Stefan Kraus

«STUDIES AND PAINTING» 

Artothek, Köln, 2001  (Deutsch)


The work of painter Rudolf De Crignis impresses with its unique
determination in the exploration of color in its dematerialized form. 
His paintings' seemingly conceptual context (in the sense of reduced and
specified conditions) developed out of intensive work. De Crignis is
concerned with using the art of painting to represent color as the
transparent appearance of light. The color blue has dominated the immediate
perception of his work for a number of years. On the surface, it serves as
a sort of filter, or better a catalyst, which causes each painting's
individual color–built in numerous layers–to vibrate three–dimensionally. 
The intensity of this individual color increases with the duration of the viewing. 
Because of its nearly signature–freeperfection, which negates the painted 
layer as a surface, the spectator is required to determine the necessary 
distance to these paintings. This active nature of the viewing turns 
De Crignis's works into image spaces that lead the spectator from a 
concrete environment into a seemingly infinite depth of color. As paintings, 
they use the techniques of painting to question place, time and identity.

Stefan Kraus 2000