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Gallery Weekend Amsterdam - 6 new exhibitions
Anyone who took visited the Amsterdam galleries on Saturday afternoon could notice it was choc-a-block with people in some places. After being closed for more than a month, Dutch galleries were once again allowed to reopen their doors to the public; and that audience was clearly looking forward to it. Amsterdam Art, together with more than 30 affiliated galleries, turned it into a festive opening weekend. Below is a short tour of galleries that opened with a new exhibition. The pandemic may be fading; however, it is still present in the work of many artists.
3 Media items ᛫ 9 Available artworks
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If you need to go somewhere today and don't know exactly where it is, chances are you're using an app. You can rest assured that the maps are complete and direct you to your destination. But are historical maps just as complete and neutral? After all, if history is written by victors, so are the maps.
This alleged neutrality is questioned by the Argentine artist Miguel Angel Ríos on the basis of the first maps of his chosen homeland, the United States.
In response to the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the "Discovery of America" in 1992, Ríos started his Mapas series. While 1492 for one party is synonymous with a new beginning, for the other side the year symbolizes the beginning of colonial rule.
The first colonial maps are anything but neutral; they are based entirely on the beliefs and interests of the colonial powers and often do not even show the settlements of the original inhabitants. By distributing the contents of these maps in a different way on the map, Ríos disrupts his Mapas in such a way that the absent areas become visible. He stripped other Mapas of the centre, giving them multiple landmarks to reflect the many perspectives on the past that were previously invisible.
Miguel Angel Ríos – deterritorialization, AKINCI
This alleged neutrality is questioned by the Argentine artist Miguel Angel Ríos on the basis of the first maps of his chosen homeland, the United States.
In response to the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the "Discovery of America" in 1992, Ríos started his Mapas series. While 1492 for one party is synonymous with a new beginning, for the other side the year symbolizes the beginning of colonial rule.
The first colonial maps are anything but neutral; they are based entirely on the beliefs and interests of the colonial powers and often do not even show the settlements of the original inhabitants. By distributing the contents of these maps in a different way on the map, Ríos disrupts his Mapas in such a way that the absent areas become visible. He stripped other Mapas of the centre, giving them multiple landmarks to reflect the many perspectives on the past that were previously invisible.
Miguel Angel Ríos – deterritorialization, AKINCI
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14 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
County Road is the third exhibition by the Texan photographer with Dutch roots at Wouter van Leeuwen. Schutmaat has since received a lot of international attention, he first attracted Van Leeuwen's attention with his first book Grays the Mountain Sends (2014), a portrait of a mining community and the impact of mining on the local environment. Van Leeuwen later showed Good God Damn, an intimate account of the last days that a wrongly convicted friend of the photographer spent in freedom.
During the first lockdown, Schutmaat felt compelled to drastically adjust his working method. Not only was travel advised against, but the people he typically portrays are part of those segments of the American society that are unlikely to have access to mainstream health care. That is why he decided not to make portraits, but to photograph landscapes in his immediate vicinity. Van Leeuwen decided to hang the County Road series unframed, making the beautiful gray tones stand out even more and let the tranquil landscapes grab you by the throat, just like the lockdown did.
Bryan Schutmaat – County Road, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen
During the first lockdown, Schutmaat felt compelled to drastically adjust his working method. Not only was travel advised against, but the people he typically portrays are part of those segments of the American society that are unlikely to have access to mainstream health care. That is why he decided not to make portraits, but to photograph landscapes in his immediate vicinity. Van Leeuwen decided to hang the County Road series unframed, making the beautiful gray tones stand out even more and let the tranquil landscapes grab you by the throat, just like the lockdown did.
Bryan Schutmaat – County Road, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen
0 Media items ᛫ 11 Available artworks
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Art and humour are not always an obvious combination; the same goes for art and sports. tegenboschvanvreden ticks both of them off with Chance is logical; a group exhibition that takes its title from one of Cruyff's aphorisms. The idea behind the exhibition with work by Laurence Aëgerter, Guido Geelen, Kymani Ceder, Bertrand Cavelier and Josep Maynou is that coincidence exists and can create a dialogue between the works.
In addition to a beautiful ode to frizzy hair (The Crown by Kymani Ceder), the show contains an awesome video work on the theme of boredom. Josep Maynou’s Untitled 2017-2019 consists of successful attempts to throw socks in a laundry basket or behind a window, shoes on a street sign, caps on a coat rack or on a window frame and a bouncing ball in a container. The actions are recognizable to everyone and the number of successful attempts is so great that you wonder how much longer the film would be now after a number of lockdowns.
Chance is logical – groepstentoonstelling, tegenboschvanvreden
In addition to a beautiful ode to frizzy hair (The Crown by Kymani Ceder), the show contains an awesome video work on the theme of boredom. Josep Maynou’s Untitled 2017-2019 consists of successful attempts to throw socks in a laundry basket or behind a window, shoes on a street sign, caps on a coat rack or on a window frame and a bouncing ball in a container. The actions are recognizable to everyone and the number of successful attempts is so great that you wonder how much longer the film would be now after a number of lockdowns.
Chance is logical – groepstentoonstelling, tegenboschvanvreden
3 Media items ᛫ 23 Available artworks
7 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 0 Recommendations
One of the highlights can be seen at Galerie Fons Welters. Shadow Tonics by Magali Reus includes a series of mushroom portraits: Knaves, which is arcane English for disobedient man. Indeed, Reus managed to photograph the mushrooms in such a way that they all seem to have their own personality. An approach that is at odds with the common perception of mushrooms as consumer goods. Reus has also incorporated this view of mushrooms – and nature by extension – into the Knaves series. By adding letters and weights to the images and welding them to the lists, the mushrooms are unique personalities and merchandise at the same time.
The pandemic also plays a major role in Reus' work. During the first lockdown, Reus' mother convinced her to come and see a field of fly agarics in the Haagse Bos. She photographed them. Once back in London, she was unable to leave her flat during the lockdown and decided to order different types of mushrooms online and photograph them.
The works were supposed to be on display at the Nasher Center in Dallas, Texas, but that exhibition has been postponed due to the pandemic. In order to have a show in Dallas, Reus bought an old Dallas yellow pages on Ebay to include the works there on random pages. This 'hijacking' of a physical place resulted in the beautiful artist's book Park Cities, which is for sale at the gallery.
Magali Reus – Shadow Tonics, Galerie Fons Welters
The pandemic also plays a major role in Reus' work. During the first lockdown, Reus' mother convinced her to come and see a field of fly agarics in the Haagse Bos. She photographed them. Once back in London, she was unable to leave her flat during the lockdown and decided to order different types of mushrooms online and photograph them.
The works were supposed to be on display at the Nasher Center in Dallas, Texas, but that exhibition has been postponed due to the pandemic. In order to have a show in Dallas, Reus bought an old Dallas yellow pages on Ebay to include the works there on random pages. This 'hijacking' of a physical place resulted in the beautiful artist's book Park Cities, which is for sale at the gallery.
Magali Reus – Shadow Tonics, Galerie Fons Welters
1 Media items ᛫ 12 Available artworks
6 Shows ᛫ 0 Highlights ᛫ 3 Recommendations
dudokdegroot kicks off 2022 with Sandra Kruisbrink and Vincent Uilenbroek. Anyone familiar with the work of both would probably not have expected Kruisbrink's drawings of trees and landscapes together in a show with the colourful interplay of lines that characterizes Uilenbroek's work. Yet the oeuvres are related, as for both artists printing techniques form the basis for unique work.
Kruisbrink uses photos she took during walks through the Alps or the fjords of Scandinavia or other places far from civilization as a starting point to draw unspeakable, tranquil experiences. Uilenbroek pays special attention to screen printing techniques. For him, the residue of the printing process is the starting point for a new abstract visual language that he incorporates into unique works. Due to all the colours and lines, the viewer does not immediately notice the technical skill that is required for this, but as soon as one does, Uilenbroek's work appears as calm and controlled as Kruisbrink's drawings and a dialogue between the works of the two artists comes about.
Sandra Kruisbrink en Vincent Uilenbroek, galerie dudokdegroot
Kruisbrink uses photos she took during walks through the Alps or the fjords of Scandinavia or other places far from civilization as a starting point to draw unspeakable, tranquil experiences. Uilenbroek pays special attention to screen printing techniques. For him, the residue of the printing process is the starting point for a new abstract visual language that he incorporates into unique works. Due to all the colours and lines, the viewer does not immediately notice the technical skill that is required for this, but as soon as one does, Uilenbroek's work appears as calm and controlled as Kruisbrink's drawings and a dialogue between the works of the two artists comes about.
Sandra Kruisbrink en Vincent Uilenbroek, galerie dudokdegroot