Hendrix is a well known artist outside the Netherlands but is hardly known over here. Traveling all over the world he collects images and scenes which he later translates into paintings and drawings. Such a series is “Bitacora” which was exhibited in the Netherlands too.
Jan Hendrix was born in Maasbree, the Netherlands .He was born into a farm family that opposed his artistic aspirations. At sixteen, he routinely skipped classes except for art.[2] At seventeen, he entered the Den Bosch Royal Art Academy, but was expelled for rebelliousness. In 1968, he was invited by dutch/Japanese artist Shinkichi Tajiri to enter the Ateliers ’63 School in Haarlem, which was considered the most radical school at the time. Here he received a multidisciplinary education and at the same time worked at the Smeets press in the city of Weert. From 1971 to 1975, he worked on his masters at the Jan van Eyck Academie, where a professor encouraged him to focus on the graphic arts.
Between 1971 and 1976, he lived in France, Portugal, Norway, and Iceland, and has lived and worked in Mexico since 1978.He has visited Kenya (1990), Egypt (1991), China and Australia (1996), Turkey (1998), Ireland (1999), Spain and Yugoslavia (2001) .
Since 1978, he has remained in Mexico City, where he currently resides. He took a year sabbatical in 2010 to study the first Australian plants collected in 1770, which are at the Natural History Museum of London.
His works range from artist’s books, print editions, enamel installations, etched glass, and paintings, to architectural projects. Since the 2000s, he has held an average of three to four exhibitions each year. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he started with multiple exhibitions at galleries in the Netherlands such as Agora Studio in Maastricht and Printshop and Galerie Clement in Amsterdam then the Galería de Arte Mexicano in Mexico City after he took up residence.[3] He began exhibiting solo in 1975 and since has participated in both solo and group exhibitions in Mexico, Europe, the United States, Asia and Africa.
A number of these were major exhibitions which toured in multiple places. Bitacora consists of images from various countries. It was exhibited in the Wan Fung Gallery in Beijing, Zhu Qi-Zhan Museum in Shanghai, Erasmushuis, in Djakarta, UTS Gallery Sydney, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Ankara and the Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City. Storyboard was exhibited in the Instituto Cultural Cabañas in Guadalajara, Museo Amparo, Puebla and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey. Botánica was exhibited at the Calcografía Nacional de España in Madrid, Espacio Cultural Metropolitano in Tampico, Museo de Arte in Querétaro, Centro Cultural Tijuana, Galería de Arte Mexicano in Mexico City.
He work can be found in numerous public and private collections in various parts of the world including, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, National Council for Culture and Arts of Mexico, Hiscox in London, Institution Ferial de Extremadura, Junta de Extremadura, the Bankinter Collection, the Baker & McKenzie Collection, the Caixanova Collection, the Museo de la Comunidad de Madrid, Rodriguez Acosta Foundation in Granada, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bonnefanten Museum, Fundación Cultural Televisa, Institution de Artes Gráficas in Oaxaca, Museum Von Bommel and Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte of UNAM and Irish Museum of Modern Art .
Some of Jan Hendrix his publications are available through www.ftn-books.com
Last week I acquired a small collection of Constructivist book titles which will be listed on eBay and www.ftn-books.com in the coming weeks. Here is the preview and of course if there are among these titles some you would like to purchase for your collection do not hesitate to write me at ftnbooksandart@gmail.com.
