This is what the jury said on JEROEN EISINGA for his Ouborg Prijs win.
With utmost precision and penetrating depth, Jeroen Eisinga’s work has been praised in the jury report for the 2019 Ouborg Prize. Described as being of exceptional quality, his pieces captivate and linger in the mind. On Friday, November 22nd, he will officially receive the Hague City Prize, a joint initiative by the Municipality of The Hague, the Hague Art Museum, and Stroom The Hague.
Eisinga is a driven artist, never satisfied and always pushing boundaries. In his now iconic film, Springtime (2011), he allowed himself to be covered by a swarm of approximately 150,000 bees. His productions are painstakingly labor-intensive, resulting in a smaller oeuvre, but one that is truly remarkable. His films have been showcased at international festivals and art venues, and are also featured in numerous museum and private collections.
Claude Monet (1840-1926) arrived in Giverny at the age of forty-two in 1883 and lived there until his death in 1926. During this period, he cultivated two gardens: a floral garden and a water garden featuring a pond filled with water lilies, inspired by the serene beauty of traditional Japanese gardens. Monet consciously chose exotic flora for his gardens, such as towering bamboo, vibrant water lilies (which he discovered at the Exposition Universelle of 1889), and cascading wisteria. A charming Japanese-style bridge spanned over the narrow part of his pond, adding to the picturesque allure of his gardens.
In Giverny, Monet increasingly isolated himself from the outside world and became captivated by the endless enchantment of his garden. From 1883 to 1926, he painted the reflections on his water lily pond hundreds of times. While his first few attempts at capturing these scenes followed the principles of Impressionism, Monet gradually embraced a more expressive approach to his art. He rejected depth and no longer felt the need to depict recognizable subjects. Instead, his monumental garden paintings exuded a sense of timelessness, transcending the fleeting moments typically depicted in art. This phase at Giverny marked not only the most prolific period in Monet’s career, but also a significant artistic evolution. The pioneering Impressionist of the 19th century successfully reinvented himself in the 20th century.
www.ftn-books.com http://www.ftn-books.comhas several titles on his Giverny paintings now available.
Jérôme Touron, an French male contemporary artist born in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir (FR) in 1967, has a remarkable career in the world of art.
His first verified exhibition, VIS A VIS, took place at Galerie du Haut-Pavé in Paris in 1993. His most recent exhibition, Bousculer la couleur, was showcased at Galerie La Ferronnerie in Paris in 2023. While Jérôme Touron is frequently exhibited in France, he has also had exhibitions in Netherlands, Spain, and other countries. With at least 8 solo shows and 34 group shows in the past 30 years, Touron’s work has been widely recognized (for more information, refer to exhibitions). Additionally, he has participated in 3 art fairs, but has not yet been featured in any biennials. One of his most notable shows, Stage of Being, was displayed at Voorlinden museum in Wassenaar in 2018, showcasing his unique style and perspective. Other noteworthy exhibitions were held at Galerie La Ferronnerie and Passage de Retz in Paris. Jérôme Touron has also exhibited alongside renowned artists such as Dominique Dehais and Marie-Amélie Porcher.
Reinoud Oudshoorn (1953) employs perspective, drawn from the illusory language of painting, and incorporates it into his sculptures. In this way, he aims to bridge the gap between the spatial illusion of the two-dimensional plane and the tangible reality of three-dimensional imagery. Oudshoorn’s sculptures originate from staring and gazing at a blank white surface, which gradually transforms into a space. It is from this process that his drawings emerge.
The choice of material is determined by the selected drawing and its technical possibilities: iron alludes to graphite, while wood is intriguing due to the lines of the grain, and matte glass adds depth. A painting is too much of an illusion for him and a three-dimensional sculpture is too much reality. He has found an intermediary form in sculptures that create space, sometimes on a wall, and sometimes on the floor.
The vanishing point, which is present in almost all of his larger works, is located at eye level, specifically at 1 m 65, creating a palpable horizon at every exhibition.
In her work as a figurative painter, South African-born and London-based artist Lisa Brice seeks to challenge the traditional depiction of women in Western art history. Through her signature use of cobalt blue, Brice reclaims the female nude from the male gaze, which has long sought to oppress women as passive objects of desire. In her portraits, whether in a solo or group setting, women are freed from the limited roles of model and muse. They proudly wield paintbrushes, capturing their own likeness and that of their comrades, or lounge against doors and mirrors while smoking cigarettes, effectively dismantling the hierarchical relationship between the artist and the subject. No longer are these women mere objects for the spectator’s gaze – their direct or seemingly unaware stares represent empowered individuals driven by their own desires.
The characters and settings depicted in Brice’s paintings are formed from a diverse mix of images sourced from magazines, the internet, personal photographs, and, most importantly, art history itself. As she puts it, “all painting is a lineage – it’s all a conversation with what’s come before.” References to well-known works by male European painters such as Degas, Manet, Picasso, and Vallotton can be found in her interior scenes. However, Brice also makes a point to draw upon a lineage of female painters who have been largely overlooked in traditional Western art history. For example, American Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler is depicted pouring cobalt blue paint onto a canvas, Dutch painter Charley Toorop and Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama appear fused together in a self-portrait, and Gertrude Stein (as painted by Picasso in 1905-6) is placed next to Vallotton’s seated figure from The White and the Black (1913), sparking a dialogue between female cultural figures from different generations.
In her early years, Brice served as a printmaking assistant for South African artist Sue Williamson, igniting her fascination for repetition and her characters. One such character is a hissing black cat borrowed from Manet’s Olympia (1863), which reappears throughout her collection as she creates – in her own words – “a small army of feminine figures.”
The striking cobalt blue, squeezed straight from the tube, dominates Brice’s color scheme and carries significant meaning within her work. Initially used to capture the blue light of a neon sign and the atmospheric hue of twilight, it has evolved into a nod to the Trinidadian “blue devil.” This is a character from Carnival, embodied by masqueraders who cover their bodies in blue (or tinted) paint. This “blue devil” is traditionally crafted using Reckitt’s Blue powder – a substance historically used throughout the British Empire for whitening whites, repurposed in this context for skin bleaching. For Brice, this cultural practice and its inclusion in her art serves as a means of “concealing natural skin tones and challenging a simplistic or preconceived interpretation of the subject based on ethnicity.”
It is these two artists who, starting in the late 1950s, radically centered the Shoah (the Hebrew equivalent of the Holocaust) in their art. In a time when the war was unspeakable for many, they chose to create art that would confront viewers with this painful past. By combining the most gruesome images of war crimes with superficial advertising, their work also serves as a critique of the post-war consumer society, which continued to steam ahead and failed to acknowledge the trauma endured by Jews and others. To incite a shocking effect, both artists incorporated modern techniques into their art.
After meeting in New York in the early 1960s, American Lurie and German Vostell maintained a deep friendship, as evidenced by their years-long correspondence. A selection of these letters will be made public for the first time in Art after Auschwitz. In addition to these letters, there will be dozens of paintings, drawings, and objects from both Lurie and Vostell on display. Vostell’s installation Thermoelektronischer Kaugummi from 1970, which can travel from Museum Ostwall for the first time after a recent restoration, will also be featured in the Kunstmuseum.
www.ftn-books.com has the invitation fro the KUNSTMUSEUM DEN HAAG exhibition now available.
Wim Delvoye is a sculptor, performer, and video artist. He received his education in Ghent and represented Belgium at the 1990 Venice Biennale. Two years later, he displayed pigs at Documenta IX (Kassel) that were tattooed under anesthesia with the help of a veterinarian. In 2003, however, his pigs were not allowed at the Watou Poetry Summer.
Delvoye’s work combines a fascination with craftsmanship with production processes that are not directly related to art. His Caterpillar #5, which was featured at ARTZUID 2011, is a characteristic example of this. Irony and banality often play a role. He does not shy away from provocation, but at the same time presents his work as very serious, leading to discussions. He was a participant at ARTZUID 2019, and in 2023, he will participate with Untitled, the well-known cement mixer in a Gothic form.
He plays with ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, blending social hierarchies and classes. Meanings and associations are often not what they seem. The pig – traditionally a smart animal – has become a product for the meat industry. A pale pink counterpart to humans, a symbol of stupidity.
His Cloaca produces anonymous feces, a metaphor for creation itself and a simultaneous relativization. Delvoye is more interested in societal questions than in the form of his work. Art should shock.
Delvoye’s work is included in the collections of major art museums. In 2008, he bought Corroy-le-Chateau at a public auction to turn it into a museum of contemporary art. However, this did not come to fruition. Later, he bought a castle in Melle, where he clashed with authorities over building and environmental offenses. He also opposed the construction of wind turbines around the estate.
www.ftn-books.com has several publications on Delvoye now available.
In the year of 1929, a group of Polish artists united under the enthusiastic leadership of the married couple, forming the Grupa a.r.: the “revolutionary artists’ group” or the “true avant-garde”. They tirelessly defended abstract art in manifestos and polemical articles, while also curating a collection of works generously donated by like-minded artists from all over Europe, including Fernand Léger, El Lissitzky, Jean Arp, Theo van Doesburg, and Vantongerloo. In 1931, the collection found a permanent home in Łódź at the Muzeum Sztuki, co-founded by Strzemiński. Kobro and Strzemiński continued to add their own works to the collection.
The exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum showcases a portion of this collection, as well as highlights from the diverse oeuvre of this artistic couple. In addition to sculptures and paintings, visitors can admire drawings, collages, interior designs, and typographic layouts. These works bear witness to an unparalleled spirit of experimentation, bridging the pure abstract art of De Stijl with the suprematism of Malevich and others.
www.ftn-books.com has the Kunstmuseum invitation now available.
Arno Nollen (1964) is a storyteller. In his investigative work, the focus is on the series of photographs; he is not interested in a single, standalone photo. The series, often with minimal nuances, exist in a realm between film and photography. Through repetition, they unconsciously spark associations, comparisons, and memories in the viewer. Emotions of fascination, excitement, disapproval, and discomfort arise, and the individual’s own story is created. Nollen uses various media to present his images, including books, videos, prints, and installations. For the Hague Photo Museum, he created eight new photo series from hundreds of photos in his archival collection (1997-2016), together forming the remarkable installation Just.
Collector of Emotions Nollen works without a specific concept or method and considers himself a “collector of emotions.” The only standard is the precision with which Arno Nollen captures his feelings in images. It is almost tangible how his personal doubts, obsessions, and tender feelings often align with those of his subjects. In the series characterized by minimal differences and shifts in pose, gaze, and actions of the model, giving them an almost cinematic quality, Nollen aims to compare moment to moment. Good observation is key for Nollen.
Arno Nollen graduated from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 1997. For his graduation presentation, he received the Esther Kroon Award and was nominated for the NPS Culture Prize in 1998. He exhibits his work extensively.
What is often unknown is that Heyboer was a celebrated artist in the 1960s and 1970s, with his work being acquired by the MoMA in New York, exhibited at the Documenta in Kassel, and honored with major exhibitions at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. In 1975, he was even presented alongside David Hockney and Lucian Freud at LACMA in Los Angeles as one of the most prominent European painters of that time. Now, forty years after his last major museum exhibition, the Gemeentemuseum aims to once again showcase the international caliber of his oeuvre. This exhibit highlights the evolution of his work, emphasizing the period from 1956 to 1977, while also shedding light on the “system” that the artist utilized to make life bearable for himself. It is evident how the life and work of Heyboer are inextricably intertwined.
In 1960 maakt Anton Heyboer een tekening voor zijn vrouw Maria. In deze tekening Mijn leven verantwoord maakt hij aan haar duidelijk wie hij is en hoe hij het leven samen voor zich ziet, met haar als centrum en structuur van zijn leven. Samen met Maria vertrekt hij uit Amsterdam. Heyboer, die door de oorlog zwaar getraumatiseerd was – hij overleefde een werkkamp in Duitsland – en al een opname in het psychiatrisch ziekenhuis Santpoort achter de rug had, zou anders vermoedelijk aan de drank en chaos in die grote stad ten onder zijn gegaan. Hij gaat met Maria zijn vierde huwelijk aan, maar zij is de eerste van de vijf vrouwen met wie hij uiteindelijk in Den Ilp samenleeft. De tekening is te zien in de eerste zaal van de tentoonstelling en is een duidelijk voorbeeld van de wijze waarop Heyboer via zijn etsen en tekeningen een systeem creëert om grip op zijn demonen te krijgen. Het is de kunst die zijn leven redt.
Reimagine Heyboer’s 1960s and 1970s etchings as a prime example of his artistic prowess. Within the established hierarchy of the arts, graphics are often seen as a lesser form, used primarily for reproductions and limited edition works. However, Heyboer’s etchings defy this notion, as each one boasts its own unique composition, carefully crafted to be further refined after the printing process. His incorporation of photography adds another dimension to his pieces, and yet, all his works maintain a cohesive and unmistakable connection. Heyboer’s enigmatic, mystical, and profoundly personal visual language sets him apart from the prevailing commercial art movements of the time, such as Pop Art and Minimal Art. In fact, a comparison could be drawn between him and his contemporaries, such as Joseph Beuys, who also employs self-created symbolism influenced by the horrors of World War II.
The power of Heyboer’s work and its distinctive position within the art world has not gone unnoticed. From the 1960s onwards, the MoMA in New York repeatedly purchases his works. He also exhibits at various editions of Documenta in Kassel; in 1959, 1964, and 1969. The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag also frequently acquires Heyboer’s works from the 1960s onwards and in 1967, under the curatorship of Hans Locher, organizes the first major retrospective exhibition of Heyboer’s graphic works. Locher is also one of the first art historians to interpret Heyboer’s symbolism, forging a deep connection between them.
In 1975, Anton Heyboer, now an internationally celebrated artist, receives a major exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Here, he displays large paintings for the first time. The exhibition can be seen as a pinnacle, but also as a turning point in his continuously growing international reputation. Heyboer increasingly struggles with his role as a successful artist. At the end of the exhibition, almost all the paintings return to his estate, where he once again attacks them with red paint, essentially destroying the original works. He withdraws from the art world, adopts a humorous attitude, and starts selling his works himself from his estate in Den Ilp. The art world can no longer take him seriously, but he gains fame in the world of show business and tabloid gossip.
Artist/ Author: Oliver Boberg
Title : Memorial
Publisher: Oliver Boberg
Measurements: Frame measures 51 x 42 cm. original C print is 35 x 25 cm.
Condition: mint
signed by Oliver Boberg in pen and numbered 14/20 from an edition of 20
