Piet Dirkx cigarbox 8521
Jean Paul Riopelle (1923-2002)
Two names spring to mind when you look at the works by Jean Paul Riopelle ( Canada , 1923) and read about his life. He lived near Giverny ( the place where Monet had his studio and gardens) and he used a technique much the same as Jackson Pollock did. Dripping paint on a horizontal canvas. The result ….. colorful and abstract compositions which have the colors of a Monet painting and the abstract construction of a Pollock one.
Riopelle’s style in the 1940s changed quickly from Surrealism to Lyrical Abstraction (related to abstract expressionism), in which he used myriad tumultuous cubes and triangles of multicolored elements, facetted with a palette knife, spatula, or trowel, on often large canvases to create powerful atmospheres.
The presence of long filaments of paint in his painting from 1948 through the early 1950s has often been seen as resulting from a dripping technique like that of Jackson Pollock. Rather, the creation of such effects came from the act of throwing, with a palette knife or brush, large quantities of paint onto the stretched canvas (positioned vertically).
For me Riopelle is a fascinating artist and because of the beautiful publications Maeght made with this artist it is not entirely out of reach financially. A very nice Riopelle publications can be obtained for less than euro 100,– at www.ftn-books.com
Piet Dirkx daily …850
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 850
Jiří Georg Dokoupil (1954)
We are from the dame generation and perhaps that is why i appreciate Dokoupil’s painting. Always extremely colorful and becoming more and more abstract.
The association is one of “stained glass” and i would not be surprised that in the end of his career he will be invited to make some church windows ( btw. Marc Mulders made some for the Chapel in the Gouda Museum). It takes some time to get accustomed to the art of Dokoupil, but once you get know his paintings you only can admire them. Fled to Germany from Tsjechoslovakia in 1968, he soon joined the Mulheimer Freiheit group and participated in performances and group exhibitions together with Dahn and Adamski. In the Nethertlands he had his “one man” exhibitions at the iconic galerie Riekje Swart and became part of the exhibitions organized on the NEUE WILDEN by Frans Haks in the Groninger Museum and the Centraal Museum Utrecht. From these early days on his art developed into an abstract kind of art which is personal and typical for Dokoupil. An artist to keep following and see what his next step in art will be .
There are some Dokoupil publications available at www.ftn-books.com
Dale Chihuly (1941)
Since the late 1960s, Dale Chihuly has been revolutionizing the art and craft of glassblowing, concocting dynamic, flamboyant, color-saturated forms that push this ubiquitous material far beyond utilitarian ends, including his signature, massing chandeliers. His works, seen across the U.S. and worldwide, include individual pieces ranging from undulating, nested vessels to whimsical sea creatures, and encompassing architectural installations. He bases his multidisciplinary approach upon teamwork, with up to 18 people working at a time, and draws from architecture and design, painters and sculptors, Native American baskets, and nature. As Chihuly describes, in terms reflecting his egalitarian attitude: “My feeling is that it doesn’t make any difference if the work is called art or craft or design…If they go into the museum, which has everything from native masks to painting, these objects become equals—one really isn’t more important than another.”
and now for the dutch. …..The blog is inspired by an exhibition which is now running at the Groninger Museum and will be there until the 5th of May 2019. A spectacular show in which over a 1000 glass flowers are in bloom. All in the fantastic Mendini designed museum. …… a treat for young and old.
The first time i encountered a work by Chihuly for real was at the entrance of the Bellagio hotel / Las Vegas and since i have been collecting publications by Chihuly of which some are available at www.ftn-books.com
Piet Dirkx daily …849
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 849
Piet Dirkx daily …848
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 848
Richard Artschwager (1924-2013)
Richard Artschwager started working in the 1960s exclusively as a freelance artist, having completed a science degree and after many years as owner of a furniture workshop. His oeuvre encompassed many style directions: the reduced and clear forms of his objects and paintings reflect minimalism whilst his use of industrially made materials such as Resopal and Celotex take up an element of Pop Art, and his ‘Blps’ mechanisms deploy ideas of conceptual art. This work by Artschwager reminded me of Fons Haagmans who does in some way the same. But where Artschwager tends to become a minimal artist. Haagmans stay’s always far from it and in his form language you always can recognize reality.
Artschwager’s first solo exhibition was in 1965 at the legendary Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. The most comprehensive retrospective of his complete work up till now was opened in 2012 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, moving on to the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2013), and the Haus der Kunst, Munchen and the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco in 2014.
www.ftn-books.com has some excellent Artschwager titles available.
Piet Dirkx daily …847
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 847
Adolphe Monticelli ( 1824-1886) and Benno Wissing
Why a blog on Monticelli? Two simple reasons. Monticelli was one of the great inspiration sources for the Impressionists and specially Vincent van Gogh was a great admirer and because of this connection two of the large museums in the Netherlands held exhibitions in the Fifties and Sixties. The Boymans van Beuningen was one of them and held a retrospective exhibition in 1959 of which the catalogue is available at www.ftn-books.com
It is this appreciation of Monticelli’s art and the connection with van Gogh that some of the museums over here have Monticelli’s in their collections. I know that Kroller Muller, Gemeentemuseum, Boymans and the Stedelijk all have Monticelli’s in their collections. Personally i think it is time again for a re appreciation of this great painter who’s works are timeless and in so many cases a source of inspiration for the Impressionists. I started this blog on Monticelli because today i bought a poster for the 1959 Boymans exhibitions. It is in excellent B- condition and i consider this to be one of the best Benno Wissing made for the Boymans museum during the Fifties.
