I would like to invite you to my exhibition that will be on display from March 20 until at least 20th of April at the chapel of the VUmc. The opening is on Thursday 20 March from 16.00 to 18.00, for the location of the chapel click here
In this exhibition I continue on the theme ‘Shining and New’ with previous and new works.
8 December 2022 – 18 January 2023
Galerie de Stoker – Witte de Withstraat 124, 1057 ZH Amsterdam
The opening is on Saturday the 10th December from 16 till 18 pm, hope to see you there!
Hierbij wil ik jullie graag uitnodigen voor mijn expositie bij kunstcentrum Groeten van Marc, open ALLEEN op 23 en 24 november! De opening is op zaterdag 23 november van 16.00 tot 18.00, locatie Willem Schoutenstraat 21, 1057DL Amsterdam. Op zondag 24 november zal de expo nog te bezoeken zijn van 12.00 tot 17.00. In deze expositie ga ik verder op het thema ‘Shining and New’ met eerdere en nieuwe werken.
I would like to invite you to my exhibition at art center Groeten van Marc, open ONLY on November 23 and 24! The opening is on Saturday 23 November from 16.00 to 18.00, location Willem Schoutenstraat 21, 1057DL Amsterdam. The expo will be open on Sunday 24th of November from 12.00 till 17.00. In this exhibition I continue on the theme ‘Shining and New’< with previous and new works.
Exposition ‘Shining and New’
In the last few years, I started experimenting with different materials than I was using until then such as oxidized metal. It started when, while moving house, I came across a box of old toys called “Linkits.” It took me months to figure out the name, as this line of toys was only in production for 2 years (1984-86), a failed experiment by the British toy giant Matchbox.
What struck me was the durability. Almost 40-year-old plastic that barely seemed to feel the ravages of time, the colors still just as bright and ugly and the construction system that was totally unsuitable for children still worked perfectly. Downright fascinating. In my mind, I vividly envisioned the joy of the archaeologist who would unearth it from the rubble of our civilization 1,000 years from now.
Here began a process that is still ongoing today, taking in the colors, shapes and characteristics of old toys to turn them into sculpture and assemblage work. One of the starting points is a theme I have explored before: the end of civilization as we know it and what remains and passes into a new form. As we now find shards of ceramics and tools of bone, how special and valuable will the fragments of fleeting trends of today be received by civilizations after us?
The work is also about the desire to re-experience emotions as if they were new. Unsullied by accumulated knowledge about the nature of human beings and life in a world where productivity is put before everything else. As a child experiences the world, everything is special, new and intense. The unbridled wonder at finding a brightly colored beetle, the magical metallic color of my toy cars, the cartoons, comic books, candy and clothing of the 1980s in which I grew up. Now words like kitsch, retro and old-fashioned come to mind. But back then, everything was pure and magical.
One of my teachers once proclaimed in a lecture that many artists work more colorfully in times of war and pestilence. This is to compensate for all the woes that arise in a period of conflict and change. For the artist, living as an intuitive antenna with open eyes and mind, it acts as a counterbalance to the darkness that lurks within. Like the golden hour coloring the brick buildings under a thundercloud. Like a geode in a muddy, coarse stone. Hope and comfort, Shining and new.
The expo Shining and New opens Sunday 23th of June from 15.00 till 17.00! The expo will be open on Saturdays and Sundays 12.00 till 17.00, location Galerie de Stoker at Witte de Withstraat 124, 1057 ZH Amsterdam.
