Bob Bonies (1937) is considered a successor of the De Stijl movement. In his work, he focuses on the question of how far you can go with limiting and reducing without compromising the tension in the image. Bonies limits himself to visual language and in his choice of colors: he exclusively uses the primary colors plus green and white.
In his paintings, Bonies uses color to guide the direction of space: vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. He strives to achieve synergy between the three-dimensionality or structure of his painting and the actual space in which it exists. In this sense, Bonies considers himself a constructor of space. He mainly works with squares and rectangles. He starts new paintings in his studio and follows a completely traditional process: linen on a wooden frame.
Bonies received his education at the Free Academy of Visual Arts and the Royal Academy of The Hague, where he focused on sculpting. He also studied interior design and design at the Konstfackskolan in Stockholm. In 1966, Bonies had his First one-person exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In the same year, he participated in the international exhibition Forms of Colors, with work from Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Barnett Newman, and Frank Stella. Bonies has collaborated with choreographer Hans van Manen, fashion designer Frans Molenaar, and composer Simeon Ten Holt. He was the director of the Free Academy of The Hague from 1988 to 2001 and was a co-founder of the Union for Visual Arts Workers (BBKA) in 1972.
www.ftn-books.com has several Bonies titles now available.
