Konfetti Parade | Rob Birza

Capital C is proud to present the extraordinary exhibition Konfetti Parade, opening on 6 February! This exhibition by Rob Birza is organized in collaboration with Galerie Martin van Zomeren and Willem Baars Projects. The exhibition will be festively opened on 6 February between 17:00 and 19:00 and will run through 24 March 2025. Click here to register.

Disruption and fusion play a pivotal role in Birza's oeuvre. Piece by piece, he dismantles the conventions of painting and sculpture, only to construct from the remnants something new that is as unexpected as it is self-evident. This constant rebellion, which never descends into chaos, opens up new vistas and possibilities. It is precisely this anarchy that has been so decisive for the evolution of the visual arts. Yet amidst all the confounding multiplicity that Birza seems to embrace, there is a clear constant: throughout this ceaselessly evolving oeuvre, an interest in the fragile dividing line between abstraction and figuration resurfaces time and again. The two paintings The Blue-Play from 1990 included in this presentation are prime examples. Holes, circles, and a rectangle bounded at the bottom by the edge of the canvas are loosely choreographed pictorial elements of pure abstraction, while simultaneously evoking figurative associations—in this case, of a football pitch. This playfulness and agility characterizes Birza's entire oeuvre.

It is rare for an artist to command the decorative so effectively in the service of his art. He lavishes the viewer with a sense of nineteenth-century decadence and virtuosity. Exuberant expression and an unsettling estrangement characterize his ceramic monster sculptures. Everything in Birza strives for an expressive freedom in both form and color. He seems unable to restrain himself anywhere, thereby heightening the sensation of decadence. As legible as these ceramic sculptures may be, they remain rooted in the same mystery and anarchy as the rest of his oeuvre. Regarding Birza's ceramic work, Rudi Fuchs once aptly noted: “Birza loves making ceramics: what attracts him is the fluid softness of material and color, so pliable that they become an expression of fantasy itself, and how bending them can continue into endless variations”.

Willem Baars