Inquiry Into Meaning and Truth

Reminiscent of the cover designs of popular academic and similarly intellectually oriented paperbacks and periodicals that appeared between the 1940s and '70s, Dutch artist Thomas Raat's work repurposes this bold, colourful and abstract imagery, blurring the lines between art and design. According to the accompanying critical essay by John C. Welchman, Raat "operates at the technical interface between abstract painting and visual construction." Implicit in his work is a critique on the industrial appropriation of abstract forms - the fervent anti-pictorial agenda of the time - as a more or less empty decorative language. The artworks therefore question both signifiers and intentions.