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record sale JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT

The painting UNTITLED sold yesterday at Sotheby’s at a record price of over 110 million dollars. With this result it is the record holder of being the highest auction result by an American artist (until now). This result reminded me of the exhibition i have seen some seven years ago in the Beyeler museum.

In all my life this was for me one of the most important exhibitions i have ever seen. A really impressive overview of his paintings and good fortune for me to have seen it, because with auction results like this it will be almost impossible to organize any Basquiat exhibition in the future. Still, some more affordable Basquiat items are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Piet Dirkx daily ..261

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Piet Dirkx. cigarbox 261

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Breyten Breytenbach (1939) in the Netherlands

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Most people know Breytenbach as a South African poet, but less know him as a painter. Because of the language, dutch and South African are related to each other, Breytenbach had a large following of admirers over here and galeries in the past decades invited him, not only recite his poems , but also to exhibit his works of art. This is the reason why www.ftn-books.com, has some nice publications. Not many , but worth wile to check them out.

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Piet Dirkx daily ..260

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Piet Dirkx cgarbox 260

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Joel Peter Witkin (1939) and Erwin Olaf (1959)

 

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1983, well before the fame and celebrity status of Erwin Olaf, there was this photographer who was presented in an exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum…Joel Peter Witkin was his name and his photographs balanced between absurd realism and surrealism. The same kind of photographs Erwin Olaf made in one of his first series CHESSMAN (1988). This series must have been strongly inspired by Witkin, since it depicts the same kind of absurd subjects, props and even the tone/color and atmosphere in the photographs are the same.

This series by Olaf was the first to make his work known among collectors and since, he has developed a style of his own, with completely staged photographs with a typical sixties/seventies atmosphere, but if you think his first series CHESS MEN was original and typically Erwin Olaf, than first have a look at Joel Peter Witkin and than judge again. Both mentioned publications and others on Witkin and Olaf are available at www.ftn-books.com.

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André Kertész (1894-1985)… a leporello

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André Kertész is one of the most important and influential photographers from last century. Not only his works cover all important decades from the century, but also his innovative way in seeing and photographing subjects made him famous during his life. One of the special items i have in my inventory is a leporello on the studio of Piet Mondrian. A selection of photographs resembling the classci still lifes of the dutch painters from the golden age. Great photography which proves the quality of these photographs. This leporello is available with other great Kertesz titles at www.ftn-books.com

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Robert Smithson (1938-1973)

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Another iconic artist from the sixties, who has made a name for himself in the Netherlands is Robert Smithson, because of the project Broken circle/ Spiral hill from 1971 which he realized near Emmen.

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It is unfortunate that Smithson only reached the age of 35 , otherwise other beautiful projects would have been realized, of which a great deal in the Netherlands because Smitshon was possibly the first land art artist who became famous over here because of his land art project near Emmen. His “Spiral Jetty” is probably his best known project, but for these travellers who like to visit a classic land art work. The Broken Circle Spiral Hill at Emmen is an absolute must. There are 2 important Smithson publications available at www.ftn-books.com

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Arman (1928-2005)

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Arman stand for Armand Pierre Fernandez, I encountered his name today and remembered our visit to the cemetery of Père-Lachaise, the place where so many frnech and foreign celebrities are buried and remembered. There was of course the “shrine” of Jim Morrisson, who died in Paris and is still remembered by many admirers. His grave is full with grafiti and names of them and at an another side of the place there was a beautiful poetic grave of Arman.

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The grave was covered with violins and made quite an impression on me. Arman was one of the founders of the group Nouveau Realisme and can be seen as the European part of the Pop Art mouvement. In France this group grew famous with works by Spoerri, Klein and Tinguely , but the works by Arman stand out by their own. Accumulations of objects arranged and repeated on canvasses were his trademark. Including many times the use of Violins. This combination of violins in his works and for his shrine was remarkable to me. Some of his books are available at www.ftn-books.com

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Michael Dudok de Wit (1953)

Linda on Cyprus gave me some time in catching up with Game of Thrones and the movie i was looking forward LA TORTUE ROUGE/The red turtle an animation movie by Michael Dudok de Wit, who’s career i have been following since the win of Father and Daughter.

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I can not recommend this movie enough. It has a rare quality…it is poetic, dramatic, lifting up and all those qualities combined in a movie made by the Ghibli studio’s with only a sound track to support the story. Ghibli became famous with the Miyazaki movies they made ( the last THE WIND RISES i can also recommend),

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but with this de Wit movie they struck gold again and in the combination of these 2 there must be another Golden 3 decades in front of them. Go see THE RED TURTLE and take a look at the books i have on dutch animation at www.ftn-books.com

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Robert Morris, a true visionary (1931)

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Time to dedicate a blog to another icon of minimal art, but not only minimalism , but also Land Art was one of the key parts within his oeuvre. Robert Morris was one of the central figures of Minimalism. Through both his own sculptures of the 1960s and theoretical writings, Morris set forth a vision of art pared down to simple geometric shapes stripped of metaphorical associations, and focused on the artwork’s interaction with the viewer. However, in contrast to fellow Minimalists Donald Judd and Carl Andre, Morris had a strikingly diverse range that extended well beyond the Minimalist ethos and was at the forefront of other contemporary American art movements as well, most notably, Process art and Land art. Through both his artwork and his critical writings, Morris explored new notions of chance, temporality, and ephemerality. This makes him one of the most important contemporary American artists alive. As early as the early sixties thre has been an interest in his minimal and land art in the Netherlands. The Kroller Muller, Stedelijk Museum and van Abbemuseum all held exhibitions on Morris. Some of these publications are still available at www.ftn-books.com. Lately the interest in his works has decreased, but that does not mean that his projects are not epic. This is an artists of whom people say in the 23rd century…….a true visionary.

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