Sinthome :

The series titled Sinthome is named after a concept of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. A dazzling word play is concealed in this expression, which includes references to symptom, sin and St. Thomas (Aquinas). Elgin´s paintings are of a reflexive nature. His images pose questions as to what an image is and responds, in kind, with other images. Painterly technique and artist subject are subdued, and his work might easily be passed over at first glance. We must take time in order to sense the timbre of each image with its muted colors. The images comprise an ensemble of timbres; the small jumps and peculiar transitions that are seen in each work also distinguish their tempered interplay. They adjust our gaze, allowing the eye to wander between images without losing its tuning.

Imperceptibly, the surface begins to pulsate ad we see a vibrating space free of perspective, this is most apparent in the geometrical structures and forms that seem to appear and dissolve. When our gaze is first captured, the light energy seems to increase, as though from within. The colors increase their intensity, and elements of figurative motives seem to loosen from the fields of some paintings. This phenomenon corresponds fittingly with the Latin verb illuminare, in the sense of to shine through. The images are not fixed; they remain in a wavering state of small displacements and disruptions, where shadow-like motives emerge from the visual plane to dissolve once again.

Jan Brockmann

(Excerpt from the Catalogue Essay published on the occasion of the Millenium Exhibition Illuminations at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo 2000; Bill Viola, Hanne Darboven, Imi Knoebel, Jenny Holzer, Rainer Ganahl, Cy Twombly, Dag Erik Elgin. Per Bjarne Boym ed.)

Alfred Hitchcock Notorious: Film Poster, 1946