Since 1967, Jaap van den Ende has been making paintings in which systematics play the leading role. Now, at the age of seventy-five, the renowned painter chooses to show works from his last three series. The emphasis is on paintings from the last two years. In this series, a spontaneous impression of, for example, a landscape or trees is related to an abstract geometric interpretation of it. The result is paintings that have the atmosphere of the landscape, but mainly show themselves as abstraction. The series is entitled ‘impression, informal systems’.
Jaap van den Ende gained international fame with his abstract paintings from the 1960s and 1970s. In line with fundamental painting and the conceptual art that established itself at that time, this early work by van den Ende was characterized by cool, geometric compositions and abstract colour research. From the 1990s onwards, he surprised by introducing figurative elements into his work. In his most recent paintings, figuration also plays a significant role: almost photo realistically painted landscapes seem to conclave with abstracted afterimages. Nevertheless, the current working method of Jaap van den Ende is closely related to the methodical approach he already used fifty years ago.
At the entrance of the exhibition, Jaap van den Ende places an early painting from 1972. Through the use of a certain composition, Jaap van den Ende cumulates a clear formal language that is both systematic and organic. The spectator recognizes this same approach also in the recent work. Each arrangement produces a different process, a mechanism by which Jaap van den Ende exposes the working of both figurative and abstract images.
The artist aims to show relationships; a reality consisting of separate processes, arranged in a certain systematic context. “Everything is complete and to be respected,” he says. Through the confrontation of abstraction, that bears it’s own logic, with figuration, the artist wants to make clear that both abstract and figurative layers, are part of the same reality. Different parts can coexist: “Within a painting enormous contradictions can be solved, provided that an awareness of interrelation and unity is propagated.” The oeuvre of Jaap van den Ende is marked by an infinite fascination for a system defined by change, as in nature.
Jaap van den Ende (1944, Delft, The Netherlands) studied at the Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunst in The Hague. His rich oeuvre is to be found in various collections, including the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach; Museum Bochum, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Gemeentemuseum Den Haag; Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden; CODA Museum, Apeldoorn; Rijksdienst Verspreide Kunstvoorwerpen, Den Haag; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Het Prinsenhof, Delft; and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. He exhibited with Ger Dekkers, Jan Dibbets, and Ger van Elk in the show Broken Landscapes at Situation Kust in Bochum (2014). Other exhibitions were held at Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tourcoing, FR (2001) Städtische Galerie, Nordhorn (1984), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (1982), Galerijs Sucremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb (1980), and repeatedly at Het Prinsenhof, Delft; Stedelijk Museum Schiedam; De Lakenhal, Leiden; Haags Gemeente Museum, and Parts Project, The Hague. Van den Ende has written various books about his vision on art and his personal practice. He lives and works in Delft.