This video says it all. One of the most powerful art performances ever.
Passionate, pioneering and powerful, these are the three most apt words to sum up the work of Ulay and Marina Abramovic. Proof that they were destined for romance, the couple even share the same birthday. Referring to one another as “the other” and “parts of a two-headed body”, their synchronised creativity resulted in over a decade of collaborations that explored themes of ego and artistic identity. Not all love lasts forever, though, and the two parted ways with one last collaboration. Entitled “The Great Wall Walk”, this final partnership saw Abramovic and Ulay separated by China’s Great Wall, where they went to meet in the middle for one last goodbye.
It took me some years to realize that the dutch gallery owner Milco Onrust was one of the driving forces in the gallery and art world. NOt only in the Netherlands his gallery became famous, but abroad his gallery became famous because of the independent choices his owner made during its existence.
Starting at a young age, during his art studies he already collected Modern art, he soon would become one of the most important young gallery owners in the Netherlands, presenting artists like LeWitt, Partenheimer, Gunn , Knobel and Swarte.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I did not visit his small gallery many times, but i remember it to be nearby Wim van Krimpen his gallery in Amsterdam.. What strikes me most now, after so many years follwing his gallery and buying his publications, is that the Onrust pubications are all from a small edition and in most cases look and feel like true artists books. They are little gems among the other gallery publications. This i realized when i dove into my own art book collection and found some precious ones on Partenheimer which have some original drawings inside.
Until 2012 there was an organisation and Modern Art museum in Almere which was responsible for the maintenance and exploitation of the Land art projects in Flevoland ( in the middel of the Netherlands).
The museum was called “de Paviljoens” and presented some breathtaking projects during its existence. But because of financial problems they had to close their doors in 2012.
However the good thing is the world famous land art projects are still there. Projects by Robert Morris and Richard Serra are world famous and the “green cathedral” by Marinus Boezem deserves to be known by many more than the few who know of its existence.
So we are still fortunate that these great land art projects are still there and hopefully funding will be there to preserve these for future generations. Here is the site which presents these great works of art on the internet:
If i would make a top 10 of my favorit Stedelijk Museum publications this Jan van Munster publication from 1970 would be ceertainly somewhere in my top 10.
Published in 1970. It is typical Wim Crouwel design, but some details make it exceptional. First there is the use of a viny cover which has a silkscreened print in bright red on cover and backside. The vinyl cover is used as a portfolio for just one 2 page publication. Printed recto/verso and protected by a blank sheet of white paper. This publication is very special and instead of being a full catalogue with the exhibition , this is a true artist publication making this much more valuable for all Stedelijk Museum collectors and Jan van Munster admirers. The Jan van Munster 1970 / Stedelijk Museum by Wim Crouwel publication is now available at www.ftn-books.com
It has been a few month now that i have the book CARL ANDRE/ HOLLIS FRAMPTON, 12 Dialogues 1962-1963 in my inventory. Of course i have seen the works by Andre on many occasions, but rarely seen his early works and this book is focussed on his earliest works. It shows the logs of wood, sculptures with metal , but not the ordered ones for which he would become famous in the early Seventies. These sculptures feel like a thorough research into material and presentation. By the end of 1961 a little work shows how logs are arranged and combined into the earliest and purest form of his sculptures.
Now i have read this excellent title id decide to put it oup for sale, but i will remember it for showing me what the earliest works by Carl Andre look like, The Book is now available at www.ftn-books.com
I have a large collection of Gilbert & George publications . Small and large ones, artist books and retropective catalogues. I asked myself why i am fascinated by these artists. My fascination started when Rudi Fuchs presented Gilbert & George at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and has grown since. The result is….. numerous publications in my inventory all on this illustrous artist couple.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
The ones of Art & Project and the Stedelijk Museum are maybe the most scarce and wanted ones, But now i have acquired , what is perhaps the most accessable book and best introduction to the art of Gilbert & george. It is the Robin Dutt book , published by PWP who shows the works of G&G over several decades and perhaps more important, the development of their art. The book is now available at www.ftn-books.com but more important is, that it feels like their partnership is now complete and any new work is a repetition of earlier ones. Gilbert & George have established themselves as one of the truly great modern art artist and it i snow time for every art lover to recognize their importance and learn to appreciate their works.
Inspired by yesterdays blog on Niek Kemps, this one is about Jan Vercruysse, who , together with Kemps, were presenting their art on the Venice Biennale in 1993. The Belgian conceptual art scene lost one of his most important members in 2018 when Vercruysse died unexpectedly. He refused to participate in the DOCUMENTA IX, because he had completely different ideas how art should be presented. Art was made into a spectacle by Jan Hoet and vercruysse thought different about presenting his art.
He was the complete the opposite of Jan Hoet, who thought art was a spectacle, where Vercruysse stood for a much more contemplative form of art. This is reflected in his art which dooes not impress by its colors or forms , but intrigues and makes you study the setting and objects. Both the catalogues www.FTN-books.com has available show this in an excellent way.
Cars and Tyres. These are the two elements that appear in Romero’s art practically all the time. Covered tyres, ripped tyres, flat tyres……..
This art reminded me of a story my wife told me. The first time she visited New York she was at the Museum of Modern Art and visited a room filled with tyres, she turned around …..she could not understand how this could be art. Since a lot has she changed and we both visited many museum and galleries and even the most extreme art is appreciated. I wonder if she returned to MOMA if she would think the same about the art presented to her. This not an easy form of art which can be consumed like fast food. You have to study the artist a little and when you finally see her art for real it impresses.
Her work can be seen as her response to the issues and problems that she witnesses in the world around her> She succeeds impressively in interweaving reality at the local level with reflections on global developments. The CARS AND TRACES catalogue is now available at www.ftn-books.com
A video, performing, sculptor and painter, artist Mark Kadota splits his time between his homes in Hawaii and the Netherlands. “Living in two very different places allows a unique observation of each place with a new and fresh view.It also lets me get a different perspective of each place,” he says. Kadota’s art covers visual recording and performing arts in the broadest spectrum. He has been on exhibit in galleries throughout the world and his collections are to be seen in several museums in Europe and Hawaii.His video artworks have been shown at the Beijing and London Olympic exhibition halls and have been acquired by Stedelijk museum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherands. Appointed the honorary city artist for Honolulu USA he is presently finishing a commission for the renovation of the Honolulu city hall
In his Dutch landscape series Kadota updates the concept of documenting landscapes void of any human content in an effort to find spaces of refuge in an age of overpopulation. His main motivation is to create artwork of universal languages, searching for common truths that unite rather than separate. His artwork, at its best, mirrors society and our interior selves, raises questions, and presents communication and reflection. He makes his messages human, poetic, inclusive, humorous, accessible and comprehensible to everyone. As a conceptual artist, Kadota uses both traditional and non-traditional media to explore idea which he expands upon using video, painting, photography, installations, performance, movement, music, poetry, kinetic stage sets, sculpture, ceramics and film. Like many artists he tends to work in series. Kadota cites “I explore the concept through the series of work till I exhaust the idea. Usually I move to the next concept and at times return to former concepts with newfound ideas.”
Her first major exhibition was at the Stedelijk Museum, but her best publication by far is the one which was made for her exhibition at the Museum Bommel van Dam in 2011.
(available at www.ftn-books.com) Great publication, designed by Adriaan Mellegers and printed by one of the very best printers in the business, Lecturis. Tielemans works differ in size. From intimate small sculptures to a room filled with installed sculptures altering and reconstructing the room in a fascinating way.
Her work is now part of the exhibition Momentum at the Voorlinden Museum.
Our world is poised on the brink of a tipping point as well. We must make choices regarding climate and migration, issues that are impacting our lives more and more intensely.
Momentum brings together more than thirty works that embody this tension. This selection from our collection unites new and established names working in a wide range of media. Together they offer insights into the personal and collective challenges of our time. With works from artists including Anish Kapoor, Rineke Dijkstra, Jacco Olivier, Esther Tielemans, Ryan Gander, Gabriel Rico and Mona Hatoum.
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
