Natacha Donzé, Gatekeeper I, 2023

2023

Medium

Acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

250 × 160 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-156280

Using an airbrush in her large-sized paintings Natacha Donzé creates multi-layered works in her series "Gatekeeper" in which different textures atmospherically overlie each other. Bright specks seem to free themselves from the dark canvases and rise up. This generates an effect of depth in which foreground and background cannot be clearly defined. Marks of running drops of water are layered onto the whole canvas and are perceived as a would-be patina that evokes the appearance of oxidized copper, lending the images a sculptural quality. Like colossal portals that are in the process of opening or closing, Gatekeepers I – IV refer to spatial separation as well as to the connection between realities in an eternal context. A turquoise ray of light or laser beam in the top half of the pieces breaks with the patina and builds a bridge to the present or the future, in which portals stand for barriers and access points to other spheres. Donzé addresses the question of gatekeeping and points to the varied activities that control or restrict access. This can mean a physical door but can just as well mean the influence of humans or of digital search engines (exclusion by algorithm), firewalls (geofencing of information), social structures (institutions) or physical manifestations of virtual spaces (border walls). The artist plays with different levels of perception that raise questions concerning boundaries and affiliation while simultaneously floating in timeless and boundless atmosphere.