23 july 2024, Flor Linckens
Last chance: Andrea Freckmann and Theun Govers in Galerie Maurits van de Laar
Until 28 July, Galerie Maurits van de Laar in The Hague presents a dual exhibition featuring paintings by Andrea Freckmann and Theun Govers. Both artists provide unique perspectives on realism and abstraction, with Freckmann exploring themes of false nostalgia and Govers concentrating on architectural constructions and layers of paint.
In her latest works, German artist Andrea Freckmann explores the concept of false nostalgia. In the series "Damals. So schön" ("Back Then. So Beautiful"), she examines how the past is often idealised, usually as a way to contrast it with a sometimes frightening present. Freckmann is known for her style that blends realism with a certain degree of theatricality. Her tableaux navigate the intersection of fantasy and reality and they are frequently based on her own life. Freckmann explains, “My work is inspired by disciplines such as theatre, film and photography. I am interested in the impossibilities, absurdities, hilarities and struggles of our daily lives. The situations I depict in my paintings portray aspects of human longings, dreams, fantasies and memories.” In her latest works, she uses recognisable visual elements from the 1960s and 70s, such as lace curtains, a Volkswagen Beetle, holiday snapshots, rural villages, and the geranium—a symbol of the loneliness and boredom of housewives in that era. Freckmann subsequently adds abstract patterns to the image. Sometimes flat and subtle, sometimes three-dimensional, resembling an anachronistic, futuristic, multifaceted dice. These patterns disrupt and break through the nostalgic images, opening the viewer's gaze to the future. Andrea Freckmann was born in 1970 in Dortmund. She studied at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in the Netherlands, where she lives and works to this day. Her work has been included in the collections of the (Dutch) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Museum Voorlinden, LUMC, Aegon and ABN AMRO bank. In 2012, she received a Buning Brongers Prize.
