Category: artists studios

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Klaus Heider (1936-2013)

Klaus Heider, born in Göppingen in 1936, embarked on his artistic career in the mid-1960s, delving into the realm of printmaking under the tutelage of Manfred Henninger at the Staatliche Akademie für bildende Künste, Stuttgart. Subsequently, he honed his skills in Printmaking under Friedrich Stabenau at the esteemed Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Berlin, from 1960 to 1963.

In 1982, Heider was bestowed with the prestigious Villa Massimo Prize, granting him the opportunity to spend a year in Rome. The following year, he received a grant from the renowned Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. Since 1983, Heider has held the esteemed position of Professor of Painting at the acclaimed Hochschule für Gestaltung, Wirtschaft und Technik in Pforzheim. He currently resides in Bad Boll.

Heider’s early works as a print-maker in the 1960s were defined by perspective lines and chiaroscuro, skillfully evoking a sense of three-dimensional structure. Drawing inspiration from photographs, he often incorporated elements of collage, décollage, and frottage in his creations. The use of light and transparency has remained a prominent aspect of Heider’s work throughout his career.

In the 1970s, Heider delved into the realm of sculpture, crafting mesmerizing glass spaces in the landscape. Preceded by preliminarily works done in print and drawing, these objects allowed for a new perspective on size, spatial relations, and the character of their surroundings. As the 1980s dawned, Heider began experimenting with incorporating colored linear elements into his work. Starting with painted lines, he later progressed to using neon tubes that extended beyond the boundaries of the picture and into the surrounding space.

Heider’s repertoire also features a fusion of words and images in multiple books and works on paper, each bearing a title of significant meaning.

www.ftn-books.com has several titles on Heider now available.

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Claude Viallat (1936)

Claude Viallat, born in 1936 in Nîmes, France, is a renowned artist who co-founded the Supports/Surfaces movement in the 1970s alongside Vincent Bioules and Daniel Dezeuze. Through his practice, Viallat aimed to expand the boundaries of painting beyond traditional stretched canvases.

One of his signature shapes, described by some as resembling a bone, is a rounded rectangle. This shape repeats itself across various surfaces, including industrial tarps, stitched-together fabric samples, and loose hanging sheets. Viallat’s use of nontraditional materials adds to the vibrant and dynamic nature of his paintings, which are characterized by squiggly geometric forms and kaleidoscopic patterns.

Bold and lively palettes are a hallmark of Viallat’s formal experimentation, evident in his extensive exhibitions around the world. His work has fetched six-figure sums at auction and can be found in prestigious collections such as the Centre Pompidou, the Fondation Cartier, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Kunstmuseum Basel.

www.ftn-books.com has several Viallat titles available.

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Rik Meijers (1963)

Unlike most painters of his generation, Meijers plays with the boundaries of fiction. When one sees his canvases, one does not think of photography or art history, as with most contemporary painters. Instead, one is transported to the culture from which such a painting could have originated, contemplating the backgrounds and motivations of the creator – which, in turn, are completely different from what one might initially assume based on their appearance. Once this is understood, one realizes that Meijers cleverly challenges the viewer’s ingrained habits of looking.

www.ftn-books.com has the Irma Boom designed book on Meijers now available.

Het beste in mij is goed genoeg voor jou.

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Ellert Haitjema (1958)

In his endeavor, Ellert Haitjema delves into a robust vernacular of forms, derived not from aesthetic norms, but from a primal inclination towards survival, from which it draws its exquisite allure.

Haitjema is thoroughly intrigued by the resourceful ingenuity displayed by individuals when faced with scarce resources. For years, he has been documenting, lens-in-hand, their impermanent dwellings, improvised fixes, and enigmatic objects repurposed to meet distinct needs. This exploration often occurs during his expeditions to far-flung destinations, or it may simply occur while taking a stroll around his local neighborhood.

Initially, the photographs served as personal reference points, serving as models and sources of inspiration for his sculptures. However, in Haphazard, these photographs are brought together with his own creations, participating in a dialogue full of brazen visual rhyming and playful wordplay, free from any hierarchy or indication of whether the image is a creation of his own or a photographed object. This differentiation is blurred in the photo-interventions. Haitjema delves into the visual elements suggested by the photographs themselves, subjecting them to various treatments. By creasing the photographs, immersing them in water, or encasing them in glass, he transitions them into three-dimensional entities, which he then captures through his camera lens once again. The outcome is a two-dimensional representation that challenges superficial observation with its idiosyncrasies.
‘Keen observation’ and ‘reckless thinking’ lie at the core of Haitjema’s artistic endeavors.

www.ftn-books.com has the THE BIG SHIFT publication now available.

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Georges Mathieu (1921-2012)

Georges Mathieu was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, in 1921. An autodidactic artist and theorist, he embarked on his creative journey in 1942. He traversed the globe, creating masterpieces in Japan, the USA, Brazil, Argentina, and the Middle East, but predominantly lived and produced his opuses in the Parisian region of France, where he passed away in 2012.

Credited with spearheading the Lyrical Abstraction movement and the larger trend of Informalism in post-World War II Paris, Georges Mathieu pioneered a style of gestural abstraction that verged on performance art. A renowned provocateur, he dazzled audiences with his energetic approach, prioritizing speed, rejecting references, and entering a state of ecstasy while creating. Often working in front of cameras, his pieces were exhibited around the world, with his large-scale compositions achieved through the use of long brushes and direct application of paint from tubes onto the canvas. The immediacy and rapid execution of these techniques empowered him to freely express his vision. He brought a newfound liberty to the creative act and gave rise to a fresh style, a unique blend of esoteric symbols, calligraphy, and raw vigor. The titles of his pieces, infused with historical, musical, and geographical allusions, add a sophisticated yet unconventional poetic quality.

Mathieu’s work has been the subject of numerous retrospectives and can be found in over eighty museums and permanent public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Kunstmuseum Basel; Kunsthaus Zürich; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Tate, London.

www.ftn-books.com has several Mathieu titles now available.

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Klaus Süß (1951)

Hailing from the Saxon Ore Mountains, Klaus Süß was born in 1951. His occupation as a heating engineer and later as an engineer in air and refrigeration technology in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now known as Chemnitz) did not hinder him from pursuing his artistic interests. In fact, over the years, Klaus Süß immersed himself in painting and artistic printing techniques, all while being self-taught. He eventually left his job in the industry in 1978 and became a cultural manager in a large company. Around the same time, he joined the Chemnitz artist group CLARA MOSCH.
Since 1986, Klaus Süß has been working as a freelance artist, his focus primarily on linocuts. In 1987, he became a member of the Association of Visual Artists. His initial portfolio, including “Der große Gesang” (The Great Song) based on poems by Pablo Neruda and “Kassandra” based on Christa Wolf’s book, garnered attention. Klaus Süß is known for his dynamic and often richly-colored graphics featuring expressive human figures. He was one of the most renowned graphic artists in East Germany, and following the fall of the Berlin Wall, his works quickly gained recognition and appreciation in the West.

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Augusto Canedo (1958)

Hailing from Oporto, the esteemed individual obtained his academic degree in 1985 from the prestigious E.S.B.A.P. Subsequently, he served as a lecturer in the field of Painting at the E.S.A.P. from 1985 to 1990. In 1998, he accomplished the pinnacle of academic success by achieving a PhD in Art History from the University of Salamanca. In the year 1986, he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the renowned Quadrado Azul art gallery, followed by co-founding the esteemed Por Amor à Arte Gallery in Oporto in 1994. Demonstrating a keen passion for sharing knowledge and shaping future artists, he served as an assistant lecturer at F.B.A.U.P. from 1988 to 2002. In the new millennium, he embarked on a partnership with “Nome aos Bois Arte Contemporânea,” a project studio based in Salvador.

The captivating artwork of Augusto Canedo served as a catalyst in the renaissance of figuration during the 1980’s, delving into the complexities of spatiality, composition, and a nearly academic approach to lighting. Beyond this revolutionary movement, the focal point of his creations shifted from figures to dynamic representations of the human form, incorporating elements such as stains, textures, and organic materials. This marked the beginning of a new era, aptly named “Litoralidade” (meaning coastal life). The sea, in close proximity to his hometown of Oporto, influenced his art with an evident presence of the immaculate blue hue and the inclusion of fossils, frequently employing techniques such as encaustics.

www.ftn-books.com has one Canedo title available,

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Rémy Blanchard (1958-1993)

Raised in Nantes alongside his ten siblings, the artist Rémi Blanchard embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Initially pursuing studies in mechanical engineering, he later enrolls at the School of Fine Arts in Quimper during the late seventies. By the early eighties, he has established himself in Paris. A recent graduate of the art academy, the young Blanchard joins a group of artists who would eventually become known as the ‘Figuration Libre’ movement. His highly personal painting style greatly contributes to this new art movement. Drawing inspiration from mythology, history, the universe of stories, and his own childhood, Blanchard creates vibrant and powerful works of art. His recognizable figures and symbols appear consistently in all of his works. Deer, feline creatures, birds, humans in animal form, circus figures, and caravans are frequent motifs. Primordial elements such as the sun and fire, as well as Eastern symbols, also make regular appearances. As his career progresses, the human figure takes on a more prominent role in Blanchard’s art. His paintings often feature characters reading, sleeping, or reclining, clearly seeking a sense of tranquility. Blanchard employs a simple palette of lively and bright colors. His early works are characterized by expressive, loose brushstrokes. Later on, his style becomes smoother and more stylized, with defined color blocks and clear contours. Blanchard’s intimate images blur the lines between dream and reality, nostalgia and magic, poetry and a certain cruelty. His body of work shows influences from masters such as Vincent van Gogh, Fernand Léger, Henri Mattise and Gaston Chaissac. Blanchard exhibits his work in galleries all over Europe. From 1981 onwards, he also spends time and showcases his art in America and Japan. In the early nineties, a fire destroys his storage space and workshop in Paris, resulting in the destruction of many of his works. The artist passes away at a young age in Paris in 1995.

www.ftn-books.com has several titles on Blanchard available.

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Jeroen van Bergen (1979)

To fully comprehend something, it is often helpful to trace its origins and tell its story. Jeroen van Bergen captures the genesis of architecture through his work. In his creation myth, the fundamental principle of architecture is the smallest room – the foundation and origin of the entire concept. He draws upon the dimensions and shape of this tiny yet habitable unit, the building block of cities and the world, from the building standards for WCs in the Netherlands. This module serves as the cornerstone of his artistic explorations. […]

In his earlier pieces, Van Bergen constructed a street, a tunnel passage, a cart, a bathing cubicle, and a shower room, all based on the “principle” of the WC module on a 1:1 scale. These works were not merely scale models, but rather simplified replicas showcasing the functionality of the smallest possible form of architecture. In recent years, Van Bergen has continued to utilize the module as a guiding principle, scaling down his creations and predominantly relying on scale models. His aim is to decipher the message conveyed by the mass reproduction and combination of the “smallest room” in the larger context of architecture. These various versions are created on both a building level, with diverse variations ranging from individual homes to blocks of houses and high-rise buildings, and a city level, featuring streets, rows of buildings, and advanced city models. On the city level, Van Bergen experiments with both horizontal and vertical stacks, resulting in captivating and diverse outcomes. The works featuring low stacks of “smallest rooms” evoke thoughts of sprawling, chaotic shantytowns that often pop up around modern mega-cities, traditional desert cities like those of M’Zab in Algeria, or even pre-Columbian settlements.

www.ftn-books.com has one Jeroen van Bergen title available.

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Frédéric Borel (1959)

Frédéric Borel is renowned for his iconic housing projects that embody a new architectural hedonism on Boulevard de Belleville, Rue Oberkampf, and Rue Pelleport. Drawing from the Paris experienced and described by surrealist poets as a profusion of secret spaces and a collage of heterogeneous elements, capable of generating improbable events and unexpected encounters, these constructions testify to a unique approach to the urban question. These fragmented or unitary forms, always in rupture, strive to create new communal spaces or attractive hubs around which social life can condense.

His expressionist architectures branch out to offer truly sensitive spaces, animated by free and audacious forms. In Béthune, Rouen, Grand-Quevilly, or Paris with the École d’Architecture de Paris Val de Seine, housing or public facilities projects stand out as tutelary figures that radiate in the urban landscape.

Answering these bursts of colorful volumes are the objects, more compact, more internalized, public facilities that assert themselves in front of nature or the city as calm and serene masses. The Hotel des Impôts de Brive-la-Gaillarde, the University of Agen, the Moskowa school, the palace of justice in Narbonne stand as monoliths in suspension. The fire stations of Besançon, Dijon, Nogent sur Marne…all compose a gentle continuity with the landscape.

This principle of active architecture remains at work in all projects, with spaces offered to all, where specific atmospheres intersect and overlap under the benevolent masses of blocks in levitation, to create a sumptuous city dedicated to walking and wandering, luxury and sensuality.

This dreamlike and visionary architecture opens new windows to the world, and proposes true fictions that fuel and enrich.

www.ftn-books.com has one title on Borel now available.