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Jan Hofman (1942)

Jan Hofman has been working as a visual artist for almost five decades, focusing on graphic design and mixed media painting. His extensive body of work intrigues through its powerful visuals and refined use of color. The art of Jan Hofman has flourished through the application of new methods and techniques in printmaking. Early in his career, he explored various experiments with paper and developed unique printing techniques that require exceptional skill. He blends pigments and inks in his own distinctive way, which is why he personally prints his etchings – a time-consuming task that results in limited editions. Each print in an edition is truly one-of-a-kind, created under the same tension as a first print.

He delves into the relationships between circles and squares, selectively cutting and folding strips of material in a rhythmic fashion, producing a duplicate of the base figure outside the fixed edges of the artwork. He later perfects this playful process. With these objects, he strives for monumental forms of expression.

Large pieces of zinc with irregular shapes and frayed edges are painted and flow beyond the boundaries of a traditional frame. Characteristic leaves from trees and plants are prepared and coated with thick layers of paint, then combined to create a grand, harmonious composition.

www.ftn-books.com has the ‘t Coopmanshûs catalog now available.

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Hugo Kaagman (1955)

Hugo Kaagman can be considered an emblematic figure within the now not-so-short history of stencil art. Described as the Dutch Godfather of stencil graffiti, he has pioneered the use of the medium since the late 1970s, using the walls of Amsterdam to spread anti-establishment messages in a clear, iconic language imbued with humour.

Immersed in the Amsterdam underground scene, the first of Kaagman’s experiments with stencils were inspired by punk and reggae references. Soon though, he developed a personal language, irreverently mixing the most diverse visual and cultural influences. Very often, his work results in the juxtaposition of beautiful decorations with social critique. The possibility of endless repetition offered by the stencil has led him to develop his own recognizable style in various directions. He adopted motifs from his travels in Africa and the Middle East: among them the zebra design with which he decorated his house. From working illegally in a politically provocative way, he started receiving more and more commissions, while also exhibiting works on canvas in art galleries.

Since the 1990s he has developed his own very recognizable cipher – the Kaagware – a personal interpretation of Delftware, the traditional blue-and-white Dutch ceramic decorative style. From the early murals in Waterloo Square in Amsterdam to decorating the planes of British Airways, from illegal street spraycans to legal and established art, and from public space to art galleries, Kaagman’s artistic journey has anticipated and paved the path for a new generation of stencil artists.

www.ftn-books.com has the Kaagman Monogrpah now available.

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Caravaggio (1571-1610)

Caravaggio, real name Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), was an Italian Baroque painter. He is known not only for his dramatic lighting and intense realism in his paintings, but also for his eventful life and controversial personality.
Caravaggio’s paintings often depicted religious and mythological scenes, but he painted them with a vivid realism that was unprecedented at the time. His chiaroscuro, or use of contrast between light and dark, created a sense of drama and depth that drew the viewer into his paintings. Despite his artistic talent, Caravaggio was also known for violence and involvement in various criminal activities. He was repeatedly arrested for assault and other crimes, and eventually had to flee Rome after killing a man in a fight. Today, Caravaggio is considered one of the most important Baroque painters, and his influence can be seen in the work of many later artists. His paintings are still admired for their realism, drama, and emotional intensity.

In 2010 the Museum het REMBRANDTHUIS had the last of the Caravaggio painting on exhibit and made a special catalog for this occasion which is now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Dorothy Iannone (1933-2022)

Iannone, born in Boston in the year 1933, was a literature graduate from Brandeis University. Her marriage to the wealthy investor and painter James Upham led to extensive travels across Europe and Asia from 1961 to 1967. As a fixture in the downtown art scene of New York, Iannone began creating cutout wooden portraits of prominent figures like Jacqueline Kennedy and Charlie Chaplin, which served as precursors to her later works.

In 1961, U.S. Customs confiscated Iannone’s copy of Henry Miller’s 1934 sexually explicit novel, Tropic of Cancer, at a New York airport. Her successful lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union resulted in lifting the 30-year ban on Miller’s work.

Around seven years later, Iannone met artist Dieter Roth while on a trip to Iceland. She left her husband at the time to move to Reykjavik with Roth, who she considered her muse. During the 1970s, she created some of her most famous works, often depicting scenes from her and Roth’s intimate life.

In 1969, Iannone’s work was censored by the director of Kunsthalle Bern for its inclusion of genitalia. In response, Roth withdrew his work from the show and curator Harald Szeemann resigned. Iannone then created the comic book “The Story of Bern (or) Showing Colors,” reflecting on the experience.

Both Iannone and Roth became prominent figures in the Fluxus movement. They remained lovers until 1974 and close friends until Roth’s passing in 1998. In 1976, Iannone received a scholarship to move to Berlin, where she resided until her death.

Despite the art world taking time to catch up, Iannone’s controversial work was critically reassessed in the early 21st century. Her video sculpture “I Was Thinking of You” (1975), a human-sized box painted with an erotic scene and featuring a monitor screening a video of the artist masturbating, was recreated at the Wrong Gallery at Tate Modern in 2005 and for the 2006 Whitney Biennial.

www.ftn-books.com has several titles on Iannone and Roth available.

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Paul de Lussanet (1940)

De Lussanet’s breakthrough as a painter was thanks to Harmsen van Beek and Gerard Reve. Reve opened De Lussanet’s first exhibition in Laren and Frederike wrote a glowing review of him in Vrij Nederland. “And suddenly I belonged. You only needed two people in the media spotlight, and you were there.”

That she wrote about him was one thing, but what she wrote about him was also remarkable. At first glance, De Lussanet paints beautiful, fragile girls and sexually challenging, pulled-apart nudes, glamorous women heavily reliant on makeup.

He confronts these two types of femininity. The sweetness flees, becoming artificial when compared to the “witch’s brew of chemicals, erotic glimmers, and shadows,” according to Harmsen van Beek. This creates the opposite effect of what the beauty industry promises. Instead of youth, beauty, and money, this work highlights physical decay and ugliness.

In this way, according to De Lussanet, it exposes the deceit “that almost every woman practices at home.” She interprets De Lussanet’s work not as a pornographic extension of the advertising fantasy, but rather as an attack on the “perverted art of advertising,” a “denunciation of fake beauty.”

www.ftn-books.com has the galerie Quintessens catalog from 1989 now available.

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Jörg Madlener (1939)

Jörg Madlener was born in Germany in 1939, and later spent 35 years residing in Belgium before ultimately settling in the United States. His art has received widespread recognition across Europe and the United States, including the Venice Biennial and São Paulo Biennial. Solo exhibitions have been held at esteemed events such as FIAC in Paris, Art Basel, ARCO Madrid, and Art Fairs in Chicago and Los Angeles. Notable museums such as the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, le Museum of Modern Art in Brussels, and the Albertina in Vienna have collected his work. Madlener has also shared his knowledge and expertise, teaching at the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany and various academies in Brussels. Passionate for all forms of art, he has also contributed his talent to designing sets for theater and opera productions around the world.

In 1989, a retrospective exhibition was held to commemorate thirty years of Madlener’s paintings. A decade later in April 1999, another retrospective was dedicated to ten years of his exquisite varen églomisé paintings. This prestigious event was held at the Brussels City Hall, Grand-Place, with an esteemed committee chaired by an important figure showing their honor and support for Madlener’s creations.

www.ftn-books.com has the 1982 Bruxelles catalog available.

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Ferdinand Pire Ferdinand (1943)

Ferdinand Pire, born in Brussels in 1943, hails from a line of illustrious painters. His father, Marcel, imparted his knowledge to him before he further honed his skills at the prestigious academies in Brussels and Cape Town. In his youth, Pire captured the beauty of landscapes and African culture in his paintings during his time in Congo and South Africa.

Upon his return to Europe, Pire devoted himself to mastering the chiaroscuro technique until 1980, heavily influenced by his stay in Italy. Following a period of Fauve art and contemporary intimacy, he delved into the world of glomyized art. His predecessor in Belgium, the renowned Floris Jespers who passed away in 1965, introduced Pire to this enigmatic and intricate technique. Pire was immediately drawn to it, fueled by curiosity at first, but then with immense passion. He embarked on a journey to uncover the secrets and complex alchemy behind the relatively unknown technique. Slowly but surely, he achieved complete mastery, and by 1987, he had reached the pinnacle of artistic excellence.

In 1989, a retrospective exhibition celebrating Pire’s thirty years of painting was held in his honor. And in April 1999, another retrospective showcasing a decade of varen églomisé paintings took place in the grandiose setting of Brussels City Hall, at the famous Grand-Place. The event was chaired by a prominent committee that came together to pay tribute to and support Pire’s remarkable achievements in art.

www.ftn-books.com has the Becker catalog now available.

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Miguel Angel Campano (1948)

Born in Madrid in 1948, he pursued studies in Architecture and Fine Arts in Madrid and Valencia. With dual residency in Paris and Soller (Mallorca), his artistic journey has been marked by a shift from automatism to geometric abstraction, heavily influenced by renowned artists from Cuenca – Gerardo Rueda and Gustavo Torner.

In the 1980s, his abstract style fractured into two distinct paths, veering between a bold simplification of form and an intense commitment to realism. Driven by a deep passion for the rich history of painting, he organizes his works into thematic series that pay homage to both modern masters like Delacroix and Cézanne, as well as classical traditions represented by the likes of Poussin. He also reinterprets the principles of cubism in his depictions of still lifes and Mallorcan landscapes.

In recent years, his work has undergone a significant transformation, shedding formal constraints and embracing a more muted palette. Rigorous and imaginative, his compositions embody a balance of mystery and dynamism, inviting the viewer to delve deeper into their enigmatic complexities.

www.ftn-books.com has the Guimoit catalog from 1988 now available.

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Isa Genzken (1948)

Architecture as a source of inspiration has been a constant in her work since the 1980s and 1990s. This has led to architectural forms and principles of organization, but also to the integration of art into new buildings, in collaboration with the Belgian architecture duo Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem.

Isa Genzken emerged onto the scene in the 1980s, a period in which art took on new eclectic paths after the conceptual deconstruction of modernism. Her work is in a tense relationship with modernism and minimalism, translating into various media such as sculpture, installation, film, and artist books.

Like buildings, Genzken’s works seem to “frame” reality. At first glance, they offer a conceptual and material frame to interpret the rampant chaos of reality. In some sculptures, this results in ruinous concrete structures on metal pedestals.

In Fenster I and II, created for the exhibition ‘New Images’ (1993), the fragmented and eroded gives way to a sleek and smooth finish. Genzken placed two window sculptures amidst the shrubbery of Middelheim-Laag. Their hidden position between the bushes and the (too) high steel structure acting as a pedestal, makes them not very functional. You don’t look through them, but rather up at them. They frame the trees and branches of the surrounding area, but these Fremdkörper mainly draw attention to themselves.

The use of materials – transparent epoxy resin that reveals the internal iron reinforcement – reinforces this dysfunctional effect. The translucent resin is sensitive to changes in daylight and highlights the frame in relation to what is framed.

www.ftn-books.com now has the Neue Nationalgalerie publication available.

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Mary Bauermeister (1934-2023)

Mary Bauermeister was born in 1934 in Frankfurt am Main. After studying at the art academies of Ulm and Saarbrücken, she moved to Cologne in 1956. Her studio at Lintgasse 28 in Cologne was an important meeting place for avant-garde artists and musicians around 1960. Performers, composers, and Fluxus artists such as Nam June Paik, John Cage, Karl Heinz Stockhausen, David Tudor, Wolf Vostell, Christo, and Benjamin Petterson gathered here to organize the latest music performances, events, and happenings. Paik performed his legendary action Etude for Pianoforte (1959-1960), where after playing a piece by Chopin, he cut Cage’s tie and squeezed a bottle of shampoo on the heads of Tudor and Cage.

Mary Bauermeister’s oeuvre includes sculptures, assemblages, drawings, performances, and music. When Bauermeister participated in one of the “international summer courses for new music” in Darmstadt in 1961 under the direction of Stockhausen, she developed her Malerische Konzeption, a model for applying serial compositional techniques to the visual arts.
Black and white photo of Mary Bauermeister in front of her work ‘Wabenbild’
Mary Bauermeister in front of ‘Wabenbild’. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1962.

Her reliefs and sculptures, incorporating drawings, texts, found objects, natural materials, and fabrics, reference various concepts: from natural phenomena and astronomy to mathematics and language, as well as her own “spiritual-metaphysical experiences.” Karl Heinz Stockhausen wrote about her work: “It is typical that she does not strive for a personal style recognizable by motifs, techniques, routines, and material explorations, but instead considers every material or object (found or artificially made), every technique, every stylistic provision as material.”

www. ftn-books.com has the Stedelijk Museum and galerie Schüppenhauer both available.