Janna van Hasselt: Chromaflage
Janna van Hasselt, Chromaflage (Installation View), 2022 . Glazed Porcelain and Acrylic. Courtesy of the Artist and The Dowse Art Museum Photo: Mark Tantrum.
Stepping into Chromaflage, one became immersed in an all-encompassing abstract painting. Clusters of coloured strokes coalesced to create a warm chromatic buzz that invited visitors in.
Janna van Hasselt is interested in mimicry and the surprises that occur when unlikely materials, colours and textures are brought together. In Chromaflage, thick smears of paint were imitated by handmade porcelain forms that looked like they had been squeezed out of a tube. These two and three-dimensional ribbons fluttered against a bewildering background of fluorescent orange. A colour that is usually reserved for ‘hi vis’ clothing, this backdrop demanded attention and asked viewers to be aware of its surroundings.
Despite their differences, the shades and shapes in Chromaflage hummed together harmoniously to explore the unexpected similarities between prominence and disguise. In a time when wellbeing is at the forefront of many of our minds, van Hasselt’s work offers a joyful, visual release that she says also reflects on how “safety is both associated with being highly visible and by blending into the background through camouflage”.