Verf transforms Van Gogh’s peasants—with their rough faces and bony hands, which Van Gogh himself described as having “tilled the earth with those hands that are now putting food on the plate… thus honestly earning their meal”—into an abstraction that foregrounds the dangers of using the coloring Red 40 (E-129) in the food industry. Research has shown that its consumption is linked to certain symptoms of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and to possible genotoxic effects.
Verf’s investigation began with memories of the effects that sweets and foods containing this coloring had on him during childhood. “As a child I had nightmares, I couldn’t concentrate, I was easily distracted. I felt out of control and had intense temper outbursts. That’s why my diet was changed—and then my behavior changed,” he recalls in an interview with Radar. Verf has received the Royal Painting Award of the Netherlands (1994), the Second National Painting Prize of Banco de la Nación Argentina (2016), and was nominated for the European Painting Prize in Belgium.
As part of his research, Verf read both popular and scientific publications. He examined not only the substance’s toxicity, but also the contradictions surrounding its regulation. “What struck me most is that there are completely different conclusions about the use of color in food. Some articles say it isn’t dangerous; others say it’s very dangerous. In the U.S. it’s allowed; in Europe it depends on the country. It’s more strictly regulated for animals than for humans. It’s really surprising that there are so many contradictions,” the artist explains. He adds: “I don’t present conclusions, but a problem. In a sense, everyone can make their own decision. This is not a didactic work. I want to leave the question open.” Verf’s works are part of the collections of the Helmond Museum, the Rotterdam Art Center, the Schiedam Museum, the University of Texas, and the Castagnino Museum in Rosario.
“Van Gogh’s painting immerses you in the situation—in the scene, at the table, among the people sitting around it, about to eat. It’s a very concentrated focus. Other painters depict farmers eating potatoes within broader scenes. What interests me greatly is the light in the painting, which in a sense represents, for Van Gogh, the idea of God, of divinity—a place of devotion,” Verf explains. “The lamp is the presence that unifies the family and blesses the meal. This is an additional dimension that other paintings don’t have.”
Verf has been investigating consumption for many years. In 2022, the National Museum of Fine Arts presented his project Vanitas, consisting of works shown in dialogue with paintings from the museum’s collection, where he explored issues of waste production, consumption, and disposal. The themes of his most recent work include environmental pollution (and its impact on our lives), the effects of consumerism, and the blurred boundary between the natural and the artificial in a context where animal cloning has become feasible.
Verf, who teaches art at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, has exhibited at the Recoleta Cultural Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Mar del Plata, MK Galerie in Rotterdam, and Helder Gallery in The Hague. In 2012, the Castagnino + MACRO Museum in Rosario dedicated a retrospective exhibition to his paintings, videos, and installations.
If Van Gogh painted the five figures in earthy tones—“something like the color of a very dusty potato, unpeeled, of course,” as the creator of Sunflowers once said—Verf opts for a luminous space in which forms seem to float within a blazing red that is both beautiful and harmful. Everything appears clean and perfect for contemporary diners, yet there is a hidden truth waiting to be revealed.
The Taste of Red can be visited at Nora Fisch Gallery, Avenida San Juan 701, from Tuesday to Saturday, 2–7 p.m., through August 5.
Source:
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/564167-van-gogh-reinventado-en-nora-fisch/