For a website makes browsing in general and looking up specific information far more easily then a blog, we have created the IS-projects website. Special attention to the texts section with Taney Roniger's newly added text "In Defense of Beauty". It is beautiful! New domain name: is-projects.org
In close cooperation with Tate Modern in London, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden presents a major exhibition on Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931), and this artist’s influence on the international avant-garde. Energetically and enthusiastically, Van Doesburg broke new ground as the initiator, ambassador, promoter and organiser of the new art. The 300-plus works by some 80 artists – among whom El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, Gino Severini, Kurt Schwitters, Hans and Sophie Arp, Hans Richter, Piet Mondrian, Vilmos Huszár and Alexander Archipenko – are on loan from museums from around the world. Many of these works have never been on display before in the Netherlands.
The richly illustrated catalogue Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: Constructing a New World, in English only, edited by Gladys Fabre and Doris Wintgens Hötte (240 pages and 250 colour illustrations), is available at € 25.
Note from IS: We have seen the show and we can say that this exhibition is definately worth a trip. From November 29 on, please visit also the Lakenhal in Scheltema for a small counter exhibition feat. young artists (details soon). And when you'll finally make it to Leiden, please call us ;-P!
Link to complete press release and more:
http://www.lakenhal.nl/does/en/
The annual Kunstroute is an open studio and gallery route that kicks off the new season.
Every year, a few thousand visitors walk and bike around town to look for art, meet artists and affiliates. This year, we will show some of our own work in addition to some work that we have in stock or once collected. The Kunstroute will take place on September 26 and 27. We will be open between noon and 6PM. On view works by Andrew Huston, Jan Maarten Voskuil, José Heerkens, John Adair, Billy Gruner, John Tallman and more. Iemke van Dijk+Guido Winkler, IS projects.
Guido will also make a visual 'cadavre exquis' in assosiation with Henriette van 't Hoog on the outside of PP44 at Aalmarkt 4. Come and see Leiden on one of these days.
Both the Kosmos and Speed of Colour IS boxes are still on sale. For more info please visit is-editions.blogspot.com
Please send all inquiries to guido[at]guidowinkler.com.
Today, Giles Ryder's first European solo presentation will open today from 16.ooh on.
Le Petit Port, Herenstraat 9, Leiden. There is also a presentation on the new spot: Aalmarkt no. 4.
IS projects is open today as well.
one of Gilbert Hsiao's works @ IS projects
Neunundzwanzig (2009)
acrylic on wood panel
25,5x30cm
Brent Hallard 's work @ IS projects
090302 Cosmos Pink (2009)
wallpainting
(click image for larger view)
Caroline de Lannoy's and José Heerkens' (R) works @ IS projects
Cross work no. 10 (2009)
oil on boards, 17x19cm
Squares (2009)
oil on linen, 33x70cm
(click image for bigger view)
Giles Ryder's work @ IS projects
Waiting for a sonic boom (2009)
Acrylic auto laquer and glitter on aluminium
34x34,5cm
(click image for bigger view)
The KOSMOS IS box is now on sale for only 15 euros + post & packaging. This box includes a small 16 pages catalogue and a set of prints by Brent Hallard, José Heerkens, Gilbert Hsiao, Caroline de Lannoy, Giles Ryder as well as Vincent Icke.
The dimensions of the box are 115x160x21ml.
The boxes are numbered on the bottom.
Part of the KOSMOS IS box
10.5 x 14.6cm. Pigment print/Hahnemuhle
Edition of 99
Light is colour, space and time.
A unique opportunity! The KOSMOS exhibition will get its own souvenir.
This collectors item is going to be a handmade leporello booklet in a box with dimensions ca. 2x16x12cm. Seperate from the leporello, from all artists we 'll add one art-print.
In association with Le Petit Port - PP44, IS projects is proud to announce that we have come to an opening program for the 6th of June.
Between 3 PM and 6 PM, we will welcome you to the KOSMOS exhibition at IS projects, Drie Octoberstraat 16 A Leiden. Opening around 4 PM by theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist and artist Prof. Dr. Vincent Icke.
After this, starting from 5PM and ongoing to 8 PM, Billy Gruner will perform his interactive Collective Monochrome series (no.19 already) at Scheltema. Here, works will be on show by Sarah Keighery (Sydney) and Alex Lawler (Vienna), who will also be present on the opening. The result will be on view next Sunday. Scheltema is located at Marktsteeg 1, Leiden. Organized by Le Petit Port -PP44. IS visitors are invited.
Scheltema is unlike Le Petit Port not located around the corner (17 min. walking distance) but PP44's Marnix arranged two boats for our visitors. Let 's hope for a good sunny day. We know that from the water, Leiden is more beautiful.
June 6: 3 PM -6 PM: IS projects: Drie Octoberstraat 16 A leiden
June 6: 5 PM - 8 PM: Scheltema: Marktsteeg 1, Leiden
IS projects: KOSMOS: June 6 - July 5
Le Petit Port -PP44 in Scheltema: C.M. no. 19: June 6 and 7
We are very pleased to anounce that Vincent Icke will open the KOSMOS exhibition.
Gilbert Hsiao
Space Probe I (2009)
acrylic on wood
120 cm x 30 cm
gilberthsiao.blogspot.com
With the speed of black and white, this work will fly into the Kosmos exhibition. From June 6 - July 5 2009.
Click on the image for a bigger view.
Here are two examples of works by London based artist Caroline de Lannoy. Also featuring in the KOSMOS exhibition (June 6 - July 5).
Up: Circle Work No. 23 (2009)
Technique: Pencil and oil on board
Dimensions: 38cm diameter
Down: 'Displacement' (2009)
Technique: Oil on board
Dimensions: 30x27cm
Her work is organized around a few working concepts, including direction, extension, the precise and methodical application of paint, colour, materialization of light, sequencing, systems of proportion, number, perceptual orders, rhythm, visual vibration, intensity, entities, repetition and difference, analytic dimensions, content, defined space, placement, the visible and the invisible, hidden laws, cultural contexts, essence, time and reflection.
Giles Ryder
Spectral Vortex (Cherri) 2007
Hand-rolled aluminium and metallic auto paint with fixtures
120 x 119 x 20 cm
courtesy John Buckley Gallery
KOSMOS will be held from June 6 and will end on July 5.
image: 'Spa-t_kiss (2009)
Japanese acrylic resin on plastic paper, mounted on layers (white-grey-white) of corrugated plastic.
link to website:
http://www.brenthallard.com/
link to studiolog: http://concretephone.wordpress.com/
IS projects is pleased to announce a new project entitled KOSMOS, featuring a selection of work by artists working with light and space: Brent Hallard, José Heerkens, Gilbert Hsiao, Caroline de Lannoy and Giles Ryder.
Opening June 6, 4PM CET.
KOSMOS will be held from June 6 and will end on July 5.
image:
José Heerkens
Reality of Light I (2009)
120 x 120 cm
oil on linnen
This Sunday, IS projects will be open between 12:00 and 16:00h.
At 16:00h around the corner, Le Petit Port at the Herenstraat 9, will open the solo exhibition 'Variegation' of Haarlem based artist René van den Bos.
Come and see,
image:
'Inside/Outside No. 16'
100x80cm
acrylic on cotton
Dear reader,
IS projects will attend the first presentation of Leiden' galleries during the annual Kunstroute on September 28 in De Waag from 12h to 16.30h. IS will present the complete 'The Speed of Colour IS box': Tony Harding, Henriëtte van 't Hoog, John Tallman, Eric de Nie, John de Rijke and Gilbert Hsiao, along with works by Clary Stolte and Guido Winkler.
De Waag is located at Aalmarkt 1, right at the city centre.
Entrance is free of charge.
Sarah Keighery
Black Onion Seed Line (2008)
black onion seed on wood
10/ Ø25cm
Besides Properties at IS projects, around the corner in Le Petit Port, this Sunday at 4PM, the show entitled "Leiden Assemblage No. 1" will open. Billy Gruner and Jan Maarten Voskuil invited Daniël Göttin to make a wall work. Herein, works have been placed by Daniël Argyle, Jasper van der Graaf, Billy Gruner, Kyle Jenkins, Andrew Leslie, Giles Ryder, Tilman, Jan Maarten Voskuil, Thomas Wildner and Guido Winkler. Ongoing until September 7th. (See image)
Iemke van Dijk exhibits a series of photo works at Vooraf en Toe in Leiden. From August 25 to September 21st. Address: Botermarkt 9.
De Vishal in Haarlem will open August 30 the show "Aan het licht gericht" (Pointed towards the light). This exhibition contains works by Geeske Bijker, René van den Bos, Noël Drieghe, Daniël Göttin, Jasper de Graaf, Arjan Janssen, Ditty Ketting, Jan van der Ploeg, Tonneke Sengers and Jan Maarten Voskuil (until October 15).
Today Properties will be opened at 3PM!
Iemke van Dijk, René Eicke, Pieter Geraedts, Jasper van der Graaf, Sarah Keighery, Alexandra Roozen, Léopoldine Roux, Clary Stolte.
Ongoing until October 5.
Open every Sunday from 2 - 5PM and after appointment.
image: Jasper van der Graaf
From the press release:
Daniel Gottin (CH), Guido Winkler, Billy Gruner (AUS), Jasper van der Graaf,
Thomas Wildner, Jan maarten Voskuil, Daniel Argyle (AUS), Andrew Leslie
(AUS), Kyle Jenkins (AUS), Tilman (B) and Giles Ryder (AUS)
Starting 24th of August, Gallery Le Petit Port in Leiden presents the international
groupshow Leiden Assemblage No. 1. Guest curators and artists Billy Gruner
(AUS) and Jan Maarten Voskuil gathered an international group of artists to
integrate their work as a 'social assemblage' in a surround mural by Daniel
Gottin (CH). This Swiss artist known for his spatial interventions, often with
tape, made a design especially for the front room or window space from Le Petit
Port. Invited artists are aside Gottin and the curators Daniel Argyle (AUS), Jasper van
der Graaf, Kyle Jenkins (AUS), Andrew Leslie (AUS), Tilman (B), Thomas
Wildner, Guido Winkler and Giles Ryder (AUS). They are all working in the
'Modernist' field of non objective art. This is an area nowadays often to be
described as a decorative quoting or individual appropriation of former visual
appearances without the original ideological social concepts. In the Leiden
assemblage some of this ideology will be revived. By nature of the space, the
window gallery is a prominent part of the street, the show will direct itself to
virtual everybody passing by; bringing back in memory the ideal social cultural
participation. More important, the group concept drives the artists to modestly
submit into a Gesamtkunstwerk.
The exhibition can be seen day and night all week round. Entering the space is
possible every Monday from 14-17hr and by appointment.
Galerie Le Petit Port, Herenstraat 9, 2313 AD, Leiden, NL
t **31 (0)718890388, m **31 (0)648814157
www.lepetitport.nl
Here are some works from 'The Speed of Colour' exhibition.
We welcome you every day after appointment. Last day will be Sunday July 13.
From top and left to right: John Tallman, John de Rijke, Tony Harding
Eric de Nie, Henriëtte van 't Hoog and Gilbert Hsiao.
(Click on images to enlarge)
text: Marijke Uittenbroek; translation: Auke van den Berg
A fascination with the effects of colour, the absence of a personal handwriting, the impersonal and a conscious reluctance to make any ‘political’ statements; thinking of a painting as an object in space, of what a painting or sculpture really is or what its meaning might be, reflecting on the space within a painting, the flat surface of the canvas, the notion of composition; a preoccupation with material, the qualities of paint – all these issues are at stake for the artists in the exhibition ‘The Speed of Colour’. Some will give more attention to certain aspects than others do, but what they all have in common is that they are indebted to ‘modernism’ in one way or another.
In its most strict sense ‘modernism’ refers to a multifaceted conception of art that originated in the artistic modernization movements and /or avant-garde trends that manifested themselves in the early twentieth century (Constructivism, Suprematism, Neo-Plasticism, Orphism, et cetera) and remained dominant for a long time (after WWII, for instance: Minimalism, Op Art, Hard Edge, Post Painterly Abstraction with its great theorist Clement Greenberg who saw art history, briefly spoken, as a logical development toward a work of art as a non-representational, flat object). The basic characteristics of modernism may be described as follows (according to A.A. van den Braembussche, at any rate): aesthetic self-awareness and stylistic purism or formalism; defence of the autonomy of art and art for art’s sake as a guiding principle; rejection of a narrative structure in favour of the ‘stream of consciousness’, simultaneity and assembly; rejection of realism in favour of the paradoxical, ambiguous and uncertain nature of subjective reality; an emphasis on alienation and the loss of the integrated personality, et cetera. The work of art is presented as a statement, a visual fact that can be experienced and perceived by an actively involved viewer. The work does not refer to anything outside itself, only to itself. Work that is labelled modernist is mostly abstract, non-representational in a traditional sense, and impersonal in character. Still, it proves very well possible to recognize a Mondrian, as well as a Malevich or a Rothko or a Stella. It seems to be a contradictio in terminis: the impersonal personal. The artists in the exhibition use modernist principles, but each in their own personal way.
Henriëtte van ‘t Hoog (Amsterdam, 1943) makes reliefs, installations and murals. At first glance we see formal work in a modernist, abstract style. At second glance, however, the idea of balanced compositions consisting of harmonious colour planes seems not entirely applicable to the work she made for the box. When folded out it turns out to be a 3-D pop-up: sacrilege in the light of Greenberg’s theory. Furthermore, there is no harmony to be found here – we see colour fields in bright, fluorescent yellow and green, combined with a mellow violet. It is hard to avoid the impression that she is poking fun at the classic modernist doctrine. Such ambiguity is a leitmotiv in Van ‘t Hoog’s work. In the 1970s, for instance, she painted corny postcards of tourist paradises in the Mediterranean as a kind of persiflage of landscape painting, and she did so with flair and a great feel for paint; this was followed by a series with the title ‘Congratulations’, consisting of images of kitschy birthday cards, in which we suddenly see unintended symbols of vanity. She also devoted herself to the creation of canvases several metres high depicting floral still lifes and jumble sale rummage, trivial subjects so to speak, yet addressing formal principles of painting such as scale, form, line and texture in a way that took ambiguity a step further: sensitivity is not about in the sharp, eye-aching use of colours. Her series of sleeping male nudes, a lofty subject in classic painting, was once described as sleeping Chippendales. Van ‘t Hoog paraphrases iconographic patterns from art history, creating hidden meanings.
The leitmotiv in the work of John de Rijke (The Hague, 1943) is always abstract geometrical grammar: planes, forms, rectangles, squares, lines, triangles and circles. De Rijke was originally trained to be a graphic designer, but is active as a graphic artist and creator of (wall) objects in mixed techniques. His early work is characterized by the application of horizontal rows of drawn lines in the traditional shading technique (sometimes interpreted as grass), over which a second row in a somewhat different ‘position’ is always added. He rotates similar ‘visual programmes’ a few degrees relative to each another. The diagonal, with its accompanying effect of movement, is central to these early works. In later years, the rows evolved into squares of lines filled in with opposing diagonals or horizontals and verticals alternately. In the 1980s De Rijke’s formal language became more constructivist in character; tilted squares or rectangular strips in primary colours are combined with diagonal brush strokes in mixed colours. De Rijke is preoccupied with geometrical figures, which on the one hand are given a very rectilinear and finished character, but on the other a deliberate imperfection. The result is an intended contradictory feel. Exact drawing and colouring may occur in a painting next to a deliberate unfinishedness; sometimes he deliberately messes with paint to counteract the mathematical character of his compositions. Sensibility and formalism balance each other out. In addition, he shows an interest in the nature of the material, mixing graphite powder, using gold leaf, scrap wood and sellotape. In his work colours often have a ‘signal function’ of sorts, drawing attention to the difference between the parts of a work or series, making viewers reflect on what is different. His work is characterized by a reduction of form as well as colour.
For John Tallman (1969, York, Pa., U.S.A.), not the object/painting itself is the primary goal, but the artist’s mental process. His works are not paintings or sculptures in a traditional sense, and then again they are. His working method entails the construction of moulds in the shape of a painting, into which he pours pigments and various resins, such as polyurethane. The end result is simultaneously two- and three-dimensional. To emphasize this ambiguity, Tallman does not hang his works straight onto the wall; as a result, they become more of objects than ‘paintings’ that offer a glance into a different world through the creation of illusions. His formal language is deliberately limited: there are square works and round ones; limiting himself to an autonomous abstract vocabulary, the artist feels free; any personal emotion is thus banned from his work and he deliberately refrains from making any political statements. It is the mental processes of the artist during the creation of his work that count, nothing else. Through reduction he aims to give the viewer access to this mental process, focusing particularly on the questioning of the principles of the notion of a ‘painting’. He is fascinated, for instance, by how objects (paintings) influence their environment, the effect of gravity in painting, the area behind the painting. In brief, he is basically concerned with the essence of painting, or rather, the painting. In his artist’s statement he states that he is fascinated by the theoretical possibility of making a composition that repeats itself endlessly, the substance (the skin of the painting), but also the position of abstraction. Tallman poses questions, and the work resulting form these questions raises new questions, resulting in new works that are in part repetitions yet subtly different within his restricted formal language, as if it were a kind of modernist Droste effect*.
Tony Harding, born in London, calls himself a ‘fiercely independent painter’; in Azille in the south of France, he has been working on ‘Mass & Dynamics’ in recent years, a series containing some sixty works as of now. His formal language is mainly geometrical. Harding positions his paintings somewhere between ‘concrete and constructivist art’ and ‘hard-edge abstraction’; his works suggest careful, highly concentrated reflection on the balance between planes, between colour and plane, and harmony among colours. Harding’s compositions balance on the thin line between harmony and disintegration. He describes this as ‘anxious balance’ himself. Attracted by the notion of anonymity, he has become fascinated over time by the idea of painting space instead of painting a form in space; his aim is to paint the surface of the work as uniformly, as smoothly as possible, without any traces of brush strokes. Apart from that, Harding’s work can be called intimate – the paintings are generally very modest in size.
Gilbert Hsiao’s (Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 1956) work consists of rhythm, textures, space, movement and illusions; for the viewer there is no right or wrong way of reading the works, as each work is a world within itself, without any reference to either the perceptible world or an artificial one. Hsiao plays with perception, using sharp and clear colour contrasts. He paints with acrylic paint in shining silver and black, as well as fluorescent primary and secondary colours on smooth surfaces. The way he arranges his thin, tapering lines resembles the composition of music according to syncopated intervals; as a result, the surface seems to move. In this sense, his work is similar in appearance to the work of Op Art artists such as Bridget Riley and Viktor Vasarely. The sharp contrasts in Hsiao’s work and the arrangement of the composition create an effect in the viewer’s perception as if the colour comes loose from the material, as if the work ‘dematerializes’, as it were. Hsiao’s paintings can take on various shapes, from rectangular to triangular and parallelogram-shaped to circular, or an irregular geometrical shape. This adds to the ambiguity of the work; is it a painting or an object, is it the material that counts of the dematerialized colour?
‘All that painting produces is at my disposal’, Eric de Nie (Leyden, 1944) once told a critic. His work takes an ambiguous position in the field of painting. His fascination with the substance itself, the paint, is evident. Using a siphon, he applies doses of diluted paint to the edges of the canvas and lets the substance run down. The direction of the paint is determined by the position of the canvas. It is not only chance and gravity that determine the line; occasionally, the artist intervenes with a steering hand. The material can do as it pleases, but is given deliberate structure at the same time. Substance and gesture result in a form without any figurative or other reference. De Nie’s canvases always have a linear or layered structure, with an alternating rhythm created through the use of various colours. Still, one cannot escape the atmospheric effect of the compositions or the spatial illusion evoked by his grids. Within his oeuvre we find works ranging from contrasty black-and-white compositions to Monet-like tones. He is not a mere formalist. Metaphysical and mystical dimensions have been ascribed to his work. And indeed, the specific coastal light, the sun-drenched silence around his summer studio in Italy, where the maritime light flows along the slopes, as he phrases it himself, bring him into a certain state of being, providing new impulses constantly. Often unwittingly, the accompanying sensations affect form and colour of his work, contributing to its content. In a certain way, his abstract minimalism is drenched in the classical painter’s theme of light. De Nie creates a pattern that allows him on the one hand to explore the physical qualities of the surface, and on the other to linger in it, wandering, as it were, through illusionary spaces inside and outside the painting. Eric de Nie’s work balances on the border of contradictions.
Modernism as it is used as a basic principle in ‘The Speed of Colour’ is uniform and multiform, personal, impersonal and above all: paradoxical. Viewed in this light it is far from being at the end of its tether.
* HYPERLINK "http://www.blog.beachpackagingdesign.com/2008/04/droste-effect-p.html" The ‘Droste effect’ is when a product's packaging features the packaging itself. This particular phenomenon is named after a 1904 package of Droste brand cocoa. The mathematical interest in these packaging illustrations is their implied infinity. If the resolution of the printing process -- (and the determination and eyesight of the illustrator) -- were not limiting factors, it would go on forever.
UPDATE: We have created a special blog on the IS editions only. Click here.
IS projects is pleased to announce the availability of its second limited edition box featuring work by the artists from the show 'The Speed of Colour'. This box contains 5 pigment piezo prints (including a folding sculptural pop up piece) and one silkscreen. Dimensions are 30x42cm, all signed and numbered.
This is a limited edition of 41 sets and sells for 235 Euros. Boxes may be ordered from guido[at]guidowinkler.com.
The Speed of Colour will open today from 15:00 to 17:00h at IS. Cava will be served. Gilbert Hsiao (see picture while he's working on the assemblage of the IS Box) will be present, as will John de Rijke, Henriëtte van 't Hoog and Eric de Nie. We hope to welcome you!
Guido and Iemke
For the moment only in Dutch, here is the text by Marijke Uittenbroek. This text is part of the second IS box.
An English translation will follow.
Een fascinatie met de effecten van kleur, afwezigheid van een handschrift, het onpersoonlijke en het bewust geen ‘politieke’ uitspraken willen doen; het nadenken over het schilderij als object in de ruimte, over wat een schilderij of beeldhouwwerk eigenlijk is of wat de betekenis ervan kan zijn, reflecteren op de ruimte in het schilderij, het platte vlak van het doek, de aard van het begrip compositie; een preoccupatie met materiaal, de eigenschappen van verf, het zijn allemaal zaken die een rol spelen bij de kunstenaars in de tentoonstelling “The Speed of Colour”. Bij de een zal het ene aspect meer de aandacht hebben dan bij de ander, maar wat ze in ieder geval met elkaar gemeen hebben is dat ze allemaal op een of andere manier schatplichtig zijn aan het ‘modernisme’.
In de meest strikte betekenis verwijst modernisme naar een veelzijdige kunstopvatting, die haar oorsprong vond in de artistieke vernieuwingsbewegingen en/of avant-garde stromingen die zich in het begin van de twintigste eeuw manifesteerden (constructivisme, suprematisme, nieuwe beelding, orfisme, enzovoort) en lange tijd dominant bleven (na W.O. II bijvoorbeeld minimalisme, op art, hard edge, post painterly abstraction met als grote theoreticus Clement Greenberg die de kunstgeschiedenis kort en snel gezegd zag als een logische ontwikkeling naar een voorstellingsloos plat object als kunstwerk). De basiskenmerken van het modernisme kunnen (althans volgens A.A. van den Braembussche) als volgt worden omschreven: een esthetisch zelfbewustzijn en een stilistisch purisme of formalisme; een verdediging van de autonomie van de kunst en een l’art pour l’art principe; een verwerping van de verhaalstructuur ten gunste van de ‘bewustzijnsstroom, simultaneïteit en montage; een afwijzing van het realisme ten voordele van paradoxale, dubbelzinnige en onzekere aard van de subjectieve werkelijkheid; nadruk op de vervreemding en de teloorgang van de geïntegreerde persoonlijkheid, enzovoort. Het kunstwerk wordt gepresenteerd als statement, een visueel feit dat ervaren en waargenomen kan worden door een actief meedenkende toeschouwer. Het werk verwijst niet naar iets buiten het werk maar naar zichzelf. Werk dat het etiket modernistisch opgeplakt heeft gekregen is meest abstract, voorstellingsloos in de traditionele zin, en onpersoonlijk van aard. Daarin zit een zekere paradox want hoe onpersoonlijk ook, het is op een of andere manier toch steeds herkenbaar als zijnde het werk van een specifieke kunstenaar. Het blijkt zeer goed mogelijk een Mondriaan te herkennen, evenals een Malevich of een Rothko of Stella. Het lijkt een contradictio in terminis: het onpersoonlijke persoonlijke. De kunstenaars uit de tentoonstelling gebruiken modernistische uitgangspunten, maar allen op een eigen persoonlijke wijze.
Henriëtte van ’t Hoog (Amsterdam, 1943) maakt reliëfs, installaties en muurschilderingen. Op het eerste oog zien we formeel werk, in een modernistische abstracte trant. Echter, het idee van evenwichtige composities bestaand uit harmonieuze kleurvlakken lijkt toch niet helemaal van toepassing op het werk dat zij maakte voor de box. Bij het openklappen ervan blijkt het een 3-dimensionale pop-up te zijn; heiligschennis in het licht van Greenberg’s theorie. Bovendien is hier bepaald geen sprake van harmonie, we zien vlakken in knallend fluorescerend geel en groen, gecombineerd met zacht paars. Men kan zich nauwelijks onttrekken aan het idee dat er een loopje wordt genomen met de klassieke modernistische doctrine. Een dergelijke dubbelzinnigheid loopt als een rode draad door het oeuvre van Van ’t Hoog. Zo schilderde zij in de jaren ’70 met flair en veel gevoel voor verf clichématige ansichtkaarten van toeristenparadijzen aan de Middellandse Zee na, als een soort persiflage op de landschapsschilderkunst; daarna volgde een reeks met de titel ‘Hartelijk Gefeliciteerd’ die bestond uit beelden van kitscherige verjaardagskaarten, waarin we opeens onbedoelde vanitas symbolen zien. Ook wijdde zij zich aan metershoge doeken van bloemstillevens en rommelmarktprullaria, zogezegd onbenullige onderwerpen, maar waarin toch formele grondbeginselen van de schilderkunst als schaal, vorm, lijn en textuur aan de orde gesteld werden, en wel op een manier die de dubbelzinnigheid doorvoerde: fijnzinnigheid is ver te zoeken in het schrille ogenpijnigende kleurgebruik. Haar reeks van slapende mannelijke naakten, een hoogstaand onderwerp in de klassieke schilderkunst, werd eens omschreven als slapende Chippendales. Van ’t Hoog parafraseert iconografische stramienen uit de kunstgeschiedenis en creëert op die manier dubbele bodems.
De rode draad die door het oeuvre van John de Rijke (Den Haag, 1943) loopt is altijd de abstract geometrische grammatica; vlakken, vormen, rechthoeken, vierkanten, lijnen, driehoeken en cirkels. De Rijke is oorspronkelijk opgeleid als grafisch vormgever maar actief als graficus en maker van (wand)objecten in gemengde technieken. Zijn vroege werk kenmerkt zich vooral door de toepassing van horizontale rijen getekende streepjes in de oude arceertechniek (ook wel geïnterpreteerd als gras), waarover steeds een tweede rij in een iets andere ‘positie’ werd toegevoegd. Aan elkaar gelijke ‘beeldprogramma’s’ draaide hij enkele graden ten opzichte van elkaar, daarbij stond de diagonaal, met het bijbehorende effect van beweging, centraal. Later worden de rijen vierkantjes van streepjes die steeds wisselend ingevuld zijn met tegengestelde diagonalen of horizontalen en verticalen. In de jaren ’80 werd De Rijke’s vormentaal constructivistischer van aard: gekantelde vierkanten of rechthoekige banen in primaire kleuren combineert hij met diagonale penseelvoeringen in gemengde kleuren. De Rijke houdt zich graag bezig met geometrische figuren die hij tegelijkertijd enerzijds een zeer rechtlijnig en afgewerkt karakter geeft, maar anderzijds ook een bewuste onvolmaaktheid. Het resultaat is een bewust tegenstrijdige lading. Exact tekenen en inkleuren kan in een werk voor komen naast het bewust niet afwerken; om het wiskundige karakter van zijn composities teniet te doen knoeit hij soms bewust met verf. Sensibiliteit en formalisme houden elkaar in evenwicht, daarbij legt hij belangstelling aan de dag voor de aard van de materie: zo mengt hij grafietpoeder door verf, gebruikt hij bladgoud, sloophout en plakband. Kleuren hebben bij hem vaak een soort ‘signaalfunctie’ ze vestigen de aandacht op het verschil tussen de delen van een werk of reeks, ze laten de toeschouwer nadenken over wat anders is. In zijn werk is de reductie van de vorm kenmerkend alsmede de reductie van kleur.
Voor John Tallman (1969, York, Pa., U.S.A) is in de eerste plaats niet het object/schilderij zelf het doel, maar het denkproces van de kunstenaar. Zijn werken zijn geen schilderijen en geen beeldhouwwerken in de traditionele zin, maar ergens toch ook weer wel. Zijn werkwijze bestaat uit het maken van mallen in de vorm van een schilderij en daarin giet hij pigmenten en diverse harsen, zoals polyurethaan. Het eindresultaat is tegelijkertijd twee- en driedimensionaal. Om deze dubbelzinnigheid te benadrukken hangt Tallman zijn werken niet recht aan de muur; daardoor lijken het nog meer objecten dan ‘schilderijen’ die via illusie een blik op een andere wereld werpen. De vormentaal is bewust beperkt; zo zijn er vierkante werken en ronde; door zichzelf te beperken tot een op zichzelf staand abstract vocabularium, voelt de kunstenaar zich vrij; ieder persoonlijk gevoel wordt zo uit het werk verbannen en politieke statements maken wil hij bewust niet. Het gaat louter om de denkprocessen van de kunstenaar tijdens het maken van het werk en niets anders. Door middel van reductie wil hij de toeschouwer toegang verschaffen tot dat denkproces. Daarbij houdt hij zich vooral bezig met het bevragen van de grondbeginselen van het begrip ‘schilderij’. Zo is hij bijvoorbeeld gefascineerd door hoe objecten (schilderijen) hun omgeving beïnvloeden, het effect van zwaartekracht in de schilderkunst, het vlak achter het schilderij. Kortom het gaat hem in essentie om het wezen van de schilderkunst, of beter gezegd, het schilderij. Zo schrijft hij in zijn artist’s statement dat ook de theoretische mogelijkheid tot het maken van een zich eindeloos herhalende compositie hem boeit, de materie, (huid van het schilderij) maar ook de positionering van de abstractie. Tallman stelt vragen, het werk dat daaruit ontstaat roept opnieuw vragen op, waardoor weer andere werken ontstaan die voor een deel herhaling zijn maar op subtiele wijze, binnen zijn restricte vormentaal, weer net anders, als was het een soort modernistisch Droste-effect.
Tony Harding, geboren in Londen, noemt zichzelf een ‘fiercely independent painter’; in Azille, Zuid Frankrijk, werkt hij de laatste jaren aan “Mass & Dynamics”, een serie die inmiddels al zo’n zestig werken omvat. Zijn vormentaal is vooral geometrisch, Harding plaatst zijn schilderijen ergens tussen ‘concrete en constructivistische kunst’en hard-edge abstraction’; over het evenwicht tussen vlakken, kleur en vlak, en harmonie tussen kleuren onderling, lijkt met grote concentratie zorgvuldig te worden nagedacht. Harding’s composities balanceren op de dunne grens van evenwicht en uit elkaar vallen, zelf omschrijft hij dit als ‘anxious balance’. Aangetrokken door de notie van anonimiteit is hij zich in de loop der jaren gefascineerd geraakt door het idee van het schilderen van ruimte in plaats van het schilderen van een vorm in de ruimte, zo streeft hij ernaar het oppervlak van het werk zo uniform, egaal mogelijk te maken, zonder enig spoor van penseelvoering. Overigens is het werk van Harding intiem te noemen, de formaten zijn over het algemeen zeer bescheiden van aard.
Het werk van Gilbert Hsiao (Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 1956) bestaat uit ritme, texturen, ruimte, beweging en illusies; er bestaat voor de toeschouwer geen juiste of onjuiste wijze van interpreteren omdat ieder werk een wereld op zichzelf is, zonder enige referentie noch aan de waarneembare wereld, noch aan de kunstwereld. Hsiao speelt met de waarneming, hij gebruikt schrille en duidelijke kleurcontrasten, hij schildert met acrylverf in glanzend zilver en zwart, naast flourescerende primaire en secundaire kleuren op gladde oppervlakken. De manier waarop hij zijn dunne taps toelopende lijnen ordent, lijkt op het componeren van muziek volgens gesyncopeerde intervallen; dit heeft tot resultaat dat het oppervlak lijkt te bewegen. In die zin heeft het uiterlijk wat gemeen met het werk van Op Art kunstenaars als Bridget Riley en Viktor Vasarely. Door de felle contrasten in Hsiao’s werk en de manier van ordenen ontstaat in de de waarneming van de toeschouwer het effect alsof de kleur los komt van de materie, het werk ‘dematerialiseert’ als het ware. Hsiao’s schilderijen kunnen allerlei vormen hebben, van rechthoekig tot driehoek en parallellogram tot cirkelvormig of een onregelmatige geometrische vorm. Dit draagt bij aan de dubbelzinnigheid van het werk; is het nu een schilderij of object, gaat het om de materie of de gedematerialiseerde kleur?
“Al wat de schilderkunst voortbrengt staat mij ter beschikking” zo vertelde Eric de Nie (Leiden, 1944) eens aan een criticus. Zijn werk beweegt zich op een dubbelzinnige manier op het gebied van de schilderkunst. Enerzijds is er een duidelijke fascinatie met het materiaal zelf, de verf. Hij doseert verdunde verf met behulp van een spuitfles aan de randen van het doek en laat de substantie van boven naar beneden lopen. De looprichting wordt bepaald door de positie van het doek. Het zijn niet alleen toeval en zwaartekracht die de lijn bepalen; af en toe grijpt de schilder in met een sturende hand. Het materiaal mag zijn gang gaan, maar er wordt tegelijkertijd bewust structuur aan gegeven. Materie en gebaar resulteren in een vorm zonder figuratieve of andere verwijzing. De Nie’s doeken hebben altijd een lineaire of gelaagde structuur, met een wisselend ritme dat ontstaat door het gebruik van verschillende kleuren. Toch kan men zich niet ontrekken aan de sferische werking van composities of de ruimtelijke illusie die zijn rasterwerken oproepen. We vinden binnen zijn oeuvre doeken in contrastrijke zwart-wit composities tot impressionistische Monet-achtige tinten. Louter formeel is hij niet. Aan zijn werk werden al eens metafysische en mystieke dimensies toegeschreven. En inderdaad, Het specifieke licht langs de kust, de zonovergoten stilte rondom zijn zomeratelier in Italië, waar het zeelicht langs de hellingen vloeit, zoals hij dat zelf formuleert, brengt hem onwillekeurig in een bepaalde staat van zijn en levert hem voortdurend nieuwe impulsen op. De daarbij behorende sensaties beïnvloeden veelal onbewust vorm en kleur van het werk en bepalen zo mee de inhoud ervan. Zijn abstracte minimalisme is op een bepaalde manier gedrenkt in het klassieke schildersthema licht. De Nie creëert een stramien waarop hij enerzijds de fysieke kwaliteiten van het oppervlak kan exploreren en waarin anderzijds kan verwijlen als het ware zwervend door illusionaire ruimten binnen en buiten het schilderij. Het werk van Eric de Nie beweegt zich op de grens van tegenstellingen.
Modernisme, zoals dat in “The Speed of Colour” als uitgangspunt wordt gebruikt is eenvormig en veelvormig, persoonlijk, onpersoonlijk en vooral paradoxaal. In dat licht is het nog lang niet aan het eind van haar latijn.
Marijke Uittenbroek, Leiden, juni 2008
John Tallman made some changes to the structure of his website and added new content. "Notes From the Underground, It Came to This and Bianchi" are three of the five works in total to be seen at IS. This one unfortunately, will not fit into our garden. Click on the title of this post to visit the website of John Tallman.
Opening June 15, 15:00h
Exhibition: June 15 - July 13
De Nie, Harding, Hsiao, De Rijke, Tallman, Van 't Hoog
Accompanied with edition of 6 prints 30x42cm
Friendly priced, 235 euros
During exhibition
open Fri + Sunday: 14:00-17:00h
And after appointment
"Untitled" (2008)
Work with tape
2/18x34cm
(click on the image to enlarge)
Photo: G. Winkler
Untitled (2008)
Acrylic on wall, RC de Ruimte
113x190x50 cm
(click on the image to enlarge)
Photo: Henni van Beek
Anyone interested in Hsiao's work and the effort it takes, here is an excellent example.
We think it is amazing stuff! (Especially nice when using the slideshow option).
On June 15, we will open the second exhibition at IS.
The exact time of the opening is still to be scheduled. Participating artists:
Tony Harding, Gilbert Hsiao, Henriëtte van 't Hoog, Eric de Nie, John de Rijke and John Tallman.
This exhibition, will be accompanied by an edition. It will consist of 6 prints, 1 by each artist, dimensions of the prints 30x42cm, all in one box, only 235 euros. To be ordered by email or telephone.
After ART Basel (June 8), we will continue our programme with two projects. Again, accompanied with editions. Details will follow.
For international money transfers and credit cards it may help we now accept Paypal
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The UND Jetzt exhibition is on it's end. IS-projects has no special exhibition at the moment, but we are making plans for future events. Worth mentioning is that Le Petit Port gallery will continue with Frans Vendel's exhibition entitled "In Concreto". From January 20 until March 17. Opening Sunday Jan 20, 4PM by Jan Maarten Voskuil.
(image: Frans Vendel, Le Petit Port)
Installation view of the front space of Le Petit Port (Jan Maarten Voskuil and Jan van der Ploeg) and single shots of works by Matthew Deleget ("Ghost Painings") and Kyle Jenkins ("Urban Geometry #37")
The back-space with works by Richard van der Aa (white and orange circles), Sanne Bruggink (the 6 yellowish/greenish reliefs), Tilman (Duo pink/yellow), Jan Maarten Voskuil ("sculpted" canvas), Guido Winkler (shaped canvas), Sarah Keighery (Squid ink discs).
And welcome to our site, again. We'd like to inform you about the ongoing process of the UND Jetzt exhibition in Le Petit port.
Timetable as follows: January 5 and 6 open from 13.00 to 17.00 and by appointment the whole day. Monday 7, until 18.00h. Tuesday 8 the gallery will be closed. Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10th again from 13.00 to 17.00h and by appointment the whole day. January 11, 12 (Fri-Sat) between 13.00 and 17.00h, and Sunday 13th from 14.00 to 18.00h.
Monday 14th the gallery will be closed.
Cel phones: +31 64-881-4157 (Jacqueline Petit) or +31-61-899-0013 (Marnix Mooibroek).
Still, 7 boxes left for sale! 295,- euro.
Will post Jan van der Ploeg's work very soon and place all edition related images in alphabetical order.
IS will be open from Friday to Monday, between 13 and 17 hours.
Work by Sanne Bruggink, Iemke van Dijk (permanent), Arjan Janssen, Sarah Keighery, Maike Mei Lan, Perry Roberts and Guido Winkler will be shown until January 15th 2008.
Le Petit Port will open it's doors from Saturday December 22nd 2007 to the 1st of January 2008, between 13 and 21 hours. Until January 15, by appointment. Telephone +31 64 881 4157 and +31 61 899 0013.
Works by Kyle Jenkins (1), Jasper van der Graaf (2), Arjan Janssen (3), Perry Roberts (4) and Tilman (5).
Front IS; Works by Sanne Bruggink (1), Matthew Deleget and Christoph Dahlhausen (2), Rossana Martinez, Billy Gruner and Sanne Bruggink (3), Iemke van Dijk (4)
Opening will be held in Le Petit Port. After introducing speech, IS at Drie Octoberstraat will open it's doors. Around 5 PM.
author: Jan Maarten Voskuil
It just happens. While Dutch museums and art institutions try to connect to the bigger international artworld (apparently without much success), IS arises in an ordinary living room in Leiden. From almost nothing a truly international project space arises. Just like that. The list of international artists in it's first exhibition, UND Jetzt seems impressive. IS could mean International Space, but on the weblog it states Intimate Space. Herein, a bigger contrast between International and Intimate seems impossible.
This Intimate Space is the home of Dutch artists Iemke van Dijk and Guido Winkler. At first glance, the building appears as a regular house built in the beginning of the twentieth century in Leiden, the Netherlands, just outside the old city walls. The house has been recently restored. With smooth plastered walls, both floorboards and an open kitchen made from bamboo, and a lot of stainless steel, the living room is rather narrow with a large cupboard-like object dividing the space in two. The facades of neighbouring houses on the street side provide a lot of shade. At the back, there is plenty of light with a view of the garden. It's a house where children play, where people live and work, and which will now be open to the public as an exhibition space. This is all IS, but the space doesn't stop at the front door. It spreads itself like an ink stain, travelling around the corner to Le Petit Port Gallery where the show continues there also.
Like many other spaces, IS is also a virtual space on the internet - a blog. Here the space stretches far beyond its immediate neighbourhood. The space links itself to locations in Amsterdam, Groningen, Brussels, Bonn, Basel, New York and Sydney. The images on their websites are displayed in low resolution, but it's obvious that the spaces are like-minded. The space of IS spreads itself all over the world - a world that will seemingly come together for this opening show in Leiden. Artworks arrive from Sydney, New York, Graz, Bonn, Brussel, Paris, Melbourne, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam, Haarlem and Leiden. It all comes together in the one location of Leiden. Perhaps it is possible after all for IS to be simultaneously intimate and international.
In UND Jetzt the artistic intentions of IS become visible. The international group of artists could be described best as modernist and abstract. Maybe IS means 'International Style', as modernism is referred to in some circles? In any case it's abstract, although I'd better not use that word again; participating artists like Billy Gruner, Tilman and Jan van der Ploeg do not like the a-word. And it was the substitution of this very word for UND that formed the main incentive for the exhibition that they curated a couple of years ago in Amsterdam.
They prefer to use the words 'Non Objective', a label originating from the discussion of abstract art. Abstraction means a way of reducing reality. But it's also used for work that is completely separate from the familiar visual world. In this case art doesn't refer to any objects. ‘Non objective’ means just this and has nothing to do with objectivity as being the counterpart of subjectivity.
Referring to Theo van Doesburg, I prefer the label 'Concrete Art', although these words do call to mind certain associations I'd rather not face. Van Doesburg wanted to express with these words his desire to break loose those connections abstract art still had with mimicry and interpretation of the visible world outside the artwork. In a work of concrete art there is no relevant outside world. It is what it is. It is from this conception that van Doesburg argues that artists should not need to sign their works of art. A pure concrete work does not refer to anything but itself and therefore not the intentions or feelings of the artist himself or herself. This aspect of the 'impersonal' in 'Concrete Art' might be the the result of an predetermined procedure or system. In this, process art and the systematic art of later years also became synonymous with concrete art as well.
Although I don’t think van Doesburg actually refused to sign his work, the concept is interesting, especially in times where personality culture and individualism reign supreme. Of course art is much more than a personal expression. If it is a human need to express oneself in cubism, constructivism or whatever -ism, why didn't people do this before in history? Why didn't the Romans or the Greeks practice abstract art, impressionism or pointilism? The environment, the art of others and the period of time in history have always been of major importance to the production of art. In my opinion, these factors have a far greater influence on an artist's work than the characteristics of that artist specifically.
Could the definition of a work of art be used to summarize the ideaology of art-space also? Instead of observing the space as something in itself, can a space be defined without concerning oneself with the intentions of the artists who will show there? Or does the space represent some other essence, such as the collective identity of the curators or the artists? Questions like these touch the area of ontology. They are questions of being. The being of a work of art or the being of a space. And if a new space is launched, showing concrete art and called IS, then I can no longer insist on it being an abbreviation of Intimate Space, International Space, International Style or anything else.
IS is then everything that it is. IS is just Is and people should see it for themselves.
You can sign in, now! Price € 295,-
Almost ready and available for sale, soon! The "IS Box". An edition with original prints by Justin Andrews, Sanne Bruggink, Christoph Dahlhausen, Matthew Deleget, Iemke van Dijk, Jasper van der Graaf, Billy Gruner, Clemens Hollerer, Kyle Jenkins, Sarah Keighery, Gracia Khouw, Arjan Janssen, Rossana Martinez, Jan van der Ploeg, Perry Roberts, Tilman, Jan Maarten Voskuil and Guido Winkler. Accompanied with the essays posted earlier on this blog, all in a box for 295 euro's; only 25 boxes available for sale. Please, send an email to guido[at]guidowinkler[dot]com.
Below, for the moment only available in Dutch, the second accompanying writing for the "UND Jetzt" exhibition. Together with the text by Billy Gruner (posted earlier), it will be a part of the edition IS.
Jan Maarten Voskuil
Het gebeurt gewoon. Waar de Nederlandse musea en kunstinstellingen aansluiting zoeken bij de internationale actualiteit, naar verluidt tevergeefs, ontstaat er zomaar, bijna uit het niets, in een gewone huiskamer in Leiden een echte internationale projectruimte. In de eerste tentoonstelling UND Jetzt oogt de lijst met buitenlandse kunstenaars indrukwekkend. IS; het zou kunnen staan voor International Space, maar op het weblog wordt gesproken van Intimate Space. Een groter contrast dan tussen intiem en internationaal is ogenschijnlijk niet mogelijk.
Die intieme ruimte is het woonhuis van de kunstenaars Iemke van Dijk en Guido Winkler. Een eerste blik toont een gewoon rijtjes huis in een begin twintigste eeuwse woonbuurt in Leiden, net buiten de oude stadsring. De woning is mooi opgeknapt; strakke wit gepleisterde muren, een vloer van bamboehout, een open keuken met kasten van hetzelfde materiaal en veel roestvrij staal. De kamer is vrij smal met een groot meubelobject, ook van bamboehout, dat de ruimte in tweeën deelt. De straatzijde met z'n hoge huizen, zorgt voor schaduw aan de voorkant. De achterzijde is licht met uitzicht op de tuin. Het is een huis waar kinderen spelen, waar gewoond en gewerkt wordt en dat nu als tentoonstellingsruimte openbaar wordt. Dit is IS allemaal. Maar deze ruimte houdt niet op bij de voordeur. Als een soort inktvlek breidt de plek zich uit. In eerste instantie tot om de hoek van de straat; in Galerie Le Petit Port gaat de tentoonstelling verder.
Net als andere kunstruimtes is IS ook al een virtuele plek op het internet, een weblog. Daar reikt de ruimte veel verder dan om de hoek. De ruimte linkt zichzelf naar plekken in Amsterdam, Groningen, Brussel, Bonn, Basel, New York, Sydney ... Verder kan niet. De plaatjes op het internet zijn van lage resolutie maar toch is te zien dat het plekken zijn van gelijkgestemden. Waar de ruimte zich via het internet over de wereld verspreid lijkt deze wereld in de openingstentoonstelling samen te komen in Leiden. Er komen kunstwerken uit Sydney, New York, Graz, Bonn, Brussel, Parijs, Melbourne, Antwerpen, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam, Haarlem en Leiden. Een hele wereld komt samen op die ene intieme plek in Leiden. Het kan dus toch, intiem en Internationaal.
In UND Jetzt worden de artistieke intenties van IS zichtbaar. Ze tonen een internationaal gezelschap van kunstenaars dat zich laat omschrijven als modernistisch en abstract. Betekent IS misschien ook 'Internationale Stijl', want zo wordt het modernisme in sommige kringen ook genoemd?
Het is in ieder geval abstract maar laat ik de term abstract verder vermijden. Deelnemende kunstenaars als Billy Gruner, Tilman en Jan van der Ploeg houden niet van het woord abstract en juist zij zijn met hun tentoonstelling UND een belangrijke inspiratiebron voor de openingstentoonstelling van IS. Zij spreken liever van 'Non Objective' een term die is ontstaan vanuit de discussie over wat abstracte kunst nu precies is. Abstractie kan worden opgevat als een abstrahering of reductie van de werkelijkheid, maar het kan ook beteken dat het helemaal los staat van de werkelijkheid. In dit geval kun je spreken van 'voorstellingsloos'. Non Objective is de Amerikaanse vertaling van voorstellingsloos en betekent 'object loos'. Hetgeen overigens weer iets anders is dan 'niet objectief'.
Zelf spreek ik, in navolging van Theo van Doesburg, maar liever over 'Concrete Kunst', hoewel ook die term weer associaties oproept die mij niet geheel bevallen. De term Concrete Kunst is door van Doesburg bedacht om alle banden te verbreken die de abstracte kunst nog heeft met de representatie en interpretatie van een werkelijkheid buiten het schilderij. In een concreet kunstwerk bestaat er geen buitenwereld. Het is wat het is. Het is vanuit deze gedachte dat van Doesburg betoogde dat kunstenaars hun werk eigenlijk niet behoeven te signeren. Een zuiver concreet kunstwerk verwijst namelijk evenmin naar de zieleroerselen of overwegingen van de kunstenaar. Dit 'onpersoonlijke' aspect in de kunst is er wellicht de reden voor dat de systematische kunst en proceskunst, kunst die het resultaat is van een van te voren bepaalde procedure of vastgelegd systeem, in latere jaren synoniem zijn geworden aan concrete kunst.
Hoewel ik meen te weten dat van Doesburg niet daadwerkelijk zijn werken weigerde te signeren vind ik de gedachte interessant, zeker in tijden waarin persoonsverheerlijking en individualisme hoogtij vieren. Natuurlijk is kunst veel meer dan een individuele uiting. Als het een menselijke behoefte zou zijn om zich te uiten in constructivisme, kubisme of wat voor isme dan ook, waarom is dat dan niet eerder gedaan in de geschiedenis? Waarom kenden de Romeinen of de Grieken dan geen abstracte kunst, kubisme, pointillisme of wat voor isme dan ook? De omgeving, de kunst van anderen en het tijdsgewricht is in de geschiedenis altijd van groot belang geweest en volgens mij van veel grotere invloed op het werk van een kunstenaar dan de kunstenaar zelf.
Geldt wat voor een kunstwerk geldt ook voor een tentoonstellingsruimte? Kan een ruimte worden geduid zonder iets te weten over de intenties van de initiatiefnemers? Is het wezen van een ruimte de ruimte zelf? Of representeert de ruimte iets anders wezenlijks, bijvoorbeeld de identiteit van de tentoonstellingsmakers of de kunstenaars? Dergelijke vragen raken aan de Ontologie. Het zijn vragen naar het wezen, het zijn; het wezen van een kunstwerk of het wezen van een ruimte. En als er dan een ruimte komt die Concrete Kunst toont en die ook nog IS heet, kan ik toch niet blijven doen alsof het een afkorting is van Intimate Space, International Space, Internationale Stijl of wat dan ook. Dan is IS alles wat IS is, dan is IS gewoon Is en moet iedereen het zelf gaan zien.
Richard van der Aa, Justin Andrews, Sanne Bruggink, Christoph Dahlhausen, Matthew Deleget, Iemke van Dijk, Jasper van der Graaf, Billy Gruner, Clemens Hollerer, Kyle Jenkins, Sarah Keighery, Gracia Khouw, Arjan Janssen, Maike Mei Lan, Rossana Martinez, Jan van der Ploeg, Perry Roberts, Tilman, Jan Maarten Voskuil, Guido Winkler
Author: Billy Gruner
“And now”, in English, is the title for a joint show to be held at the opening of IS Artist Run Initiative and Le Petit Port Gallery in Leiden, December 2007. Looking at it closely, the title suggests a way to open a discourse on a known tradition. But also, speaking plainly as an artist, it allows a discussion on a confluence of new styles, debates, and stylistic inferences that have exceeded indigenous geographic borders over recent decades. More presently, however, it provides some access to a neat footprint that has appeared, possibly for a new and defining model worldwide.
My idea here is possibly better expressed as an understanding, one that exists beyond knowingness, conventionality – and a now subsuming ‘contemporary art’ en-framing - as some may see it. For these reasons, Formalist, even Purist, styles of art making after the 20th century are far easily able to be discussed appropriately, that is, as a fascinating and resilient idiom. This is because it is a genre of practices growing in significance for a wide array of like-minded artists around the globe. Generally speaking, it is of import to note that this involves artists not so interested in being called minimalists or, abstract painters, as another example.
It is exhibitions like this that are iconic of a change in mood. Specifically, they are indicative of the existence within contemporary art circles of a redefining of a genre once loosely termed non-objective. Inclusively, of an alternate modern art history of precursors and, a complex internationally based story line that currently pertains to at least as many other hard-core abstractionist practices emergent after the 1990s or, a process that began shifting ground during the supposed high-modernist and later post-modernist closures associated with the field. Und Jetzt is a term that speaks firmly in such terms, and readily within a subsequently fashioned language system offering a divergence of critical scope after the many tensions pronounced in the winding up of that same theoretical and issue bound swampland of the late 20th century. Further, Und Jetzt conjures notions of faith more than doubt in my opinion, while it speaks to a much wider spectrum of similarly devised shows held in recent decades. Many of these related events have attempted to underscore the expression of ever more considered possibilities after the 20th century - just as these linked events are representative of an important alternate nexus - a place of difference overall - from what a conventionalism now readily associated with known contemporary art systems is able to impute any longer, in the strictly negative.
IS is a new space and untested as such. But its sudden appearance as a rather unknown entity is also an indicator of an equally considered placement. It is intended to occupy a specific location on the global map. And because of its links and design, I am equally sure it will become known as a place that a range of focused and highly formalised art makers may collaboratively engage. They are likely to do this because travel is easier and faster than ever. And importantly, because it is quite necessary today in order to find inspiration from others similarly interested in the development of important critical concerns. In short, Und Jetzt, like Und held at Chiellerie in Amsterdam and NOT in Toowoomba Queensland in 2006, is the latest of a series shows that are, in a sense, one big show - an evolving event that provides a unique convergence for those interested. Und Jetzt, when simply put, is one other opportunity for various artists to continue their participation within a group of activities falling under the banner of Presentational Art (US), Super Formalism or Minimal Pop (EU) or, as it is sometimes defined in more distant places like Australia, Post Formalism - as just three examples of fresher terminology already in wide use.
The list of artists participating in this particular show is by no means comprehensive or, representational. Nor is it a surveying event – that is not possible. Nevertheless, they form one group that has come together from other spaces and sets of associated connections. Curiously, this is an established network that has no name or structure per se or, any managerial style or leadership to speak of. Yet, it is a self-regulating artists association regardless. In my opinion, this symbolism is very interesting as artists connect almost effortlessly out of recommendation and through working with each other. This is perhaps an almost secessionist aspect or, stepping away from an established order. An uncompromising process that is uncommon in global or local contemporary art production. And perhaps for this same reason it will remain something that others may consider difficult, hard to imitate, or immediately assume relations.
I am unsure how I became involved but I am glad I did as I continue to find the unique social aspect one of the most rewarding and sometimes demanding aspects of my practice. In this manner, it is the social that determines nearly everything I do as an artist, just as it assists language used. And, it is a process I actually respect that meters all of this. Questions of style or modes or practice are understood or rejected collectively within a knowledgeable, internationally based, milieu.
Personally, I find this a stunning attribute rarely found, and a significant opportunity in the contemporary art world were regionalism, factionalism, and an incomprehensible system of social stratifications that are utterly unjustified, yet still abound after the modernist and, post-modern eras. Probably what is more interesting about this unsolicited network overall is a stringent ability to develop, expand, and engage traction with other interested artists, gallerists, collectors and the like. This has been achieved with next-to-no curatorial input at all. Well, virtually not from any source other than the artists involved themselves. Again, another uniquely defining and challenging area of activity I would associate with new approaches to the genre. In more anthropologic terminology, it is the clear and defining characteristics of demarcation that intrigue. It is the transitional form the latter needs to uncover. It’s the oftentimes-incremental marker that allows a far more precise reading of norms, mores, and conventions to be made more rational.
The influence of artists such as Tilman and director Petra Bungert from CCNOA and Jan and Karen van der Ploeg from PS in Amsterdam, Daniel Gottin and Gerda Maise from Hebel 121 in Basel like that of the long standing support provided by John Nixon from AC4CA and SNO in Australia, and Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez from Minus Space in New York are just a few examples that come to mind, and they should not be underestimated. It is their efforts amongst many others running back many decades that have led to the greater development of credibility for what remains a still vastly misunderstood genre today. Perhaps little has changed concerning perceptions on the purely abstract since Delaney and Van Doesburg first questioned Mondriaan’s rather static relations or reliance on a fundamentally realist practice within the vastly greater currency the De Stijl movement had on offer - and still does. However, and importantly, the growing acceptance of Concrete art worldwide as a significant art of its time for instance, is just one other related example of ongoing artistic optimism after the 20th-century artists are seeking to engage. But that topical matter is of less concern here. This discourse is more generally about a kind of alternate movement historically speaking, one that has in overall terms remained relatively unconcerned by overt critiques just as it is driven by newer generational groups of artists and fans of this finding their own way into current activity. And that is easily done today as well, especially if the work and attitudes suit what’s going on.
The set of artists showing in the ‘Und Jetzt’ show that opens Guido Winkler’s and Iemke van Dijk’s IS space are likewise diverse, and very interested in each other’s work. They come from various countries and locations, but their presence undoubtedly represents all that I claim is going on and more so.
Each will provide new work in their own terms while using commonly understood language - developed from personal experience. For myself, it is that aspect (personal differentiation) above all else that sets out new terms and conditions to consider. And it is that last topic concerning a differentiation made between appropriate homage and a failing reliance upon appropriation or redirected, rhetorical ironic narrations that will need much greater scrutiny in time to come. Current work is current work in those specific terms, just as it is normal for this genre to be easily misread at first glance within a ‘contemporary art’ en-framing. But finding the broader language that can be effectively utilised to define specific historical developments is always the task that surrounds any art’s true phenomenological state. As an artist I sometimes write about these things, probably because I have come to know where numbers of interested artists are congregating, and why. But I have no idea where effective writers, who can properly define a currency for them, have gone?
Oct 2007, Tempe, Australia
We are about to start IS. Best to be seen as a very personal artist initiative.
We are Iemke van Dijk and Guido Winkler. We like to use our house every now and then as an exhibition space, meeting place, or as starting point for other kinds of projects. A place where artists, art-buyers and art-lovers will get together. We like the idea of staying informal and personal. We do not have the ambition to bound us to a format like a gallery. No regular shows. No specific format. We have the ambition to do projects just as we like. Maybe 2 times per year, maybe more. Some will be more public than others. Who knows? We like to share thoughts, ideas, art, food, drinks,...
Und Jetzt: IS.
Our first project. A show with some works by Justin Andrews, Sanne Bruggink, Christoph Dahlhausen, Matthew Deleget, Iemke van Dijk, Jasper van der Graaf, Billy Gruner, Clemens Hollerer, Kyle Jenkins, Sarah Keighery, Gracia Khouw, Arjan Janssen, Maike Mei Lan, Rossana Martinez, Jan van der Ploeg, Perry Roberts, Tilman, Jan Maarten Voskuil, Guido Winkler.
The exhibition is going to take place at IS and Le Petit Port gallery (Leiden) and will be accompanied by two essays (Billy Gruner and Jan Maarten Voskuil) and an edition which will contain one work by most of the artists named above. (Directed by Iemke van Dijk).
"Und Jetzt", will be opened on December 8 at 4PM CET.
One could see "UND Jetzt" as a follow up of the UND show by Tilman, Billy Gruner and Jan van der Ploeg at the Chielerie. Many thanks to all the artists for their enthusiasm. Let's see what will happen in December!
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