Les collections

Manuela Klerkx

3 The Hague & 3 Amsterdam galleries in 6 artworks

During the Christmas holidays I visited a number of galleries in Amsterdam and The Hague and in this Collection I explain one artist per gallery whose or whose work interest me because of the narrative element (Anna Bittersohl), technique and aesthetics (Zhuang Hong Yi), the inner quest (Zaida Oenema), the choice of materials (Marian Bijlenga), the wabi sabi approach (Nare Eloyan) or the aesthetics (Pius Fox).

Pius Fox

0 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 5 Oeuvres disponibles

2 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations

Pius Fox (1983, Berlin) paints on paper or aluminium, with oil paint or egg tempera (an emulsion of water, egg yolk and colour pigment with a very durable character) and translates architectural patterns and geometric elements into small format. Fox's paintings mainly consist of subdued colours, subtle lines and free or sleek shapes, made up of several layers of paint that exist next to or on top of each other. Sometimes there is a clear contrast between foreground and background, sometimes not at all. But there is never any perspective or depth. Nothing is suggested and everything takes place on a small surface that radiates enormous intensity. The surface often appears a bit grubby and soft, so that the painting evokes a lived feeling and invites you touch it, making the tension between the monumental and intimate, movement and stillness, space and boundaries is not only visible, but also tangible. Fox's paintings are contemporary, rhythmic narratives insofar as they take us through the history of abstract painting and confront us with its contemporary synthesis through the eyes of Pius Fox. Good job.

(Livingstone Gallery)

Marian Bijlenga

2 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 20 Oeuvres disponibles

7 Spectacles ᛫ 1 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations

Marian Bijlenga studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and draws inspiration from her immediate surroundings. For example, she makes collages from used pieces of sandpaper that she finds in studios of artist friends: "Every piece of sandpaper bears the traces of the work of another artist," says Bijlenga. She creates new work on the basis of used and discarded material: rhythmic compositions that remind me of the abstract painting of the fifties, in terms of colour (never bright) and feel. Her great affinity for textile materials such as fabric, thread and horsehair immediately catches the eye, as does her sense of lines and surfaces that divide the field into fragments which just or just do not fit together like patches. No matter how small, the result is always an exciting combination of colours, shapes, fields and lines with a vintage look. Bijlenga: “Traces fascinate me. Eaten leaves, cracked road surface, nail holes in a wall, spots of wear, chewing gum on the wall, the pattern of chair legs in a soft floor… ” Beautiful.

(Galerie Franzis Engels)

Zaida Oenema

1 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 21 Oeuvres disponibles

5 Spectacles ᛫ 4 Points forts ᛫ 1 Recommandations

Through the concentration required for the repetitive nature typical for her works and the interplay of structure, light and texture, Zaida Oenema (1980, Groningen) searches for stillness. Or rather, for stillness in motion for which the natural cadence of the human hand, her hand, is indispensable. She uses all kinds of materials for her reliefs: from ballpoint pens and pencils, to paint and paper, resin and epoxy. The repetition of a certain action according to a fixed pattern connects her with important sources of inspiration such as the flat or empty landscapes that surround her and the minimal, religious music of composers such as Arvo Pärt, in whose music she also recognizes by regular and recurring structures. Oenema's work reminds me of the white, monochrome reliefs by Jan Schoonhoven. As a representative of the Nul movement, Schoonhoven sought objective art: art where the presence of the artist as a person has been obliterated. Although the work of both artists - in terms of repetition, minimalism and structure - shows affinity, their meaning is very different. While Schoonhoven performed his self-imposed actions at the kitchen table and in the company of his relatives and / or artist friends, Oenema is looking for silence in solitude as a form of emptiness that she prefers to fill with a composition by her hand. As if it were a piece of music, but without sound.

(Galerie Helder)

Anna Bittersohl

6 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 9 Oeuvres disponibles

0 Spectacles ᛫ 5 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations

I experience the painting of Anna Bittersohl, born in Dachau in 1982, as a dreamed reality or a reality from the past of which we remember fragments, and where plot is absent. There is a lot going on but you can't put your finger on it. Bittersohl's work is based on personal experiences and impressions and the way their meaning can change through their environment and over time. In her layered, expressive canvases, foreground and background, important and unimportant details overlap, as if to show how values and meanings can shift: a particular technique or colour can evoke an emotional experience or atmosphere that can alter the overall impression of the painting, just as a detail can determine the meaning of a dream or memory. And perhaps not immediately, but only much later, based on new insights and knowledge, do we interpret that same memory or dream differently. Incidentally, exactly as can happen with a work of art. Bittersohl plays with concepts such as expectation, uncertainty and mystery that also play a large role in our attempts to interpret dreams. And why do we remember certain things, persons and events and not others? Riddles with which we reveal ourselves and which Bittersohl entrusts to the canvas.

(Rutger Brandt Gallery)

Zhuang Hong Yi

1 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 8 Oeuvres disponibles

2 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations

When Chinese artist Zhuang Hong Yi (1962) first flew to the Netherlands in the spring of 1990, he was immediately impressed by the Dutch bulb fields that he could admire from the small airplane window. He knew right then that he would one day combine the technology and knowledge he had acquired in China with the strong emotions that this splendour of colours brought about in him. After his education at the prestigious Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in China, Zhuang studied at the Academy Minerva, the art academy in Groningen, and after years of study, research and exhibitions he made his international breakthrough with his 'Flowerbeds', coloured - almost 3d paintings - consisting of delicate pieces of painted rice paper, folded and cut into hundreds of flower buds. The result is a combination of colours and shapes that refer to the strictly structured bulb fields and an age-old technique of folding flower motifs, well known in the East. 'Let a hundred flowers bloom' was the slogan of a short-lived liberalization campaign in the People's Republic of China that lasted from 1956 to June 1957. Mao Zedong's so-called 'Hundred Flower Campaign' was intended to encourage political leaders to criticize the regime to detect and tackle possible administrative abuses. It soon became apparent that the criticism was so fierce and came from all layers of society that Mao quickly put an end to it by taking tough action against the intellectuals in particular. Zhuang seems to have given his own interpretation to this slogan and its consequences: one of unparalleled and timeless beauty. A tribute to the flowers that have a great symbolic meaning in China to this day: think of the Magnolia, the Lily and the Lotus.

(SmithDavidson Gallery)

Nare Eloyan

0 Éléments multimédias ᛫ 5 Oeuvres disponibles

2 Spectacles ᛫ 0 Points forts ᛫ 0 Recommandations

Like Zhuang Hong Yi, Nare Eloyan (1988, Armenia) likes to relate to the world around her through art. Her interest is mainly in bringing to life ceramic vases that she finds in markets and thrift stores. Discarded or forgotten objects that she brings back to life by "infusing" them with her painting. While I look at her work, the Japanese term wabi sabi comes to mind. The meaning of wabi sabi is based on the idea that nothing is perfect and everything is beautiful or good as it is in all its imperfection and impermanence. It seems as if Nare Eloyan has mastered this concept by making an everyday object such as a vase special and unique and thus giving it new life. Not by trying to perfect it, or literally brushing away its history, but by enriching it with a hand-painted portrait, a person or another motif. In this way she returns the same vase to society, but as a unique item and thus as an object of greater value than in its original state.

(Galerie Maurits van de Laar)