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The two artworks by Nina Tomàs explore the materiality of painting in all its aspects and urge the subject, here abstract, to exit its traditional space, the canvas.

Extinction and Ascenseur spirituel take us away from the narrative subjects usually tackled by the artist. In 2018, Nina Tomàs had proposed us paintings on fabric in which the motifs of the woven canvas became the landscaped support of narrative complexes. However, an inhabited range of motifs are present in the artworks exhibited here. Our eye then loses itself, it seeks to drive out the detail and understand its structure.

And yet, is this motif painted ? Is it inherent in the structure of the support ? One must come closer and observe them for a long time to understand that it involves stretched fabric, replacing the white canvas. However, it is not the only distorted element because on the wood, the usually non visible frame, Nina Tomàs perfectly reproduced the woven thread. The motif then spreads out without distinction over the whole support. The frontiers float and eventually vanish, the wood, the fabric and the painting seem to form a single element.

The work of Nina Tomàs questions us about the stakes of the pictorial materiality. The hidden support becomes visible, but concealed by the paint, it is devoured by the fabric, thus remaining imperceptible.

With her artwork Ascenseur spirituel, she pushes the reflection even further by leaving the canvas on the ground. The painting taken down from the wall becomes sculptural and let us discover the frame and the canvas on both sides. The pictorial surface does not exist anymore.