Posted on by — Leave a comment

Tom Claassen (1964)

Tom Claassen (1964, The Netherlands) is best known in the art scene as well as among the general public for his works created for the public arena. Klaasen’s work often traverses the boundaries of culture and nature, firmly rooted in the sculptural tradition, but with a unique, playful and personal touch. Soft, rounded shapes often invite caresses, but this proves to be deceptive. Because the material that looks so soft and friendly is actually bronze. Similarly, sculptures that appear hard and unattractive to the touch are actually made of rubber. artistic background

Claassen studied at the St. Joost Academy of Fine Arts in the Netherlands and was awarded the “PRIX DE ROME” in 1992. Claassen’s work is in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo (both in the Netherlands), the FRAC Franche-Comte Museum in Besançon, France, and the Gateway Foundation in St. Louis, USA.

www.ftn-books.com has the 2009 Tom Claassen book now available

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Jan Stekelenburg (1922-1977)

Jan Stekelenburg belonged to the first postwar group of abstract painters in our country. Born in Masbree in 1922, he studied at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam from 1947. There he joined a group of painters who wanted to challenge traditional art through abstraction and experimentation. Around 1955, Stekelenburg became a member of the LIGA NIEUW BEELDEN, an artists’ association in which most of the modernist artists of the time joined, as well as former Cobra he members. Museums: Central Museum in Utrecht, Stedelijk Museum in Eindhoven,

www.ftn-books.com has the Kunsthandel Rueb publication available.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Han Bennink (1942)

Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. He occasionally played soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano on recordings.

Bennink is perhaps best known as one of the central figures of early European free jazz and free improvisation, but he has worked in virtually every jazz genre and has been described by critic Chris Kelsey. “Unfortunately, one of the rare musicians whose skills and qualities…”Interests span the whole spectrum of jazz.” Bennink is known to often imbue his playing with slapstick and absurd humor. He forged particularly fruitful and long-term partnerships with pianist Mischa Mengelberg and saxophonist Peter Brotzmann. Han is the brother of saxophonist Peter Bennink.
 Han Bennink hosted in 2011 a small exhibition in his house in de RIJP. This leporello is now available at www,.ftn-books.com

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Diango Hernandez (1970)

Diango Hernandez in 1994 a co-founder of Ordo Amoris Cabinet, a group of artists and designers focused on devising home design object solutions to fill permanent shortages of materials and goods. I started my artistic career in Cuba in 2004. The artist moved to Europe in 2003 and currently lives and works in Dusseldorf. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Kunstmuseum Basel (2006) and the Neuer Aachener Museum (2007). His work was exhibited at the Arsenal as part of the 51st Venice Biennale, as well as at the 2006 Sydney and Sao Paulo Biennales. His work has been acclaimed for his new exhibition Losing You Tonight (2009) at the Gegenwartkunst Museum in Siegen, and two installations for The New Decor at the Hayward Gallery in London in 2010. was included. From 2011 to 2012, a research exhibition of his work was held at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MART) in Rovereto. In 2013, a solo exhibition of his work “The New Man and the New Woman” was held at Marlborough Contemporary in London. His work was the subject of a solo exhibition “Socialist Nature” held at the Landesgalerie in Linz in 2014. Hernandez had a solo exhibition in 2015 at Marlborough Contemporary, London and Kunsthalle Munster. In 2016, a solo exhibition of Hernandez’s work titled ‘Theoretical Beach’ was held at the Morsbroich Museum in Leverkusen.

www.ftn-books.com has now the Marlborough Contemp[orary pub;location available.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Joncquil (1973)

Jonquil’s work is difficult to understand. It shows us common situations and features of the world, but it seems more strange than familiar. He says of himself, of his own paintings: “Usually it happens outside of our field of vision. It tells stories of everyday life as we are stunned by a reality that we are largely unaware of. I paint the moment between the question and the answer.I see motifs as a collection of planes, planes, lines, colors and angles that together take a recognizable form and give meaning. I understand and rethink their value and necessity, reconstructing these areas of light and darkness to represent the moment when form takes on content. “
These images appear as physical results of searching for mundane, everyday situations that can reveal universal truths. How to make the invisible visible and the mundane eternal. The final result is not a fait accompli and leaves interpretation to the viewer. Exploration is not only in the choice of topic, but also in the choice of technology. From an early age, the artist was inspired by photography, especially chemical processes in the darkroom.
His influence can still be seen clearly in the almost cinematic light that falls on his paintings, and in the reversal from slide to slide to his negatives and vice versa. This meeting of the color spectrum appears to form a self-contained palette that reinforces the vibrations of form and meaning in the painting. Just as many early 20th-century painters used photography to capture, replicate, and equalize reality, Yonkil uses his paintings to express the truth within himself, and to bring us closer together. I chose to paint from the heart to reveal the reality inside.

www.ftn-books.com has the galerie Ramakers AH UM book now available.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Jantien Jongsma (1965)

Her style is virtuosic and narrative. She connects past and present in complex puzzles where time and place lose their logical place. This creates a new reality in which functional impairment, wandering thoughts and emotions are processed through the repetitive act of painting. The work is emotional and moving without being sentimental. Jeongsuma spares himself, is painfully honest, and has a surprisingly open mind.

www.ftn-books.com has the ARTTRAXCK publication from 2006 now available.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

Born on January 23, 1832, Édouard Manet came from a wealthy family residing in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district in Paris. After attending the Institut Poiloup, he began to study drawing at the age of 12 at the reputable Collége Rollin. After being rejected by the Marine Academy, he received his academic education under Thomas Couture at the Academy of Fine Arts.

However, he eventually broke away from the classicism of the Academy and Couture, leaving after six years to set up his own studio with Albert de Balleroy. Unsatisfied with the conventional art of Couture, which lacked the freedom of randomness, he began exploring alternative forms of expression. He found inspiration at the Louvre and during trips to The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

“The Absinthe Drinker,” regarded as his first independent painting, was rejected by the Paris Salon’s jury in 1859. “The Spanish Singer” was more successful, receiving an honorable mention from the Salon jury in 1861.

In 1863, Manet created two major works, “Luncheon on the Grass” and “Olympia.” They were met with both radical disdain, being described as scandalous, mocked, and ridiculed, as well as recognition and sudden fame.

His standing within the emerging avant-garde began to take effect and those with a thirst for change gathered around him. The desire for freedom, a new social order, a new doctrine, a new art form- all of this eventually united a group of artists, which initially started as a small circle (including Baudelaire, Cezanne, Zola, and Berthe Morisot) and grew so large that he was proclaimed as the “king of the impressionists,” although he did not consider himself as belonging to this style.

From 1870, Manet worked closely with Claude Monet and was inspired to paint outdoors.

Edouard Manet passed away on April 30, 1883 as a result of a leg amputation.

www.ftn-books.com has several books on Manet and his impressionist friends available.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Gemeentemuseum Den Haag / Kunstmuseum (continued)

Gemeentemuseum Den Haag / KUNSTMUSEUM is a well-known art museum in the Netherlands that houses an impressive collection of works by both Dutch and international artists. Its expansive galleries feature paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, installations and more from various periods in art history. The Gemeentemuseum has a wide variety of pieces from the easly 19th century up to modern day contemporary artwork. It also features interactive exhibits such as artist talks, workshops and activities for children. Additionally, it hosts a range of special events like music concerts and theatre performances throughout the year.

Visitors have plenty to admire at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag Kunst museum with works ranging from classic s Like Bacon’s Paralytic Child up to Snow white by Marlene Dumas. For those who are interested in learning more about art history there are regular lectures about different topics related to Dutch culture and land as well as international influences on Dutch culture throughout time – making this museum not just worth visiting but also educational too!
The book that i recently acquired shows why the museum in Den Haag is one of the leading museums in the world.

Kunst is Keuze of the KUNSTMUSEUM DEN HAAG

now available at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Heikki Kaski (1987)

Heikki Kaski is a Finnish artist working with visual art, sound and performance. The background of his visual art practice is photography, and it permiates also the other “categories” of visual arts that he does, be it painting or video. The other trajectory of his work is sound and especially vocal sound.

Kaski has a  background and schooling in “classical” music and a strong interested in choral music, – or, rather he’d like to call it choral sound. He holds an an MFA from Gothenburg University and has exhibited in solo and group shows in Finland and beyond.

Tranquillity was considered by many one of the best photobooks of 2014, and deservedly so. The photographs in the book, while documentary in nature, are beautifully suggestive. They explain nothing and tell no story in particular—each one of them is a purely visual experience that gets to you in a non-rational way, it flows into you much like music does.” ‘Photography is everywhere, all the time’. Heikki Kaski briefly spoke with us about his brilliant, must-see work Tranquillity. The book is now available at www.ftn-books.com

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Tony Fitzpatrick (1958)

Formerly a tattoo artist and semi-professional boxer, self-instructed Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick is considered a renegade in the contemporary art scene. His imagery is inspired by street life in Chicago, childhood encounters with Catholic icons, superheroes, industrialization and contemporary politics. Fitzpatrick’s early artistic career focused primarily on printmaking, in more recent years he turned to large scale mixed media drawings, paintings and collages. This new body of etchings reflect his return to printmaking and his skill in creating small etchings with the precision of a needle on skin, revealing his personal vocabulary of enigmatic symbols. Fitzpatrick’s work can be found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, and many other public collections.

The first time I noticed his work when I studied the covers of Steve Earle, but now that I have his book Dirty Boulevard I can only admire his work even more. These are among the most poignant drawings I have ever seen.

the book is available at www.ftn-books.com