19 december 2022, Wouter van den Eijkel
Deciphering the Artist’s Mind
Picking an artist's brain to better understand their work is an arduous if not impossible task, because knowing exactly what the other is thinking is simply impossible. Deciphering the Artist's Mind exhibit therefore primarily offers a great overview of current themes within contemporary art on the basis of work by well-known, mostly younger artists. The exhibition can be viewed free of charge at ABN AMRO’s corporate head office.
No conversation pieces
Anyone who thinks that corporate collections are only intended for the company's staff, or merely serve as a conversation starter with customers, couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only do their art purchases support local artists and galleries, the works are also regularly loaned to museums. Corporate collections often purchase museum-worthy pieces that tend to be beyond the budget of most private individuals. In this way, the corporate collections play an important role in the ecosystem of the art world. A number of companies, including ABN AMRO, also annually organise a number of publicly accessible exhibitions with works from the collection.
Deciphering the Artist's Mind, Rory Pilgrim, andriesse eyck galerie, photo: Gert Jan van Rooij
Deciphering the Artist’s Mind
Deciphering the Artist's Mind consists of two spaces. On the ground floor you can see works the bank purchased over the past four years, while a number of highlights from the collection can be seen on the first floor, each of which is linked to recent acquisition.
The exhibition takes its name from a series by Berend Strik, who visited colleagues in their studios between 2012 and 2020 to better understand their work. However, often the gap between idea and image cannot be bridged, but what this exhibition shows well is how different artists approach themes such as climate change, sustainability, environmental and issues surrounding identity.
For example, Edwin Zwakman and Rory Pilgrim voice their concern about climate change in a completely different way. Zwakman foresees a future on the water due to rising sea levels. His photos of models of floating apartment buildings at sea are ominous images of the future, while Pilgrim wonders what we, as individuals and as a collective, can do to prevent natural disasters in the future. Magali Reus uses photos of fungi with sturdy steel frames to reflect on the commodification of nature, while Claudy Jongstra points out the possibilities offered by artisanal, circular production.
Magali Reus, Knaves (Alpine Club), 2021, Galerie Fons Welters, photo: Mark Dalton
You can also observe divergent positions with regard to identity and migration. As a Chinese in Western Europe, Evelyn Toacheng Wang investigates her cultural identity by combining Chinese and European styles, ideas and customs in her work, resulting in enigmatic images that may be the start of a new identity. In Het gaat regenen! Eet smakelijk! (Mondriaan Oliebollen or Trashy Mondriaan) she paints the traditional Dutch delicacy oliebollen using only the primary colours of Mondrian's palette. While the heron grabbing a fish a fish seems to come straight from a Chinese scroll painting, thanks to Wang's oriental way of painting.
Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Het gaat regenen! Eet Smakelijk! (Mondriaan Oliebollen of Trashy Mondriaan), 2020, Galerie Fons Welters, photo: Gert Jan van Rooij
The Amsterdam-born artist Iriée Zamblé investigates how language is a means of self-determination. In doing so, she draws inspiration from Afro-Atlantic culture. In her work, the characters seem to take control of the canvas. The title of the triptych Wi Run Tingz, Tingz Nuh Run Wi (we control things, things don't control us), is such a Jamaican incantation.
Moreover, Deciphering the Artist’s Mind consists of work by artists whose star rose quickly in recent years. Toacheng Wang, Lixenberg, Pilgrim, Jongstra and Reus can all count on a lot of attention, both at home and abroad. Others, such as Kersten, Aidoo and Zamblé, had their breakthrough more recently. It’s unlikely you’ll see these artists together in a museum exhibition soon, which also makes this exhibition special and interesting.
The Battle for the 20th Century
A number of highlights from the collection can be seen on the first floor. Many of them were made before the turn of the century. The works are linked to recent work, which also consists of everyday objects and materials. For example, a papier-mâché relief by Jan Schoonhoven hangs next to a series of monochrome painted cardboard boxes Machteld Rullens. A repainted tea towel by Daan van Golden is accompanied by the assemblages of everyday objects by Ana Navas. The work of Erik van Lieshout also enters into a dialogue with that of his mentor René Daniels..
Deciphering the Artist's Mind, Ana Navas, tegenboschvanvreden, photo: Gert Jan van Rooij
The work of Daniëls alone makes a visit to the South Axis more than worthwhile. De slag om de 20e eeuw (The Battle for the 20th Century,1984) is in fact the work with which Daniëls introduced his famous bow-tie shape. At the end of the 1970s, he breathed new life into painting with canvases full of references, graphic jokes and ambiguous titles. The bow tie is such an ambiguity. You can see a museum room in it, but also as a bow tie, the symbol of the established order and good taste. The bow tie is thus flat and spacious, realistic and metaphorical at the same time. This makes De slag om de 20e eeuw of great art-historical importance and rightly a highlight in the bank's collection.
René Daniëls, De slag om de 20e eeuw, collectie ABN AMRO
Deciphering the Artist’s Mind is on display in the entrance hall of ABN AMRO’s corporate head office, Gustav Mahlerlaan 10, Amsterdam, and can be seen until 2 June 2023
