08 september 2023, Flor Linckens
Opening of the Gallery Season: 5x the female gaze
On Friday 8 and Saturday 9 September, GalleryViewer and Amsterdam Art invite you to the opening of the new Gallery Season. During this festive weekend, Amsterdam-based galleries will open their doors to the public with their first exhibition of the season. Once again, you can familiarize yourself with the help of an online catalogue, a map, and guided tours. The tours are organised by Amsterdam Art and will start in the galleries this year. The online catalogue, which includes all the exhibited artworks, will go live on GalleryViewer on Saturday 2 September. The participating galleries have extended opening hours and will be open on Friday evening 8 September from 5 PM to 9 PM and on Saturday 9 September from 12 PM to 6 PM.
In the online GalleryViewer magazine, we highlight a number of remarkable portraits that will be on display during this weekend: portraits that focus on women specifically. Over the past few centuries, women have been depicted, reflected and interpreted in countless ways. For centuries, art history was determined by a male perspective. In these art works, the woman in question was often reduced to being a decorative muse. But it is precisely people who do not identify as men who can capture the nuances of femininity in interesting ways, people who don’t perceive women through the lens of an outdated contradiction: of them being either the madonna or the femme fatale.
Iris van Dongen, Papaver, 2023, Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg
Iris van Dongen (Stigter van Doesburg)
Iris van Dongen's practice is characterised by life-size, realistic drawings that she creates using materials like (graphite) pencil, charcoal, watercolour and pastel chalk. In addition to works on paper, the Dutch artist also makes video works, performances, installations and sculptures, which she often imbues with a feminist edge. Her practice is inspired by art history, for instance the pre-Raphaelites and Art Nouveau, as well as by certain myths. After living in Berlin for several years, Van Dongen currently lives in the Danish countryside, where nature has started to play an increasing role in her everyday reality and by extension: her work. In 2014, the artist was selected to create a state portrait of the Dutch King Willem Alexander.
Erika Peucelle , Reconciliation, 2022, Galerie Madé van Krimpen
Erika Peucelle (Galerie Madé van Krimpen)
This summer, Croatian artist Erika Peucelle will present her work in two galleries in Amsterdam: in Galerie Madé van Krimpen (from 8 September) and in Galerie Ron Mandos (until 10 September) as part of the Best of Graduates exhibition. Peucelle graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2023 and she completed a residency program at Galerie Madé van Krimpen this summer. The everyday reality of this residency program proved to be an important source of inspiration for the artist. Peucelle also captures other people on her canvases, that are often based on photographs that she took, so as not to lose a certain aura or a feeling that she experienced at that moment.
Sanne Hofker | Solitude #4, 2023, Galerie Ron Mandos
Sanne Hofker (Galerie Ron Mandos)
Every summer, Galerie Ron Mandos presents promising graduating talent in the Best of Graduates exhibition. This year, this also includes Sanne Hofker, who completed a minor in Photography at the LCC University of the Arts London and a Bachelor in Crossmedia Design at the AKI ArtEZ in Enschede. This is a photograph from her graduation project “Solitude". Hofker: “[The series] is my reaction to my irritation with today's ‘always-available’ culture and constant self-awareness. In my photography, I aspire to create an atmosphere where we can silence our racing minds and simply allow ourselves to exist as organic beings, unburdened by the weight of incessant mental activity.”
Marie Cecile Thijs, Girl with the Feather Collar, 2015, SmithDavidson Gallery
Marie Cecile Thijs (SmithDavidson Gallery)
Thijs' picturesque photos are often most reminiscent of the portraits of the old masters or of classic food and flower still lifes. However, the artist refers not only thematically to the work of the old masters, but also in terms of colour and light. Yet her photos are unmistakably contemporary, because of the addition of a contemporary haircut or a stubborn attitude for instance, which imbues the photograh with a surreal, timeless and dreamy effect. Sometimes the works are marked by humor, other times the result is more poetic. Thijs is perhaps best known for her series of collar photos, in which she captured women, children and even cats, wearing an iconic 17th-century millstone collar. Several of her photographs have been included in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
Margaret Lansink, Approach, 2023, Bildhalle
Margaret Lansink (Bildhalle)
Until 9 September, Bildhalle presents a solo exhibition by Margaret Lansink at Willemsparkseweg 134. Femininity and nature play a central role in the work of the prize-winning Dutch photographer. This summer she stated in an interview with Pienk de Gaay Fortman for GalleryViewer: “By mixing the female story with the timeless beauty of nature, age becomes irrelevant and the interpersonal resilience of women across all generations becomes visible.” For this series she captured dancers from the Scapino ballet in Rotterdam, who retire at the age of 35 and then have to focus on a second career. In capturing them, Lansink emphasises their resilience.
Tip: during the Opening of the Gallery Season, the gallery organises an Artist Talk on 9 September at 5 PM, during which the artist will speak to Gili Crouwel.