Paul Beumer at GAM

Artist: Paul Beumer

Exhibition title: As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring

Venue: GAM, Mexico City, Mexico

Date: May 7 – July 30, 2022

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer is particularly interested in researching the history and usage of fabrics and fibres. He thereto travels to far-flung places like China, Japan, Nigeria, Madeira and Malaysia. For a new series of works he researched and worked with kimonos, the traditional dress of Japan. These garments are still worn in formal ceremonies such as weddings, graduations and funerals: life events where an important transformation is celebrated. However, Beumer did not focus his attention on the decorative, elaborate and symbolic designs on the outside, but instead looked inside at the humble linings, which sometimes happen to have a monochrome strip along the borders. He collects these to create assemblages that continue his interest in the composition of a landscape, but which at the same time show beautiful parts of a garment that are normally hidden from view and only known to the owner, who wears the soft textile close to the skin. The works therefore not only reference a natural landscape but also the sensual lines of a bodily landscape. As the kimonos have been used and worn before, the works also interweave many unknown personal histories, creating both a choir of colours and of voices.

During a recent research period on Sri Lanka, Paul Beumer got acquainted with the weaving traditions on the West coast of the island. The compositions consist of brightly coloured cotton threads placed side by side and on top of each other. The magic is in the crossing of the threads. When blue meets red, it turns purple, just like in painting. However, a piece of textile does not start with the cloth. The pattern often begins with a myth or story. Textiles are sometimes given magical powers or offer protection against supernatural evil. Magic and weaving are closely linked on Sri Lanka. Together with indigenous weaver Dilhani Iresha, Beumer designed patterns of stripes and colours reminiscent of a rainbow or a prism. By adding black and white threads to the composition, he created effects of light and shadow. After taking the textiles off of the loom he cut them up and combined various patterns to evoke moments or moods in a day, sometimes melancholic, other times ebullient.

Paul Beumer (1982, The Netherlands) received his BFA from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague after which he completed a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. Recent solo and duo exhibitions include ‘Frequently the woods are pink’ at Dürst Britt & Mayhew, ‘CONDO Mexico City’ at Proyecto Paralelo in Mexico City, ‘Paul Beumer & Willem Hussem’ at Museum Jan Cunen in Oss, ’New Seeds’ at 16by16 in Lagos, Nigeria, ’He wanted kisses, but all he got was analytical anecdotes and philosophic epigrams’ at Venue in Taipei, Taiwan, ‘Paint Wide Mouth White’ at Qingyun International Art Centre in Beijing, China. He participated in major group exhibitions at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen, Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen, Museum De Paviljoens in Almere and the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, The Netherlands. Work by Beumer is held in private and public collections, including the AKZO Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam; The Academic Medical Centre Art Collection, Amsterdam; the Collection of the District Court of Law, Amsterdam; the Rattan Chadha Collection, Voorschoten, Netherlands.

Paul Beumer, Kitsune no yomeiri, 2022, Kimono linings on cotton, 68 x 56 cm

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City

Paul Beumer, As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring, 2022, exhibition view, GAM, Mexico City