Piet Dirkx cigarbox 846
Frank Stella and his 1970 exhibitions
Frank Stella became a celebrity in the early Seventies in Europe , where exhibitions were being organized all over Europe. Among them, his exhibitions in Zurich and Amsterdam where on both occasion were his V series exhibited. The difference?…. in Zurich these works were for sale and in Amsterdam they only were on show, but what makes thgis exhibition fro me more special is that with the exhibition a wonderful Wim Crouwel designed catalogue was published .
The catalogue was published with a relief cover and this made it a true artist book as for an invitation…. they decide to use the shape of the 1960 Newstead Abbey painting to make the event even more special. In contrast the Zurich exhibition at the galerie Renee Ziegler had only an invitation with a special silkscreened V series pattern on the card ( but this is also very beautiful;-) 1970 was an important year for Frank Stella and www.ftn-books.com is lucky to have all three discussed items now in its inventory.
Piet Dirkx daily …845
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 845
Willem Oorebeek (1953)
Another artist from my generation. Less colorful than the ones i usually admire, but still important in his own right. In 2015 the Boymans van Beuningen Museum had a “large” retrospective on the artist. It was showing ten early works by Willem Oorebeek (Pernis 1953) from the museum’s own collection. The artist’s work is based on commercial printing. He combines, isolates and repeats images from the endless stream generated by the mass media. This gives them a status in their own right, whereas in a commercial environment they are subservient to the product.
Oorebeek’s art deserves to be known by a larger public, but his art is one for connaisseurs and it will be a hard case to make this kind of art known and appreciated by a large public. Still www.ftn-books.com has books on the artist in its collection.
Piet Dirkx daily …844
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 844
Claes Oldenburg recent additions from the 60’s and 70’s
When at auction, i noticed a “lot” with early Oldenburg publications . Most from the sixties an all from renowned galleries like Sonnabend, Sidney Janis and the Margot Leavin gallery. His works do always mean something special to me , because of their scale they instantly impress and make you want to touch these beautiful works. Still the best way to make yourself familiar with these works is to study them out of a book, because of their extremely large size you must travel a lot to get a great overview of the most famous Oldenburg sculptures. It is easier to buy some classic Oldenburg books at www.ftn-books.com
and to make it easier ….use the code : Oldenburg for a 10% discount on all items listed on FTN books this week ( 12/11/18 – 12/18/18)
Piet Dirkx daily …843
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 843
Aat Veldhoen (1934-2018)
Perhaps he wasn’t the greatest dutch artist that ever lived, but still Veldhoen deserves his place in art history . He was the artist who almost “commercially” destroyed himself, by making his prints available for ALL and in someway inventing the multiple for the masses.
He drew his subjects directly on the plate and made rotaprints from these plates. Used cheap papers and sold these prints, which were not signed nor numbered from a cart run by Robert Jasper Grootveld for the extremely small amount of 3 dutch guilders. It meant that with so many works by Veldhoen on the market, his paintings and drawings were not valued as they should be.
Aat Veldhoen was a well known and colorful figure in the dutch art scene and had a 20 year relationship with Hedy d’Ancona, the former minister of Culture from the Netherlands.
Piet Dirkx daily …842
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 842
William Turnbull (1922-2012)
In some ways the stone sculptures of William Turn bull remind of the ones i saw last year by the late Joost Barbiers. Rough pieces of stone, worked over in a way that a different object is created and which blends with its surroundings.
( above right is by Barbiers)
But where Turnbull developed his art into a colorful and sometimes joyful abstract modern art. Barbiers stayed sombre and kept working over the rough pieces of stone. Both i appreciate but in the longterm i would like to have an original Barbiers only for the outside and place it in the garden and let it blend with nature, whereas an original Turnbull would be admired and cherished inside the house and becoming an important part of the collection of Modern Art.
In 1952, he was included in the Young Sculptors exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) which had become the focal point for new art in London. Turnbull, along with Paolozzi ( a colleague and fellow art student)and Richard Hamilton and others, became a member of the Independent Group, a splinter group within the ICA which became an important forum for discussion and debate. The Independent Group has been cited as a progenitor of Pop Art, but soon after Turnbull was far from being another British Pop Art artist, going his own way and developing an art and style of his own.
Unknowingly Turnbull must have had a great influence on another dutch painter. Willem Hussem must have been inspired by Turnbull’s paintings since some of his compositions use the same patterns and colors.
and Willem Hussem
There are some nice early William Turnbull publications available at www.ftn-books.com
