Babs Haenen, Ien Lucas, Hieke Luik
recent work
June 30-July 21, 2024
Book launch June 30, 4 p.m. opening speech by Benno Tempel director Kröller Müller Museum.
Galerie Ramakers is pleased to announce the trio exhibition of Babs Haenen, Ien Lucas and Hieke Luik. The exhibition will be held on the occasion of the publication of Babs Haenen's new artist book, first released in Basel on June 11 by Archivorum in collaboration with JapSambooks. The presentation in the Netherlands will take place at Galerie Ramakers, where recent work by Haenen will be on display in addition to the new book. This includes several Scholars' Rocks, new wall sculptures and her iconic vessels.
Babs Haenen has chosen to show, in addition to her own work, that of two female colleagues: Ien Lucas and Hieke Luik. Both artists are highly regarded by Haenen and their participation adds an extra dimension to the exhibition.
Ien Lucas is known as a colorist pur sang, with highly expressive and colorful paintings and notes. Her work revolves around exploring the possibilities and boundaries of painting without reference to reality. She is constantly experimenting with different materials, compositions, colors, surfaces and spaces.
With Babs Haenen, color, line and form also play an important role. Her works are constructed from pieces of differently colored porcelain, which she cuts up and rolls over each other, creating drawings. These are fired several times, during which the glaze 'runs'. This allows her, like an abstract impressionist painter, to manipulate and intensify color and drawing.
The first impressions when seeing the sculptures of Hieke Luik (1958, Apeldoorn) are those of movement, energy and growth. Her sculptures and drawings express wonder at the indeterminate forces and constant movements in nature. These are not people, animals or plants per se, but the everywhere active and permanent process of fertility, germination, growth, maturity, decay, death and return. This cycle is reflected as a sculpted thought process in her work. Liege often models with wax on a fixture of copper wire. Haenen models her thinly rolled-out pieces of porcelain into sculptural forms.
In short, a fascinating combination of different disciplines that reinforce, complement and enrich each other.