Michael Readecker is a Dutch artist working in the United Kingdom, he studied fashion in Amsterdam and later he art at Goldsmiths in London.
Readeckers work is much more stylised than another artist which I have looked at, George Shaw, and in this way connects more to the work which I have been making. His colour palette is much more limited, the work being made up of unrealistic, close tones which make them appear fantasy like.
Description of Ins and Outs (2000) from Saatchi Gallery, “ins and outs is a sublime dream home. Steely grey in the dead of night, manicured in the expansive landscape, trees in a straight line, boulders placed decoratively for maximum effect: it might be the retirement retreat of a Silicone Valley millionaire, the kind of person who would bother to have their trees pruned into perfect orbs, who’d insist that their sky be as delicate as a Japanese watercolour. Michael Raedecker’s paintings are always little seeds of gossip. Drawn to this house by the impossible intensity of the light – made up of countless tiny pink and yellow threads – the first instinct is that something suspicious is happening within.”
This painting is very dark, with lots of close tones mostly in fairly neutral blues with hints of greens. The light coming from the doorway particularly stands out, its much lighter than the rest if the painting and the yellow stands out against the blue surrounding it.
In my building paintings I created contrasts between the manmade structures and the plant life/ nature growing on and around it. While very different in subject matter, my skeleton paintings have a similar darkness to them, and close tones. They also use more unusual, unrealistic colours.
Although this piece is very different in subject to what I have been painting, the colours and atmosphere it creates are inspiring to me. The plant appears to be almost entirely made up of embroidery, the subtle shading below it and the yellow which surrounds some areas makes it appear as part of the background, situated in the space more so than just sitting on top of the paper. The contrast of the very light petals stands out against the dark background, giving it presence and making it appear three dimensional.
The paint in the background is dark and desaturated, it appears to be staining the canvas more so than covering it, which makes it look softer.