A R C H I V E1 9 8 7  
6th
  Frits Maats
The King of Saba
  Netherlands 1987
Videotape, 7:30, colour
Frits Maats' research into the interchangeability of painting and video continues in 'The King of Saba'. At a slow tempo, calm and dynamic sections flow into each other. Images of paintings are intercut with digitalised diagrams containing still-distinguishable motifs from paintings. In contrast, fast-changing images appear with segments like a stain left blank, inside which other images emerge to contrast or harmonise with the background. Two more fragments follow, again each in turn expressing - though in a different mould - slowness and dynamism. Maats adopts a less cautious approach in his paintings, often employing rough, impulsive brush-strokes. The same applies to his treatment of the audio-signal, with its emphatic interference. Maats has here successfully let the handwriting of the painting technique and the directness of the video medium loose upon each other.

Marie-Adèle Rajandream