From the innermost to the outermost
Serge Goldwicht’s canvases are like daydreams. The onlooker is drawn in at random, depending upon which item first catches your gaze amongst the multitude of beings and objects which populate a background without perspective.
. In a floating space, many characters evolve, always the same, yet always appearing in a different light. As one man appears to be doing acrobatics in mid-air, another begins to drill the ground on a somewhat vague surface, whilst another is busying himself amidst factory machines. All of them, however, seem to converge towards a single character: that of the artist and his various paths – whether these are real, inspired from distant memories or just complete figments of his imagination. And whilst, in one location, a jovial and carefree Serge appears, another completely different Serge can be seen, this time more dismal and anxious, and who further away, against a cliff top appears petrified by the idea of falling and we can hear him cry out “no, I don’t want to fall!”.
These Autopictograms lead us into the very personal world of the creator, both inspired and full of doubt. Sometimes portrayed as an acrobat, a tightrope walker or a passenger taking a furtive glance from a plane window, our character continues merrily along his way, leading us in his wake and drawing on our own memories and emotions.
Yet, our gaze begins to wander to elsewhere within the painting, dragged along by the seamless movements of this scaled-down puppet who, just like communicating vessels, constantly moves us towards one of its limbs, a different aspect of itself, or a different part of its history. And so, a sort of time-machine is set in motion, taking us on a journey between dreams and nightmares, between the comical world of the circus to the confrontation with not so gentle, even frightening animals – the very ones which fuelled our childhood fears. And airships, rockets and trains lead us, over bridges and gangways, through helices and tubes, towards the history of our cherished country: Visit Belgium, Anima Belgica, Sabena Abenas.
They depict a magical atmosphere somewhere between the past and present, speaking to us just as a comic strip and possessing the same vivacity as a cartoon. A fluid form of writing close to being an automatic reflex completely bathed in transparency and created with a fine brush stroke evoking, according to the onlooker, the magic and incongruity of a Topor, a Chagall, Bosch, Magritte, Folon, Masson or Matta. It is a painting from which, once inside, it is not easy to escape.
Magali Parmentier