Floaters, an exhibition by Dima Rebus (b.1988, Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia) presents a new series of paintings at Frieze, No.9 Cork Street in collaboration with Artwin Gallery.
The exhibition’s title, Floaters, refers to the anonymous swimmers that are the subject of Rebus’ expansive water colours whilst also considering the ophthalmological meaning of the word: barely perceptible spots, threads or cobwebs which can bob before our eyes. These floaters are caused by tiny proteins and cell structures within the eye, the shadows of which are cast onto the retina. Eye floaters are particularly noticeable when staring at a monochromatic expanse such as a large body of water.
Working at a scale, to-date, unprecedented in his practice, Rebus renders his swimmers amongst still aqueous backgrounds which are neither true bodies of water nor true abstractions. His swimmers are floating in nothingness as much as in lakes, pools or ponds. The composition of these backgrounds are created in part by the artist’s hand and in part by happenstance — Rebus freezes water mixed with pigment allowing it to melt freely onto the paper leaving behind organic textures beyond the artist’s control. In this sense, Rebus works in an almost-collaborative capacity with water and colour: a kind of push and pull between artist and nature. The artist’s fascination with water is born from its intangibility. The idea that something as fleeting as raindrops can be caught, bottled and archived through painting is a catalyst for Rebus who asks friends, family and strangers to collect water samples from rivers and lakes internationally for use in his paintings. Rebus’ methods of documenting these samples —recording PH number, collection date & location — is an act of preservation: capturing transience and adding structure to what is fleeting. But Rebus’ archive of waters doesn’t only concern process and technique. These collecting methodologies forge and maintain a connection and closeness with those who collect on his behalf. His paintings are a manifestation of these personal relationships.
The condition of his swimmers addresses Rebus’ own biography: one of impermanence, adrift between geographies and cultures. Having left Moscow in 2022 he moved to London where this body of work was conceived. The paintings themselves are rooted in an undefined ‘in between’ place. As Rebus tells me “a place where mental space matters more than the physical one”. Equally, the elongated vessels that accompany Rebus’ swimmers function as pseudo-navigational devices. The bows of the boats stretch away like the arrows of compasses, leading viewer and artist alike into uncharted waters.
Rebus’ water-scapes are still lifes in the sense that life is still but the clock has not stopped in this fantastical universe. His swimmers are not frozen in time but rather float in it, they are currently suspended but If their circumstances were to change they might ascend to the heavens or sink to the depths.
