rafael rozendaal vs angelo plessas

i have been critical of angelo plessas and rafael rozendaal‘s repetitive work and lack of experiments. i know it is important to be repetitive if you want the public to notice you. in this sense art production is no different than advertising. you have to repeat the message many many many times so it becomes subconscious. this always, in my view, makes bad art because art in essence is exploration. greatest art should be like north pole crossing while repetition which justifies investments is no different than doing circles in your own room.

in another sense i would agree that doing circles in your own room should qualify as exploration. actually this could be very good form of exploration. of yourself. of the room. of what happens when you just do circles in your room. but this is not the context i was implying.

anyway, still there is this quality in repetition although it is safer. rafael and angelo have been doing the whole flash + domain name thing for many years now and it seams they are both developing and growing apart.

rafael is more of a crowd pleaser while angelo is neurotic. rafael is like a soap commercial, an andy warhol + hieronymus bosch of flash. i know he likes magritte a lot. angelo’s work is like jason from friday 13th, a neurotic sharp, strong and dark.

i would explain the origin of this from their families. rafael’s father is a jokey funny guy however he comes from a divorced family. angelo grew up as a homosexual in greece which i can not imagine is very welcoming to anything else than a big stomach, big moustache and lots of meat.

anyway, i appreciate the opportunity to know them and their work for such a long time. it is a unique chance to be able to follow their progress and be part of it in some miniature way.