"The Wedding Feast", a CAPA "Automatic Collaborative Modification" from 1997

"The Wedding Feast" (acrylic, 80 x 60cm) is an unpublished "collaborative modification painting" of CAPA components James Burns and Carlos Re, signed and dated in 1997, over a large format reproduction of namesake title (c. 1567) painted by the dutch master, linked to the sixteenth-century painting, Pieter Brueghel the Elder. About the original painting of Brueghel, displayed here we know that this masterpiece was part of his "peasant life" paintings done between (1567/1568). This paintings illustrated the peasant life from northern europe, being the most outstanding examples of Brueghel's late style, which is characterized by his use of monumental Italianate figures. In fact, it was paintings of this type which caused Brueghel to be known as the Peasant Brueghel. In addition, we know that he was a leading member of a highly circle in Antwerp. With our increasing knowledge of the symbolism contained in much sixteenth-century northern painting, it seems likely that, in addition to the obvious celebration of peasant life, the pictures have a strong moral dimension too.

 

"The Wedding Feast" is a "collaborative modification" from CAPA components: James Burns & Carlos Re, signed and dated in 1997.

 

James Burns, talk us about the importance of the collaborative process between the components but also, with the same Pieter Brueghel, through time, resulting a collaborative work redefined 430 years later giving it a new perspective. Renaissance painting is well know for being an illusionist transmitter and difusser of life of that era, an aesthetic idea which was soon coupled with the idea of "the Albertian window", the creation of an illusion that for experimental artists of the Knistoff branch, remains open to the reinvention and critical recontextualization.

 

"The Wedding Feast" by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, c. 1567 (Oil on wood, 114 x 164 cm)

About Carlos Re (Argentina), we know that was member of the CAPA collective between 1993-1997, as well as the dutch artist Martin van Zomeren who participated very actively alongside Freddy and James during that period. Anyway, the story of Carlos is very mysterious because, since a trip to Spain in 2000, Freddy or James, never heard again from him. Neither in the circles of the Spanish Surrealism, Experimental Art, nor International Surrealism. His story reminds me a lot the Dada story of Arthur Cravan, missing in action and at the same time reinvented in any other kind of being. Luckily, we still have James and Freddy to remind us about this CAPA members and the way they contributed to the CAPA cultural heritage.

About James Burns, we can happily announce that he continues working actively in the CAPA Movement since he was invited by Freddy in 1994, and now become one of the strongest pillars of the Movement. Particularly, in this "collaborative modification" work, is pretty easy to identify the hand of James, in that white-bolds brushstrokes, very characteristic of his minimal style wide know between the CAPA components. The interest of J. Burns beyond CoBrA is the american type, the Action Painting and the Post-Painterly Abstraction Movements; being one of its most influential artist the minimal artist Robert Motherwell. Another link to CAPA History on hands of this Post-Minimal Automatic artist.

 

James Burns at his Studio in Seattle (June 14, 2019)

About the Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam Group (1991-2021)

CAPA (from, Collective Automatic Painting Amsterdam) is an International and Experimental group of artists founded in the 90's by the chilean expat painter in Amsterdam Freddy Flores Knistoff and the dutch painter Rik Lina. At the beginning, the interest of the group was the development of the automatism itself and the practice of a new kind of painting "the collective automatic painting" inspired by the CoBrA group. The CAPA-type practice is a kind of painting-on-painting intervention where more than one painter can work simultaneously on the same painting to create a type of collective environment that operates in a new kind of collaborative experience and painting.

 

Some of the CAPA members working at Amsterdam in 1996. Left to right Dave Bobroske, James Burns, Jan Gilliam and the same Freddy Flores Knistoff.

 

Due to ideological differences of its founders, soon in 1997, after a big exhibition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Brazil, CAPA separated and re-formed into two different branchs, one led by Rik Lina and other led by Freddy Flores Knistoff (the one we develop here) which in words of Freddy Flores Knistoff, "did not mean a great change since personally; I never stopped working on this subject and sharing ideas with other artists and thinkers". While the branch of Rik Lina continued its links with the International Surrealism only. The Knistoff branch, in addition to participating with International Surrealism, also collaborated with other experimental movements of the artistic avant-gardes and above all, for the development of the automatism itself as an independent creative method.

F. F. Knistoff also was an active participant of the historical international movement of experimental artists called "Phases" and a good friend of Edouard Jaguer (who saw a great potential in his work), founder of this group and co-founder of CoBrA Movement. Many artists have worked alongside CAPA and throughout its history, contributing to the creation and development of this concept. Today, the Knistoff branch is more alive than ever through some historical members like James Burns (US) and José Estevao (Portugal) and, some other greatest artists and thinkers, like Jorge J Herrera Fuentealba (chilean-dutch), Marcos Vidal (Spain) and Patricio Álvarez Aragón (Spain).

The CAPA Knistoff branch has a long history that links it directly with the last european experimental movements that were developed after the II World War until today, as the mentioned Phases Group (founded by Edouard Jaguer in 1954), the Surrealist experimental current of the Lyrical Abstraction (The most automatic and experimental branch of the Surrealism), the International CoBrA Group (Karel Appel, Constant, Brands, Wolvecamp, Corneille, E. Jaguer, Alechisnky, Jorn, Dótremont...), Asger Jorn's ideas of the physical automatism and the modification method also investigated by Enrico Baj (founder of the Nuclear Movement). In addition, to the idea of collaboration in Art that the experimental circles promoted at "The International Ecounters of Albisola". All in all, you would be able to find more about Knistoff branch research in our digital archive and publications platorm (CAPA Editions, here).

The authenticity of CAPA lies in the fact that in each work created, more than two artists can participate/collaborate. This means that all participants can paint over the same canvas and simultaneosly, so we are allowed to paint over what someone else painted in favor of the final result (here it is very important to add that it is not a process of painting in the clean spots left by the other painter, but rather painting over it and killing a previous stroke, if necessary, and if the painting requires it. It is an infinite modification process). The creation process is silent, so we focus only on the painting and its final results (Process Art). Lately, CAPA has also been working a lot in the concepts of Modification Art, Appropriation Art, Détournement and Intervention Art as a complete experimental field. In addition to continuing with the collection of Artists Books (started in 2017) and the traditionals CAPA's "collective automatic paintings amsterdam" which we now also call "collaborative automatic paintings amsterdam".