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Sandrine van Noort
Beauty and comfort in 6 sculptures
Sandrine van Noort studied History and did a Masters in Art History because she aspired to a career in art. And she has more than succeeded at this. Immediately after graduating, she was able to work as a curator at ABN AMRO. At ABN AMRO, she discovered her passion for contemporary art and since 2007 she has been the head of art affairs at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and as curator of contemporary art for the LUMC gallery (“A breathtakingly beautiful place”) and its sculpture garden, working daily with the question 'Which art works do you show and particularly which works do you not wish to exhibit at the hospital? ' An interesting question, especially in this turbulent period. In a recent interview with De Volkskrant, Sandrine confirms the healing and comforting function that art can have, but at the same time indicates how important it is to keep exploring the edges of art and to offer people the opportunity to escape reality for a while: “After all, people are more than a patient,” says Sandrine. In addition to her work for the LUMC, Sandrine is, among other things, active as a guest lecturer in the Honours Class "Viewing is the (healing) art" at the LUMC, she writes for Kunstbeeld and Haarlems Dagblad and is involved in the Lucas Art Award as a scout and advisor. And all that with gusto.
This is one of the many statements written in the guestbook at an exhibition in Galerie LUMC. I often use the most beautiful statements to show that art is especially important in this environment. It can be comforting that the world we live in has radically changed but the artworks and vistas around us have remained the same.
In addition to painting and drawing, photography and video art, the LUMC's collection also focuses on sculpture. For example - both indoors and outdoors - you can see sculptures of Sjoerd Buisman, Adam Colton, Henk Visch, Armando, Johan Creten, Joost van den Toorn and soon a new statue by Gijs Assmann. A favourite of many who visit the LUMC is the Homunculus Loxodontus by Margriet van Breevoort. The sculpture is a combination of a sea elephant and E.T. with dark brown, almost black mirroring eyes. Passers-by regularly sit next to this creature, lean against it or hug it.
I like sculptures that are sensory. Sculptures in which artists demand the utmost from the material, and thus go against the properties of the material by demanding something from the material that is not quite possible, that is intriguing. Sculpture has become increasingly conceptual and is often made of fleeting, transient materials. We rarely speak of sculpture, but of installations. For this Gallery Viewer collection I have selected artists who make sculptures. They are images that appeal to me, move me, make me laugh, amaze and make me look differently at the world around me. Works of art that I find sublime and that, in light of the Corona crisis, put things in perspective and are comforting.
“Besides all the misery and fears, it is wonderful that there is also a place with beauty in the LUMC”.
This is one of the many statements written in the guestbook at an exhibition in Galerie LUMC. I often use the most beautiful statements to show that art is especially important in this environment. It can be comforting that the world we live in has radically changed but the artworks and vistas around us have remained the same.
In addition to painting and drawing, photography and video art, the LUMC's collection also focuses on sculpture. For example - both indoors and outdoors - you can see sculptures of Sjoerd Buisman, Adam Colton, Henk Visch, Armando, Johan Creten, Joost van den Toorn and soon a new statue by Gijs Assmann. A favourite of many who visit the LUMC is the Homunculus Loxodontus by Margriet van Breevoort. The sculpture is a combination of a sea elephant and E.T. with dark brown, almost black mirroring eyes. Passers-by regularly sit next to this creature, lean against it or hug it.
I like sculptures that are sensory. Sculptures in which artists demand the utmost from the material, and thus go against the properties of the material by demanding something from the material that is not quite possible, that is intriguing. Sculpture has become increasingly conceptual and is often made of fleeting, transient materials. We rarely speak of sculpture, but of installations. For this Gallery Viewer collection I have selected artists who make sculptures. They are images that appeal to me, move me, make me laugh, amaze and make me look differently at the world around me. Works of art that I find sublime and that, in light of the Corona crisis, put things in perspective and are comforting.
1 Media items ᛫ 7 Available artworks
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That could be marble, but also glass, or chocolate with which she designed a giant Easter bunny years ago. Marble Frames is one of her most recent works. She created three geometric shapes from waver-thin strips of marble, which she blended into one balanced, clear construction. Light as a feather, vulnerable-looking and at the same time constructed from indestructible hard, incorruptible material. The inimitable construction - how did she manage to put one shape in another? - ensures that you keep looking endlessly. Astonishingly ingenious and a sensory experience at the same time. By using marble, traditionally associated with classical sculptures, in a contemporary conceptual way, Milena Naef creates her own new visual language.
(Lumen Travo Galerie)
(Lumen Travo Galerie)
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Lynne Leegte recalls the 17th century Vanitas still life with silent alabaster sculptures and photographs. Her work touches on the fragility of life and the volatility of beauty. With the test of time, the blouse will wear out, lose buttons, fray at the edges. Lynne Leegte makes a tangible reminder of the blouse with translucent alabaster. She has carved every detail from this stone with attention and meticulous precision: the button, the creases, folds and seams, the shadow effect of the pleats. The powdery alabaster enhances the tactile beauty of this still life. The blouse looks soft as velvet but is still made of stone. The question of whether appearances are deceptive invites you to touch and feel the sculpture. Lynne Leegte also made handkerchiefs from this translucent alabaster. Often crumpled as if they had just been used. She also designed books from alabaster. Opened - sometimes with a bookmark in between - they form wonderful, sensual objects. Lynne Leegte shows us that beauty is in things that surround us, we just need to see it.
(Galerie Roger Katwijk)
(Galerie Roger Katwijk)
2 Media items ᛫ 28 Available artworks
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I first saw Gabriel Lester’s Pots Trauma installation at the "Shake a Face" exhibition at Galerie Fons Welters in Amsterdam. The exhibition presented installations on topics such as metamorphosis and change in today's society. One of the installations was Pots Trauma, which I find surprisingly topical in the light of the current Covid pandemic. The Covid pandemic has turned our lives upside down completely. Things we used to do are no longer possible. We are increasingly confined to our home and the screen is the only contact with the outside world. I am amazed at how quickly we adapt to this new reality. That reminds me of Gabriel Lester's installation Pots Trauma. Pots Trauma is a composition of five jet black indoor plants in a pot, made of sand and hardened epoxy. The plants seem to have been thrown away, pots and all, discarded, they lack sunlight but continue to search for the light despite everything. Gabriel Lester was inspired by tropism, a biological phenomenon in which an organism develops and adapts to the conditions in which it has to survive.
2 Media items ᛫ 13 Available artworks
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At an exhibition of nominees for the Volkskrant Visual Art Prize in Museum Schiedam, I came across an installation by Emmeline de Mooij. I saw a boulder that sat like a big head with hollow eyes in a wheelchair opposite an imaginary rescuer. This work was called Art in Therapy. A great installation. Of course art also needs therapy, I thought. After all, art has to contend with existential questions. “I have to be politically involved and engaged. It is not enough when I am just beautiful, that’s too superficial. I have to be layered and above all not illustrative. I have to amuse the viewer. And next time bring them to your senses and repentance. I no longer know who I want to be and why. ” Tissues are on the table to comfort the crying head. A few years later, this installation gave rise to a performance in the Centraal Museum in which five works of art from the museum collection go into therapy. Emmeline de Mooij chose the works on the basis of their "psychological potential". The artworks enter into dialogue with a different "therapist" each time. In the photo here we see a work of art by Jan van de Pavert opposite a replica of a Rietveld chair.
In her watercolours too, she often refers to psychological or physical states, such as in "Een verhoogde kans op burn-out (An increased risk of burnout)".
(andriesse eyck galerie)
In her watercolours too, she often refers to psychological or physical states, such as in "Een verhoogde kans op burn-out (An increased risk of burnout)".
(andriesse eyck galerie)
2 Media items ᛫ 10 Available artworks
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Chaim van Luit has been called a tracker, an explorer who turns things he finds into art. This summer an installation by him was shown in the exhibition Conversations # 2 in Buitenplaats Kasteel Wijlre near Maastricht. The installation is a fictional reconstruction of the children's room of art collector and founder of the Wijlre castle estate Jo Eyck. In this room, where Jo Eyck stayed because of a long illness, he stared out endlessly. This is how he learned to look and his love for art and nature arose. In his poetic installation anecdotes and memories come together visually. Chaim van Luit connects history and archeology with art. This installation is also the case: Chain of Thoughts is made up of found pieces of copper wire. The chain of thoughts consists of pieces of discarded copper wire that he has found at different times and places. The Chain of thoughts is therefore also a timeline. The copper wire guides old and new thoughts.
(tegenboschvanvreden)
(tegenboschvanvreden)
1 Media items ᛫ 12 Available artworks
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Casper Braat had his first solo exhibition at TORCH Gallery last month, where he presented household items in mirror-smooth marble. For the series entitled "Forever", he transformed an iron, a coffee maker, a toaster with gilded sandwiches, a mixer - in short, an endless series of appliances, into precious, desirable design objects. Casper Braat thus points out to today's consumer his insatiable desire to buy. We want more and more of the same, just in a different form. As soon as a new toaster is in circulation, we dispose of the old one with equal ease. The lifespan of household appliances is therefore short. Casper Braat puts them on a pedestal and gives them eternal life in marble and gold. The smooth marble soap bars that he presented numbered as design objects with his name on them are irresistible.
(TORCH Gallery)
(TORCH Gallery)