Category: artists studios

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Heimo Zobernig (1958)

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The catalogue i have available on this artist shows why he is appreciated as an artists. It shows why he is considered a multi-disciplined artist. Sculpture, design, painting etc. …all disciplines and aspects of Modern art come along in his works.

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Heimo Zobernig is a contemporary Austrian artist working across media—painting, sculpture, film, performance, and more—to create a completely interdisciplinary Postmodern practice. Known for his treatment of colour within his abstract works, Zobernig blends elements of Minimalism with expressive brushstrokes, geometry, or typography while retaining an emphasis kept on the grid and the monochrome. Born on April 30, 1958 in Mauthen, Austria, he studied at both the Akademie der bildenden Künste and Hochschule fur Angewandte Kunst in Vienna, where he currently lives and works. He created work for the Austrian Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Zobernig has commented, “there are moments when I really enjoy being an artist, but I also appreciate those moments when I completely forget about it.”

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The book is available at www.ftn-books.com

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Parade , 1952 by Charles and Ray Eames

A few weeks ago my American friend David, wrote in a Facebook post that he truly enjoyed the classic PARADE movie by Charles and Ray Eames. Although i am a great fan of the Eames couple. I never had heard of these stop motion/animated movies and immediately opened the link . Ok…. it is not the greatest of stop motion movies that ihave seen, but it is charming and one can see that the Eames couple is trying to find a way to make this work. Music is typical for the US,  a de Sousa march is backing up the movements of the figures, making this PARADE a highly enjoyable short movie”

Parade was filmed by Charles and Ray in 1952. It is a live-action pageant of mechanical toys, animals, puppets, cars, lead soldiers, and dolls–all set into motion, with colorful toy buildings and photographic and painted images of city streets used as backdrops. Hugh De Pree, the former CEO of @hermanmiller, recalls spending the night at the Eames Office, helping Charles, Ray, and Billy Wilder, wind up toys for the film until 3 AM.

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Władysław Strzemiński (1893-1952)

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I had almost forgotten this great artist until recently I discovered a great monograph on him at the local bookmarket (sold). Just quickly leafing through it i noticed the resemblance with some of the greatest Piet Zwart designs and even, after searching on the internet  I discovered his influence in some recent Japanese designs. His art is truly avant-garde. When you look at Minimal Art from the Sixties and Seventies and the hard edge paintings from the Sixties you can only draw one conclusion. All the great artists from these decades must have known, Władysław Strzemiński and drawn inspiration from his art.

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An excellent biography on the artist can be found here:

https://culture.pl/en/artist/wladyslaw-strzeminski

Władysław Strzemiński (Belarusian: Уладыслаў Страмінскі; 21 November 1893, Minsk – 26 December 1952, Łódź) was a Polish avant-garde painter of international renown.

In 1920 he married Katarzyna Kobro.

In 1922 he moved to Wilno (now Vilnius), and in the following year supported Vytautas Kairiūkštis in creating the first avant-garde art exhibition in what is now the territory of Lithuania (then under Polish rule).

In November 1923 he moved to Warsaw, where with Henryk Berlewi he founded the constructivist group Blok.

During the 1920s he formulated his theory of Unism (Unizm in Polish). His Unistic paintings inspired the unistic musical compositions of the Polish composer Zygmunt Krauze. He is an author of a revolutionary book titled “The theory of vision.” He was co creator of unique avant-garde art collection in Łódź gathered thanks to the enthusiasm of members of the “a.r.” group as Katarzyna Kobro, Henryk Stażewski (the artists) and Julian Przyboś and Jan Brzękowski (the poets).

In postwar Łódź he was an instructor at the Higher School of Plastic Arts and Design .Neoplastic Room in Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. where one of his students was Halina Ołomucki, survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. His Neoplastic Room was installed in the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź in 1948 but was removed in 1950 as it failed to fit in with the socialist realism aesthetic imposed by Włodzimierz Sokorski, the minister of culture of the Polish United Workers’ Party.

His works have been exhibited in such museums around the world as Centre Pompidou, Museo Reina Sofia Moderna Museet Malmö and Whitechapel Gallery

The following Strzeminski publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Jet Nijkamp…Verdrongen Landschap

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The reason to write this blog is the book i recently purchased by Jet Nijkamp. Filled with nature drawings of wood, trunks and landscapes and enhanced with text by Tsead Bruinja. Thsi titel “Verdrongen Landschap” was published in a small edition and is now available at www.ftn-books.com.

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An excellent title with drawings by Nijkamp , which remind me of the early drawings by Frank van Hemert influenced by Anselm Kiefer. but……visiting her site i noticed that she had published a complete series of Donald Trump dressed in Womans Clothing. A “funny” series of pastel drawings on international newspapers. It is not funny only , but it shows some criticism towards Donald Trump and his presidency. Trump takes poses like the great states man he think he is, however…..the drawings make fun of him and puts his presidency into perspective. The best one is the Obama meeting. Obama is the statesman and Trump the one with a dress on. I can not vote for any US president , but i wish i could and i  would not have any doubt who to vote for.

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Jean Messagier (1920-1999) continued

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I always have been a great admirer of the abstract art of Jean Messagier. Recently i acquired a collection of gallery catalogues of the New Yrok based Lefebnre gallery . A renowned gallery that was active from 1960 – 1986 and run by John Lefebre. In the early years he chose original lithographs as cover for his publications and one of these is the very impressive lithograph by Jean Messagier. Spread over 3 page this is probably the best i have ever seen by this artist. I am biased, since i am the fan of his abstract art, but even for a normal art lover this work must be outstanding.

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The Lefebre catalogue is now available at www.ftn-books.nl

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Almir Mavignier (1925-2018)

The HOCHSCHUKLE FÜR GESTALTUNG has become over the years a legendary institution and one of its many well-known students was the Brazilian born Almir Mavignier. He attended the school in 1953 and has become part of art history since.

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Friend of Max Bill, witnessing the very early beginnings of the ZERO movement and later becoming one of the most appreciated Poster designers from the 3 decades to follow. He himself was working as a constructivist/minimal artist and that meant he was interested in all artists who were working along the guidelines of the movements. Because of this interest and the resulting friendships, he had a chance to design the posters for many of the artists he met. To name a few….Calderara, Arp, Morellet and Soto….and all of these artists I personally admire very much. This makes the book I now can offer on www.ftn-books.com very special for me personally too. A great publication of the Gewerbe Museum Hamburg in cooperation with the German Poster Museum. Great poster designs by Mavignier. btw. …. the site on Mavignier is well worth visiting and can be found here: https://www.mavignier.com

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Josef Felix Müller (1955)

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A typical Swiss artist who is rooted in the German and Swiss sculpture and graphic arts scenes. Looking at his graphic art you can go back decades and decades and see what kind of art he must have seen in his youth. These influences are evident and are translated into a kind of personal art I like very much.

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Bold, rough and poetic all combined at the same time. An interesting interview with Josef Felix Müller can be found with this link:

Click to access mueller_butter-milk-soap_1990.pdf

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Of course www.ftn-books.com has some nice Josef Felix Müller publications available

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Henk van Vessem (1939)

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For me van Vessem is a typical dutch abstract painter. Bright colors and a kind of abstraction that is common among dutch painters and perhaps the way these paintings feel familiar makes me less of a fan. It is a kind of art which is much appreciated by those who seek a decoration on the wall and decide for a brightly colored abstract painting. Perhaps this is a too negative approach to his painting, but since this is a personal blog  i am allowed to express my opinion on an artist and his works. I read somewhere that there are works by van Vessem to be found in the collection of the Royal House of Orange, but this does not automatically mean that one have to admire his art.

Still www.ftn-books.com has a nice publication available which included an original lithograph and i can understand why others like the colorful paintings by van Vessem.

 

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Ossip ( 1952 )….continued

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Readers of this blog know of my admiration for Ossip. It started when i first saw one of his small figures at the Artoteek and wanted to own it for my collection. Far too expensive it was, but when i left the Gemeentemuseum and started FTN books. The museum and my colleagues presented me with the same sculpture i had seen at the Artoteek. It sparked the interest in Ossip and his art and since i have visited numerous times his studio and made frequent purchases.

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Ossip name was becoming more and more familiar among collectors and it meant that prices for his works were on the rise.

But in a period of over 15 years i have bought frequently and managed to collect some very nice works through galleries and auctions. It is time to contact him once again and see for myself what kind of works he is making this time, because every time i visit his studio he amazes me with the progress and inventions he makes with his figures and mobiles. Some very nice Ossip publications are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Riki Mijling (1954)

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Two reasons for writring a blog on Riki Mijling. First reason is i admire her works since i first saw them at the ART AMSTERDAM fair in 2005(?). I . am fond of Concrete and minimal art and in her art i find a twist that fascinates me. Yesterday at the local bookmarket i bought a small artist book by Riki Mijling. Published ia a very small signed and numbered edition of only 20 copies. The reason i noticed it was a ribbed card board cover which was etched by the artist rM ’00. So her innitals and signatue are appearing twice in this very limited edition which is now for sale at www.ftn-books.com

Here follows the biography which can be found on the Riki Mijling site:

Dutch sculptor Riki Mijling (1954, Nijmegen, the Netherlands) works in a rich tradition of non-objective, post-minimalist sculpture. The twentieth century art genealogy shows a forceful line of abstract-geometry, with pioneers such as Kasimir Malevitjs, Vladimir Tatlin, Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg. 

Developments in art since the mid-1960s show how artists expanded on this legacy, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In the United States artists like Carl Andre, Donald Judd and Robert Morris burst onto the scene, causing a landslide with their minimalist approaches, a radical simplification of forms and dissolving ‘meaning’ in the traditional sense. 

And in the Netherlands too, artists sought for new forms of expressiveness, for a formal and linguistic reduction, no-longer connected to representation and story-telling.  With her sculpture––and her works on paper too––Mijling expands on this rich tradition of essentialism, developing a characteristic and unique visual language. ​

Mijling pairs a reductionist approach with a warm, ‘charged’ character of her sculptures in waxed steel, Cor-Ten steel, glass and stone. It distinguishes Mijling from so many contemporaries and admired forerunners, and raises the question whether the concept of ‘minimalism’ is, in Mijling’s case, still applicable.

​The non-referential, archetypical forms of Riki Mijling’s sculptures lead back to basic elements, to universal significance of timeless forms. Unmistakably ‘Mijling’ is a quest for an ideal line, for pure form and a new experience of space, of the balance between matter and non-matter.