Work Multiple Choice – Rich Amsterdam, 4 at Salon 2024
group exhibition, Salon 2024 Arti et Amicitiae, Rokin 112, Amsterdam Friday 29-11-24 to Saturday 04-01-25, (closed from 25-12-24 to 01-01-25) Opening: Friday 29 November from 19:00 - 22:00
SHOW YOUR TRUE COLOURS, with a wink
studio photo , preparing work Multiple Choice - Rich Amsterdam, 4
Multiple Choice – Rich Amsterdam, 4 is dedicated to ‘our’ mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema. And I refer to her open letter this month to all Amsterdammers, in which she says “We are the Amsterdammers who act from hope, and from the realization that Amsterdam belongs to all of us. Let us look after each other, keep each other whole and take care of each other.”
I often use found images. In this work, these are images from 180 Amsterdammers, a book in which, with a portrait and short description, people of 180 different nationalities who live in Amsterdam in 2016 are introduced. As a whole, a beautiful portrait of the magnificent wealth of our city.
In the foreword to this book, the then mayor of Amsterdam, Mr. Eberhard van der Laan says, among other things, the following: "This open-mindedness and tolerance is what Amsterdam has enriched both literally and figuratively. Amsterdam has been a sanctuary for new ideas that primarily arose in relation to trade contacts with other cultures and countries, which allowed plenty of room for creativity and innovation. This book allows you, the reader, to look at our city through the eyes of Amsterdammers. It tells you their personal stories about love and friendship, joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity, amazement and wonder. This book is part of a bigger whole. The 180 Amsterdammers project was born from an idea by Jewish and Muslim participants from the official dialogue sessions I have held in my residence following on from the last conflict in Gaza. The participants were concerned about all the polarization and negativity that engulfed their communities, including on social media. In reaction, they decided to devote their attention to the positive power of diversity and personal narratives within and beyond their communities. For Amsterdam 2016 is the year of diversity with the aim of showcasing the beauty and richness of their diverse city through the eyes of its inhabitants, nurturing it, in order to let the world know and to learn from them."
The work questions the mutual positioning of these fellow citizens and therefore of all people. With a gust of wind, 500 eyes wink back.
My work Noahs Ark can now be seen at Salon 2022 group exhibition December 16, 2022 to January 9, 2023 Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam
Noahs Ark (front and back) / found imagery and texts, tyvek, paper, yarn / 72x50cm / 2022 / foto AT
My story about Noahs Ark starts with a calendar found in early 2022 with images of oversized luxury yachts. One of them forms the backdrop on which the story plays out on both sides. At the same time, there is an article in the newspaper about the 50 years since the release of the Report of the Club of Rome, on the legacy of The Limits to Growth. I envision how the owner of such a luxury yacht as a modern-day Noah is perhaps the most likely survivor of the coming “climate crisis deluge.”
In a newspaper, articles and messages can cause abrasive effects, whether pleasant or not, because of the surprising and sometimes disruptive way in which they are grouped together. Next to each other or on each other's backs they make new connections and provide me with new impressions and feelings every day.
With the same apparent randomness with which articles in the newspaper come together one day, I use all the people depicted from all articles in the same newspaper. In addition to a headline or image from a newspaper article about the climate crisis, I have now collected all the depicted people from that same newspaper as models for characters in my story about the imminent deluge.
While poking holes in the canvas, I connected the images of the people with colored yarn to the images on the back. There it forms a colorful fabric that connects the headlines and images from the newspaper articles. Points of departure are three books, the 1972 Club of Rome Report mentioned above on the top left and the recently released IPCC Report on the top right.
In the third book, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters, Julian Barnes shines, among other things, with stories about Noah's Ark, history and context of Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa, and other artworks about Noah's Ark and the Flood. Images of this and other works of art form a focal point on the back cover with the image of the book. The shapes of the 'arks' from the images are poked through the canvas with neon green thread and stitched. And the two Reports and Barnes' book have been made neon yellow focal points in the same way.
On closer inspection, the situation shown can perhaps also be outlined differently. Do the outstretched legs, arms and hands maybe indicate swimming groups of people, circling the yacht and harassing the modern wannabe Noah?
My work Noahs Ark participates in the ClimateExpo '22 group exhibition September 17 to December 4, 2022 at 3 locations: Kasteel Het Nijenhuis, Heino/Wijhe / Academiehuis Grote Kerk, Zwolle / Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle
ClimateExpo '22 is an exhibition with 251 artworks about climate change. The exhibition is curated by open registration and an anonymous selection. From 2200 works of art, 251 works were chosen by a large, mixed jury. All works of art are for sale during the exhibition period.
The double sided work Noahs Ark can be seen in Kasteel Het Nijenhuis, Heino/Wijhe
More Eyes - 187 Eyes on show at the Salon in Arti group exhibition 7 December 2019 till 5 January 2020 Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam
187 Eyes - Rich Amsterdam 3 (187 eyes of 180 people of 180 different nationalities, living in Amsterdam in 2016) / found image, paper (from books), pins, wood, paint / 45.5 45.5x2cm / 2019
I would like to ask you to vote for my work 127 Eyes - Rich Amsterdam 1 for the public award at the Europe Summer Expo 2019 exhibition. You can vote digitally up to 30 August: https://zomerexpo.nl/collectie/2019-129/
Europe Summer Expo 2019 group exhibition 25 May till 1 September 2019 Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle
127 Eyes - Rich Amsterdam 1 (127 eyes of 127 people of 127 different nationalities, living in Amsterdam in 2016) / found image, paper (from books), pins, wood, paint / 45.5x45.5x2cm / 2018
Europe Summer Expo - Appendix newspaper Volkskrant 23 May 2019
Europe is under discussion. It is a continent in confusion that you may or may not want to belong to. Out of the 4,000 submissions, after judging, now 250 can be seen in museum de Fundatie and in castle Nijenhuis and sculpture garden in Heino / Wijhe.
At the opening of the exhibition my work was already sold.
My work 127 Eyes - Rich Amsterdam 1 is mentioned in the pre-announcement of the exhibition on the website of the Fundatie: Europe Summer Expo 2019
All eyes on Europe: Summer Expo 2019 in Museum de Fundatie from 25 May Announcement Summer Expo, 17 May 2019
All eyes on Europe! / Rich Amsterdam – 127 Eyes of 127 people of 127 different nationalities by @johanlammerink @zomerexpo Facebook Summer Expo, 25 May 2019
The organization of the Summer Expo itself has a separate article under the title "All eyes on Europe: Summer Expo 2019 in Museum de Fundatie from 25 May" on the theme "Europ" around the election day for the European Parliament. Here the attention-grabbing opening photo is that of my artwork. And the work has also been used by museum de Fundatie in a story for prior announcement on Facebook.
Vijfhoekkunstroute 2019 - lucid dreams group exhibition 17, 18 and19 May 2019 on location, Haarlem
Art route in the Vijfhoek neighbourhood in Haarlem around the New Church. In this 14th year the theme is ‘lucid dreams’.
At Oude Raamstraat 3, I will present small spatial work in the house of Carel Cronenberg and Marion Schrooten. Dorien van Benthem will show here jewelry.
169 Eyes - Rich Amsterdam 2 (169 eyes of 169 people of 169 different nationalities, living in Amsterdam in 2016) / found image, paper (from books), pins, wood, paint / 45.5x45.5x2cm / 2019
detail of the kiss 13 / calque paper, cardboard, wood, pins, paint / 116x31x4cm / 2008 / photo AT
From March 2019 several small spatial works from the series a life will be on display in the fitness room of 'Fitness op Maat' at the Saxen Weimarlaan 56hs, Amsterdam. One could easily walk in here to Maarten Roestenburg and enjoy the art.
Come see the Other in the exhibition Who Art You group exhibition Who Art You works: The Other and 127 Eyes - Rich Amsterdam 1 2 to 31 October 2018 nursing home Vreugdehof, Amsterdam
Textside of the Other / on location in the Vreugdehof, Amsterdam / photo AT
The Other retells the book 'Pygmies' of the last Dutch explorer Paul Julien in the form of an interactive story. The work looks like a free standing facade with an image side and a text side.
At the time of his expeditions colonial relationships were still taken for granted. Julien’s ethnocentric vision was quite normal for the time, just like his paternalistic tone and missionary approach.
I cut the skin out of the images, while maintaining construction, composition and circumference. I do not want to stop the viewer's gaze at the portrayed skin, but literally let them look further, go deeper into the image. By cutting away the skin, the depicted person looks less like an attraction. A new opening has been created, a literal window. On the text side, this ensures that the people emerge from the text.
And through the numerous cut-outs one is faced with the Other as a visitor through the bodies of the Pygmies.
Image side of the Other / on location in the Vreugdehof, Amsterdam / photo AT
Text side of the Other / on location in the Vreugdehof, Amsterdam / photo AT
127 Eyes - Rich Amsterdam / on location in the Vreugdehof, Amsterdam / photo AT
On the homepage of the organizing Pop-up Museum Identities:
Johan Lammerink asks the question Who Art You? A few years ago, visual artist Johan Lammerink (1955) came across the 1997 reissue of ‘Pygmies’ by explorer Dr. Paul Julien. At the time of Julien’s expeditions (1926-52), Africa was still completely colonized by Western powers and colonial relations were self-evident. Julien’s ethnocentric vision was very common at the time, as was his paternalistic tone and missionary approach.
Form Johan has decided to retell ‘Pygmies’ in the form of an interactive visual story that is set up in the space as a facade wall with windows, with a dark ‘street side’ and a light interior, reminiscent of net curtains. The dark side is the photo or image side and the light side is the text side.
Unravelling the form of the Other is an exercise in looking. Johan has included four enlarged photos in a photo window; on the relevant text window he has displayed four pages per photo.
Content What does Johan do with the photos of people and why? The answer to that question brings me to the content. Johan cuts away the skin from the photos, while retaining the outline. ‘I do not want the viewer’s gaze to stop at the depicted skin, but to literally look further, to delve deeper into the image. By cutting away the skin, the person depicted looks less like a curiosity. A new opening has been created, a literal window. On the text side, this ensures that the people emerge from the text.’
Looking at ‘the other’ Through the windows we can look back and forth at other visitors to the exhibition. By making his visual story interactive, Johan emphasises that he is not out to criticise Julien’s research methods. He does want us to compare how Julien then and we now look at ‘the other’. He challenges us viewers to look at the other without prejudice, regardless of who that may be, and in the knowledge that we ourselves are the other for that other. He really asks the question Who Art You?
Graphic designer Winneke Hazewinkel and I prepared a prelaunch, that can be seen on Instagram from early Frebruary and here above. The prelaunch shows a series of art works from past years. See Instagram.
Art and Art related facebook stories
On Facebook and Instagram I post photos, impressions and stories that are art related. Certain art related stories follow below.
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #1 August 19, 2017
Cycling in the landscape paintings of the old Dutch masters, with the art of today? In the summer of 2017 you can just do that. Get a bike and go cycling in the beautiful low land river valley along the meandering IJssel, with cows in a landscape full shades of green and small white clouds in the vast blue sky. The IJsselbiennale makes it irresistible by adding outdoor sculptures here and there along the 100 kilometres long stretch between Doesburg (river Rhine) and Zwolle (lake IJsselmeer).
IJsselbiënnale 2017 - Analgesia, Paolo Grassino
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #2 August 22, 2017
The Dutch sculpture their land. They first forced their rivers between high dikes. And with all the increasing water expected they not only reinforce them now but allow parts of the neighbouring land to be flooded as well. Occasionally, that is. For instance an 8 km stretch of land near Vorchten is prepared to flood every 80 years. Artist Maze de Boer takes advance of this future wet happening by a balancing act.
IJsselbiënnale 20127 - Hoog en droog (High and dry), Maze de Boer
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #3 August 23, 2017
Holland is the estuary of a few majestic European rivers together. In this low land (Netherlands) the IJssel is an affluent of the Rhine and carves smooth lines in this delta. With the water came the fertile soil, the organisms and the algae, but also the pollution. The theme of this IJsselbiennale is the influence climate change has on our river landscape. Artist duo Groenewoud/Buij made a small cathedral of bottled water with all kinds of life forms and contents in our surrounding (river) water.
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #4 August 26, 2017
Now, in summer the water level of the IJssel is low, in winter it could rise by 6m. With the predicted climate change this ‘normal’ rise might get new yearly records. In historic times, before the Dutch build their dikes, water flooded their low lands regularly. To keep their feet dry and be able to build homes and keep cattle the people living in the lower parts of the country started building ‘terpen’ (mounds of earth). When the water was rising these ‘terpen’ would remain dry islands. Artists Jeroen van Westen & Curdin Tones revalued this age-old landscaping protection by presenting a possible future settlement on an earth-covered dump.
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #5 September 01, 2017
To keep dry feet and clean water in abundance the Netherlands have an interesting democratically chosen independent government structure called water boards (waterschappen). On a regional level they control and regulate water management which include water conservation, water quantity and water quality. Around the IJssel we find numerous interesting structures and installations that help maintaining the required water levels for living, agriculture and transport, both old and new. Quite a few artists have made sculptures with and on these water installations.
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #6 September 02, 2017
The poles-path of the family Groten! To get to their farm from the neighbouring dike when water was rising, brother and sister Groten invented an air bridge of steel poles with a wooden deck. The steel remnants of this path through the air are used by artist Tanja Smeets for growing structures, like mussels and barnacles grow on rocks and mooring posts.
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #7 September 03, 2017
Garden of Eden. It’s only human to try to find back the garden of Eden or any other religiously based earthly variation for that matter. At many places along the IJssel you could easily imagine you are walking in a garden or a garden like landscape. Artist Nathalie Bruys made for the area around the former brick factory Fortmond a sound-walk. You can enjoy it individually, while stepping into the surrounding Ruysdael-like landscape.
IJsselbiënnale 2017 - Landscape near Fortmond, while listening to Frequencies from the PAST & NOW & FUTURE and everything in between, Nathalie Bruys
RIVER VALLEY ART BY BIKE – IJSSELBIENNALE #8 September 04, 2017
Garden of Eden. Any good garden has a hortus conclusus, a special ‘hidden’ place where the look is turned inwards. The horizontal view is now blocked by a ‘wall’ and the human body connects vertically with heaven above and earth below. As part of their common project Observatorium (Observatory) artists Geert van de Camp, Andre Dekker, Lieven Poutsma en Ruud Reutelingsperger created a place for comtemplation.
MARJAN TEEUWEN: IN LINE WITH GORDON MATTA-CLARK July 12, 2017
Extreme excesses in human history sculpted to monumental art - working in a building destroyed by war: Destroyed House Gaza
Destroyed House, Marjan Teeuwen, 2016
DUTCH ARTIST MARJAN TEEUWEN REBUILDS DESTROYED HOUSE IN GAZA DESTROYED HOUSE GAZA, 2016
A building as sculpture. Large-scale architectural installations in buildings that are demolished are central to my work as an artist. Subsequently, autonomous photo pieces are created on the basis of these installations. Since 2008 I realized six architectural installations, of which five in The Netherlands and one in Russia.
Recently I realised Destroyed House Gaza (2016) in the Palestinian territories. The installation is located in Rafah (Gaza), in a building which has been destroyed by human intervention. When this house was hit by a bomb during the 2014 war, all its walls were blown away. I decided to rebuild the house and turn it into an independent artistic statement.
To me, war is complete chaos and order is beauty. By re-arranging the broken pieces of the house into a new, meaningful and aesthetical architectural sculpture, I turned chaos into order. Thus, war was transformed into its opposite: artistic construction.
The result is a monumental art work entitled Destroyed House Gaza, in which the forces of construction and destruction battle for priority. Floors have been tilted or cave in. Walls have been removed partly or entirely. Floors drop straight down, becoming vertical or diagonal planes. Stackings (branching out through the building like a virus) cover walls or have been carefully arranged into architectural columns. Everything is both standing and tilted. Everything is on edge. Despite the raw visual language of chaos, demolition and destruction, the result has a highly abstract, minimalist character. Destroyed House Gaza even has a delicate, poetical beauty. For example, I gave the house a new, fragile skin of broken pieces, through which the light from outside is softly screened.
Destroyed House Gaza has become both an art work and a contemplative space. Not only for the people who suffered and houses have been destroyed, but for all people.
MARJAN TEEUWEN: AMAZING LADY CONSTRUCTS AMAZING SPACES July 12, 2017
New perspectives on and experience of architecture, space, sculpture and (social) environments.
Verwoest Huis Piet Mondriaanstraat, Marjan Teeuwen, 2010-2011
Marjan Teeuwen
She makes architectural installations: existing buildings are stripped by her, she sewages the waste material and thereby builds a completely new interior.After having worked for a month or five, pictures are taken and the building is destroyed.
DUTCH SPOKEN - Listen to an interview on radio with Marjan Teeuwen or look at an interview with her at Art is Long.
GORDON MATTA-CLARK ALIVE June 18, 2017
Gordon Matta-Clark is an artist legend of the 70’s. He studied architecture, but instead of building, he became known for his exceptional interventions in existing architecture, nature and public space in general.
Splitting Exterior, Gordon Matta-Clark, 1974
He opened up an old warehouse plus pier with an astonishing sailing shape, split a house in 2 halves, connected rooms in an abandoned building by means of circles and half circles and tunneled an opening through an apartment building as if a rocket had connected earth and heaven. Rough, intense and determined, yet of an incredible beauty, that lets one have a complete new and fresh look at ‘just-a-building’. An urban survivor and cowboy in one: invited for an exhibition, he shot the glass out of the exhibition space windows with a shotgun. And he topped it off by opening a restaurant in SoHo that was frequented by all the (later) known avant-gardists of his time. And then he died of pancreas cancer, only 34 years old (1943-1978).
Conical Intersect, Gordon Matta-Clark, 1975
Days End, Gordon Matta-Clark, 1975
Window Blowout, Gordon Matta-Clark, 1976
Cut, Split & Eat – He is smiling and working, 40 years later it is still amazing to see him sit bare-chested in a swing, laser-torching the side of a huge steel plated factory, cutting a huge sail-like shape in it, and let the sun invade. Enjoy the spirit, life and FOOD of Gordon Matta-Clark till 2 July 1917 in a well organised exhibition at the Buitenplaats Kasteel Wijlre in Wijlre, the Netherlands.
Gordon Matta-Clark
CARTOONING SYRIA – IV LET US LAUGH. TO DEATH, IF NECESSARY May 20, 2017
“In yet another chapter in the tragedy of the recent history of Syria, the media picked up a new report by Amnesty International in early February 2017. The sheer horror it describes defies imagination, and tells the story of the “death factory” in Saydnaya, a prison The Guardian describes as “the worst place on Earth”. Despite this, as you’ll see in the Cartooning Syria exhibition, as well as in the various contributions in this book, Syrian cartoonists continue to denounce the situation in their homeland and raise awareness. ...
First, there’s humour. Even if the laugh is sometimes distorted, like that of someone suffering from a toothache, a cartoon should make the reader laugh or smile. Especially important is how laughter neutralizes the cartoon’s message, which is often very pointed. …
And then what? Without a doubt, we are encouraged to reflect. And in the best case we’re inspired to take action. The words of Maurice Maréchal, founder of the French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchainé, are apt in this regard: “When I see something outrageous, I first feel indignant, but then I start to laugh. That’s hard, but more efficient.” In the first issue of Le Canard Enchainé, published after the attack on the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo on 14 January 2015, director Michel Gaillard concluded his editorial with these significant words: “Rions. Aux larmes” – “Let us laugh until we cry.” And the original French text provides an extra layer of meaning: “Aux armes”, without the “I”, means “to arms”. Laughter, then, functions as a weapon. A weapon that frees us.“ (source: Roel Daenen in Cartooning Syria, Ronald Bos ed., Jurgen Maas, Amsterdam, 2017)
Cartooning Syria / Pencil in detention, Hani Abbas
CARTOONING SYRIA - III HOW THE MAP OF SYRIA BECAME A CARTOON CHARACTER May 4, 2017
“Of all the themes in cartoons about the war in Syria, this is undoubtedly the one used most frequently: the more or less triangular map, with a finger-like projection in the northeast that extends into Turkey, and a straight border in the south with Jordan and Iraq underneath.
The map itself has assumed the traits of a cartoon character, an anthropomorphized piece of cartography, and this should be no surprise to us. The country has been torn apart by Russian and American troops, by Bashar’s troops, rebels from ISIS/Daesh and Al Nusra, fighters from Kurdistan and Turkey; it has been torn apart completely and nowadays is but an abstraction, an outline of what it once was.
Lebanese cartoonist Hassan Bleibel portrayed Bashar, who with razor-sharp nose jabs the map of Syria into the bloody back of a prisoner. He comments: “Proof of torture!!?? No, I simply want to see Syria in every Syrian.” Today that map is stigma, scar and trauma. “ (source: Joost Pollmann in Cartooning Syria, Ronald Bos ed., Jurgen Maas, Amsterdam, 2017)
Cartooning Syria / Color your own country, Saad Hajo
Cartooning Syria_Akram Raslan
Cartooning Syria / Russian war against ISIS, Hakam al Waheb
Cartooning Syria / Sahar Burhan
Cartooning Syria / Gal
CARTOONING SYRIA - II THE TRUTH IS CRUEL April 28, 2017
“The truth is cruel. One of Syria’s most famous cartoonists is dead: Akram Raslan was arrested, imprisoned, tortured and – most probably – murdered by the Assad regime. One year later, in 2013, he received the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning.
Two years earlier, in the night of 25 August 2011, cartoonist Ali Ferzat was attacked in Damascus by a group of masked men, who beat him up and broke his fingers, then dumped him at the side of the road near the airport. His crime? Depicting Assad trying to catch a ride out of the country with his Libyan counterpart Muammar Gaddafi. Ferzat was subsequently awarded the Press Freedom Prize by Reporters Without Borders and Le Monde. Nine years earlier he had received the prestigious Prince Claus Award in the Netherlands.”
“But cartoonists that criticize the Assad regime have similar issues, and readily make use of clichés and stereotypes. In every part of the world political cartoons avail themselves of a discourse in which familiar symbols play an important role: they represent complex historical configurations in a highly condensed form. Cartoons, therefore, are inherently blunt, repetitive and hyperbolic, but also quite effective weapons of propaganda.” (source: Joost Pollmann in Cartooning Syria, Ronald Bos ed., Jurgen Maas, Amsterdam, 2017)
Cartooning Syria / The crisis is almost over, Akram Raslan
Cartooning Syria / Ali Ferzat
Cartooning Syria / Sameer Khalili
CARTOONING SYRIA - I EXHIBITION, ARTI ET AMICITIAE, AMSTERDAM April 23, 2017
“Syrian Political Cartoons were for a long time a contradiction in terms, because freedom of expression in Syria has been controlled by the Ba’ath Party since the coup d’état in 1963. Nowadays it’s a tragic reality that, after more than fifty years and after the uprising of 2011, for Syrian cartoonists freedom of expression is possible only in exile. Almost all cartoonists have had to flee Syria, like so many other compatriots.” (source: Cartooning Syria, Ronald Bos ed., Jurgen Maas, Amsterdam, 2017) Impressive exhibition in Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, April 22 till May 21, 2017
Cartooning Syria / Mediterranean, Fares Cachoux
Cartooning Syria / Sulafa Hijazi
POETRY ON BLACK PAGES – GUY VORDING at Rento Brattinga Dudok De Groot WHO KEEPS HALF A DOZEN LIVE RABBITS IN THE AIR May 4, 2017
Fear of the empty white canvas or the empty white paper is often said to be a common artists practice. The first line, the first stroke, where or what is it going to be. But what if the start is not an empty white space but on the contrary a page full of text and images. And that the artist possibly does not hesitate for what the first line will start, but what the first line on this page will take away.
Guy Vording is using existing pages of ‘old’ magazines that are full of texts and images as a canvas. He draws black lines on these pages and I imagine that by doing so he isolates certain words or group of words and parts of images as with a surgical knife from the surrounding words and parts of images. His pencil draws a hiding darkness over the pages in strokes and patterns while leaving islands of paper untouched. These islands contain words and image parts that begin to come forward out of the sea of surrounding words, text and images, as if highlighted.
Who keeps half a dozen live rabbits in the air, Guy Vording
Only recently I bought one of those ‘black pages’ at the 2017 Art Rotterdam fair. Over most of the page black lines have been drawn in patterns. Some images are still recognizable: a wooden house with a porch, a bell tower and a flagpole. Under this house 2 pair of legs, 2 pair of shoes with feet in it, 2 hand alone, 2 hands holding each other, 1 arm with hand, 1 face and in the lower left corner a piece of text that reads “who keeps half a dozen live rabbits in the air”. Almost hidden in the now dark page one can still read “One Room School”.
Drawing and isolating make poetry on this ‘black pages’ as he calls these series: intriguing assembly in deconstruction.
How not to live in suburbia #7, Guy Vording
At the Rento Brattinga Dudok de Groot he shows several of his ‘black pages’ and constructive collages as well. In these last he adds cut out small drawings from his hand to existing photographs. The exhibition – together with artist Ko Aarts – is held from April 8 till May 13, 2017, Lauriergracht 80, Amsterdam.
ART BASEL IN HONG KONG – 3 YEARS AGO Republic of Jing Bang – free country on a whale’s back March 30, 2017
Back in 2014 I bought 2 visa for the Republic of Jing Bang during the Art Basel fair in Hong Kong. Such visa could be acquired by 100 + 500 people in total - “Nobody is refused a visa”. For 100 people it was also possible to become citizen of this fictional country, created by the Chinese artist Sun Xun. ‘Jing Bang’ is a free country and could be translated as a country based on a surfacing whale.
Later that year I was going to get married, so as an alternative to the traditional wedding rings I decided to buy 2 visa for this remarkable country. This would make a perfect travel destination as well for our honeymoon. I managed to buy numbered etches of both our birth years.
ABHK14 / Visa of Republic of Jing Bang, Sun Xun
‘The citizen briefcase (edition of 100), contains items for the fully-fledged Jing Bangian (Jing Bangese?). These include a fetching flag, passport and ID card. But what sort of nation is Jing Bang? Sun says: “The republic is like a country built upon the back of a whale; it starts to exist as soon as the whale leaps out of the water and disappears the moment it dives back under.” The artist adds: “The transient republic of Jing Bang does not advocate any political beliefs, which it considers bullshit.”’ (Source: In the Frame, The Art Newspaper)
ABHK14 / Presentation of Republic of Jing Bang, Sun Xun
ABHK14 / Citizen's briefcase of Republic of Jing Bang, Sun Xun
ART BASEL IN HONG KONG 2017 Pixelated Figuratives from Hong Kong to Amsterdam March 29, 2017
HONG KONG - Looking at ‘Putto’ of Michael Parekowhai in the Encounters sector every visitor could notice a very intriguing way of pixelating. Where the cherubs genitalia are supposed to be we see an interesting stacking of small square cubes in the same flesh colour as the giant creature.
ABHK17 / Putto, Michael Parekowhai, 2017. As seen in the Encounters sector.
HONG KONG - Checking the Art Basel Encounters brochure one sees unmistakably a different Putto. The creature is plain whitish and has as far as one can see its male genitalia in place. What happened? It seems, as curator Alexie Glass-Kantor told me, that the putto with genitalia was acceptable as long as it was abstract-white. The very moment the artist presented his ‘adapted’ flesh-coloured creature he was asked to make a 21th century fig-leaf. Hence the 3d pixels.
ABHK17 / Putto, Michael Parekowhai, 2017. As presented in the Encounters brochure.
AMSTERDAM - This remembered me of a small art-storm that happened some thirteen years ago in my neighbourhood in Amsterdam. Supported by local government and subsidized by the European Community a house in a street named after the Dutch writer, linguist and politician Jacob van Lennep (1802 – 1869) was to get a painted mural to strengthen the social cohesion in its neighbourhood. The art piece ‘Aan een roosje’ (To a little rose) by Rombout Oomen is a love poem of Jacob van Lennep and an ode to women. It caused upheaval because some neighbours thought the painting of the naked woman to be offensive. They were promised frosted glass and tall plants to block their view on the work. But after paint was thrown over it, the art work was restored and the woman’s genitalia pixelated.
ABHK17 / 'Aan een roosje' (To a little rose), Rombout Oomen, Jacob van Lennepstraat, Amsterdam, 2004
ART BASEL IN HONG KONG 2017 Waiting for a Time Capsule. March 27, 2017
How intriguing to be standing waiting for a Time Capsule that runs a regular service over tram tracks. Well in the midst of busy Hong Kong this was very easy last week, when we stepped into the moving site-specific work of Kingsley Ng, named “Twenty-Five Minutes Older”. The artist himself stepped on board of this moving camera obscura too and explained us the journey we were going to make.
ABHK17 / 25 Minutes Older, Kingsley Ng, video JL
Low seated on the top deck we moved forward like in a quiet dark rocketing cocoon, surrounded by the surreal shadowy upside down projection of Hong Kong on its sides. Meanwhile we heard gently told extracts from the novella “Tête-Bêche” by Liu Yichang.
Hong Kong still has many beautiful double-decker trams running. They make you smile and wanting to jump onto their balconies, which is indeed possible as they run a regular service. Art Basel uses advertisements on some of the trams too. This year they commissioned also a special tram project to Hong Kong artist Kingsley Ng called ‘Twenty-Five Minutes Older’. He transformed two trams into moving camera obscuras. See his website for more information.
ABHK17 / Double-decker trams are running a regular service in Hong Kong, foto JL
studio photo , preparing work Multiple Choice - Rich Amsterdam, 4
Noahs Ark (front and back) / found imagery and texts, tyvek, paper, yarn / 72x50cm / 2022 / foto AT
_01.jpg "IJsselbiënnale 2017 - In God We Trust, Spacecowboys (Paul Keizer & Albert Dedden)")
_02.jpg "IJsselbiënnale 2017 - In God We Trust, Spacecowboys (Paul Keizer & Albert Dedden)")
