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Elspeth Diederix (1971)

 

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Elspeth Diedrix is born in Nairobi/Kenya. Her art is photography in which she places objects in strange and unexpected settings or a a simple object in a strange setting. Her ideas are not limited to her studio, but she invents and constructs her works everywhere. Her head is her studio, making her a conceptual artist “pur sang”. Het ideas are noted in her sketchbooks and at some other time executed in her studio. Photography is her preferred way of expressing herself. To experiment with photography is much easier and more real life.

diederix a

www.ftn-blog has a very nice work by Diederix available for sale. For more information inquire at ftnbooksandart@gmail.com

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Donald Judd and the Sikkens prijs ’93

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In 1993 Donald Judd was awarded the Sikkens Prijs for his radical approach to Modern Art. It was a well deserverd award for an artist who stood at the brink of Minimal Art and founded one of the most inspiring artists “colonies” in Marfa texas.

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Not much later Judd died in 1994 of Cancer, but his art remains and has proven to be (arguably) being the most important art made in the 20th century. The Stedelijk Museum and the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag both have some very important Judd’s in their collections and over time these works have not lost their appeal. I am personally convinced that in a few decades , the Minimal art by Judd is considered to be of the highest importance in the development of Modern Art/ www.ftn-books.com has the Judd publication published with the Sikkens Award ao. available .

judd sik a

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Jan Greve building plate for his TORENGARAGE from 1930

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The first multi-storey car park in the Netherlands, this building is predicated on a system of elliptical ramps seven metres across for parking along and driving up to the levels. A jutting showroom and a rectangular block of workshops abutting the housing next door have since been added. Supported by a concrete frame, the building has facades that alternate strips of brick with steel-framed fenestration. The car park is now a listed building and was renovated in 1990, its steel-framed windows being replaced with perforated steel plate.

The building kit from 1987 is now available at www.ftn-books.com

 

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Peter Lanyon (1918-1964)

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I have made it myself easy this time. The following text was found on the internet. I searched but this painter is rather obscure and not much information can be found on him. I thought Peter Lanyon interesting enough to look for some more information, because his works in his GIMPEL FILS looks promissing ( available at www.ftn-books.com). I found some info, but many pictures ( Tate collection ao)

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(8 February 1918 – 31 August 1964) was a Cornish painter of landscapes leaning heavily towards abstraction. Lanyon was one of the most important artists to emerge in post-war Britain. Despite his early death at the age of forty-six he achieved a body of work that is amongst the most original and important reappraisals of modernism in painting to be found anywhere. Combining abstract values with radical ideas about landscape and the figure, Lanyon navigated a course from Constructivism through Abstract Expressionism to a style close to Pop. He also made constructions, pottery and collage.

Lanyon took up gliding as a pastime and used the resulting experience extensively in his paintings. He died in Taunton, Somerset, as the result of injuries received in a gliding accident and is buried in St. Uny’s Church, Lelant.

In September 2010 Peter Lanyon’s work was honoured with a large-scale retrospective exhibition: Peter Lanyon 9 October 2010 – 23 January 2011 at Tate St Ives. Curated by Chris Stephens, Head of Displays and Curator of Modern British Art at Tate Britain, it was the first thorough museum retrospective for almost forty years. In 2015 Lanyon’s Gliding Paintings were shown as a set in the Soaring Flight exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London.

In 2018 the catalogue raisonné of Peter’s oil paintings and three-dimensional works was published by Modern Art Press, after a decades work by Toby Treves.

lanyon

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Nico Dijkshorn ( continued )

dijkshoorn kunst

In November I presented a little chapter from Nico Dijkshoorn his book  KIJKT KUNST” here is another personal view by Dijkshoorn on one of the Kroller Muller Museum highlights. This time Hr looks at “Farmyard with girl ” By Henry van de Velde.

velde meisje

INSPIRATION

perhaps I like

nude

on stiletto shoes

to work better for me

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Marina Abramovic and Ulay (6)

https://youtu.be/2TlZjFGriLw

 

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.

 

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Luc Peire (1916-1994)

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Geometric abstract painting. This is the speciality of Peire.  I was late to discover this great Belgian painter who was a contemporary of Walter Leblanc, but since i took an interest in Leblanc, soon afterwards i discovered Luc Peire. If i must describe his art …. mix Geometric Abstract painting with a little Pop Art and the works of Luc Peire emerge. The one painter that reminds me of his work in the Netherlands is Willy Boers who experimented in the final years of his life with “hard edge” painting and made some wonderful paintings. I was fortunate to see the Luc Peire exhibition from 1995 which was held at the Josef Albers Museum in Bottrop, ( poster available at www.ftn-books.com)

peire bottrop a

but since, i only have seen the occasional painting by Peire which was collected some 40 years ago for the public collections in the Netherlands and Belgium. Peires works are not that well known, but every time i see work of his, I find them intriguing and timeless. Peire is one of the greats of Geometric Abstraction and will soon be recognized as one of the greatest Belgian artist from last century.

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Een Nieuwe Synthese, 1988

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis publication is one of the starting points for my collection.

I had been working for 8 years at the Haags Gemeentemuseum when this exhibition was held at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe. First there was the catalogue which we sold in the museum shop and then there was the exhibition itself which opened my eyes for the quality of Abstract Geometric art in the Netherlands.

It has been 32 years now since that exhibition was held , but it has proven to be a very important one. Of all the names presented at that time, artists which were hardly known and could be picked up at auction at extreme low prices, many have had their reevaluation, resulting in a steep rise of prices fetched at auction.

Among them names  as Constant, Domela, Hussem, Huszar, van der Leck, Peeters and Vordemberge Gildewart. But among them were so many other great artists. These are now the artist who are on the verge of their breaktrough. I predict that these names will be the future stars in private and public collections. The names?…….. Siep van den Berg, Piet de Haard, Frieda Hunziker, Wim Sinemus, Andre Volten and Nicolaas Warb.

I have the exhibition publication now available at www.ftn-books.com and you can check these names and all others within the exhibition out in the “DE NIEUWE SYNTHESE”

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Milco Onrust (1961-2015)

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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.

 

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.

www.ftn-books.com has some of these ONRUST publications available

 

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Land art Flevoland

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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.

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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:

https://landartflevoland.nl/en/

Land art Deltawerk // (2018) Riff, PD#18245 (2018) PIER+HORIZON (2016) Exposure (2010) Polderland Garden of Love and Fire (1997) De Groene Kathedraal (1996) Sea Level (1996) Aardzee (1982) Observatory (1977) More land art in the area

www.ftn-books.com has a series of “de Paviljoens” introductions and books available on these land art artists.