One year ago it was since a very long time i encountered a work by Erzsebet Baerveldt. Searching for more exhibitions, works in public spaces and collections stayed without any results. But during this search i encountered the video she made in the early 90’s…REQUIEM. Since this video was made, only a few more works have been made by her and for over a decade now…..total silence. So i inquired with her former gallery and i was told that mrs. Baerveldt possibly had joined a convent. What rests is this moving project. Which consists of this video and 1 gallery sold photograph.
100% Spanish and an artist who was in the middle of all in the sixties /seventies. The first time i encountered work by Miguel Berrocal must have been somewhere in 1970. One of the furniture design shops ( Studio 40) had a little statue with the interlocking pieces which fitted together perfectly and acted like a multi pieces puzzle. I was impressed, but never associated this with art. It more was a gimmick to me. Later i saw the artistic qualities of Berrocal and now for me Berrocal is one of the sculptors who deserves to be recognized as one of the great sculptors from Spain.
If it was this statue i do not remember….., but these small statues consisting of several pieces were Berrocal’s trademark. People admired him in those days, but one decade later practically all had forgotten him. I always admired these little, beautiful pieces of art, but never had a chance to acquire one for our collection. However what i did find and added to the inventory of www.ftn-books.com were several rare and highly collectable publications including a Jan van Toorn designed poster. These books are as much collectable as his statues , because the edition size is small and because of the exceptional way these are published they are well worth collecting.
This week we will be choosing our new family member. A young 8 weeks old puppy. Breed Irish Glen of Imaal terrier and ….we hope…. a new friend for our dog Boris. An important choice , one which would make us all happy for the next 12 years or maybe more. About the same time in years i am living now with two other puppies.
Koons puppies
These were made as souvenires by the Bilbao Guggenheim museum. In the first few years they had an agreement with Koons to make these PUPPIES after the very large one in front of the Guggenheim museum. Each season this extremely large sculpture shows itself in a different way. In spring with flowers , in autumn the fall version which is slightly brown, but always it is the first thing you will see at the entrance of the Gehry designed museum. Together with the Matter of Time by Serra these are both the most iconic parts of the collection of the Guggenheim in Bilbao. About 3 years ago we visited the museum for the 5th time and i tried to by my another of the Koons puppies. No puppy was in the store available and i learned that Koons had withdrawn his permission to make the Puppy any longer and sell it in the store as a souvenir. No official puppies are there in the Guggenheim store. None can be bought…except outside in the souvenir shops you can still find snowballs with and ceramic puppies of the famous statue outside. These are non authorized puppies. A nice remembrance to your visit of Bilbao , but not the same quality of the official ones. Now and then ,one is offerend at auction fetching prices of 200-450 euros. When i will find one again, i will let you know at www.ftn-books.com, where of course the books on Koons are available, but unfortunately not a Koons puppy because mine are not for sale.
Two occasions spring to mind. Both occasions i was highly impressed. First there was the special Alberto Giacometti exhibition at the Haags Gemeentemuseum in 1986. /Curated by Mariette Josephus Jitta.
A large and important exhibition which showed many of the iconic sculptures by Giacometti…including a walking man and walking stray dog.
Alberto Giacometti catalogue
The second occasion was decades later when we visited the Beyeler Museum for the very first time. In the room with views into the garden the WALKING MAN was combined with one of the very large Monet paintings he painted in his studio at Giverny. It was so impressive that i will never forget this stunning combination. An outstanding display of classic “modern” art. Since , i have seen many more statues by Giacometti, but never again the combination was so beautiful as within the presentation at the Beyeler museum.
Giacometti and Monet
Of course the Giacometti catalogue of the 1986 Gemeentemuseum exhibition is available at www.ftn-books.com
Yes ….34 years ago i was a rookie and just had walked into the museum world and there there was this exhibition which i could not understand. An exhibition on INFORMELE KUNST in Nederland en Belgie ( dutch language) in the Schamhart wing with at the entrance an extremely large painting by Jan Cremer. At the time it was painted he asked a price for it of 1 million guilders.
At that time a ridiculous amount of money for a work of art, but time passes and if i had known what i know on art now i would have started collecting these works which were within the exhibition. names? Schoonhoven, Leblanc, Cremer, Peeters, Armando, Verheyen, Gentils, Mortier. If only……….
A pity I did not start collecting these artists, because then the time was perfect to buy at reasonable prices. Prices started to rise from that year on and the end is not in sight. What remains is the excellent catalogue which is still available at www.ftn-books.com
The best book from the last years on the fascinating world of Conceptual Art is by far the book IN & OUT of AMSTERDAM/ Travels in Conceptual Art 1960-1976. A book which i cherish , because this is a treasure trove of ideas and excellent publications which can still be found on the market(s). The book si published by MoMa where in 2009 the exhibition was held with the same name. In &Out of Amsterdam shows the most important and possibly the best works by the following artists:
Bas Jan Ader
Stanley Brouwn ( see blog)
Hanne Darboven
Jan Dibbets
Ger van Elk
Gilbert & George
Sol LeWitt ( see blog)
Charlotte Posenenske
Allen Ruppersberg
Lawrence Weiner
All excellent artist and all published within the series of Bulletins published by Art & Project.
These publications have certainly become highly collectable items, because during the time they were published and now ( some 40 years ) few have survived. So start collecting them now while they are still available. see www.ftn-books.com
If there is one iconic ZERO catalogue it is the very first ZERO catalogue published with the ZERO exhibition of 1963. SO here are the photographs which makes this very important catalogue available to all. catalogue for sale at www.ftn-books.com
NUL stedelijk MueumNul Stedelijk MuseumNul Stedelijk MuseumNUL SM
Friso Kramer was one of the founding members of Total design but before that date he was one of the leading dutch designers together with Benno Wissing and Wim Crouwel. Known for his excellent but sober designs, he was the man behind the famous REVOLT Friso Kramer chair, which is still in production until this date. Still active as a designer , he recently designed a LED streetlamp for Lightwell. A lamp which will eventually replace all the Friso Kramer designed streetlamps which were placed in the sixties and seventies.
kramer paallamp
The main part of his career he was the leading designer and director for Ahrend ,a firm which produces office furniture
Two major exhibitions were held on Friso Kramer of which one catalogue is available at www.ftn-books.com
Followers of this blog must know by now that i admire Marlene Dumas and whenever there is a chance i can buy her books, i will do so. I know by now, for certain that i have one of the largest inventories of her books available with many special and hard to find publications. Last week i published in my store a title which might be the very best title available on Marlene Dumas. It is the MEASURING YOUR OWN GRAVE book published by the MOCA and distributed by DAP. A large heavy book , excellent printing quality and one of the best overviews of over 30 years of her works. A highly recommended title available at www.ftn-books.com
It must have been 1988 and there was within one of the very first exhibitions Rudi Fuchs curated for the Gemeentemuseum in one of the small cabinets, a work by Jannis Kounellis.
Kounellis has always been a favorite artist of Fuchs, who organized in the van Abbemuseum and the Stedelijk Museum exhibitions with him.
The work…It consisted of a coat rack with a raincoat and looked in nothing like a piece of art. It was also my first encounter with a work by Kounellis who later was asked for a special exhibition with drawings and a specialpublication which was the very first publication to be designed by Gracia Lebbink. LA STANZA VEDE, was a real tribute to the drawings because it was published in a classic drawings portfolio and a very limited edition.
stanza vede kounellis
Back to the Coat rack. It was only a few days that the work was shown after the raincoat was stolen from the coat rack. A police investigation was done, but with no result. The fact that the raincoat was stolen makes me remember the work by Kounellis, but for me Kounellis is more the artist with the extreme wall pieces with coal elements, which are very impressive…..and of course the stolen raincoat 😉
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
