Piet Dirkx cigarbox 0146
Piet Dirkx daily ..146
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 0146
Three Puppies…..Two by Jeff Koons
This week we will be choosing our new family member. A young 8 weeks old puppy. Breed Irish Glen of Imaal terrier and ….we hope…. a new friend for our dog Boris. An important choice , one which would make us all happy for the next 12 years or maybe more. About the same time in years i am living now with two other puppies.
These were made as souvenires by the Bilbao Guggenheim museum. In the first few years they had an agreement with Koons to make these PUPPIES after the very large one in front of the Guggenheim museum. Each season this extremely large sculpture shows itself in a different way. In spring with flowers , in autumn the fall version which is slightly brown, but always it is the first thing you will see at the entrance of the Gehry designed museum. Together with the Matter of Time by Serra these are both the most iconic parts of the collection of the Guggenheim in Bilbao. About 3 years ago we visited the museum for the 5th time and i tried to by my another of the Koons puppies. No puppy was in the store available and i learned that Koons had withdrawn his permission to make the Puppy any longer and sell it in the store as a souvenir. No official puppies are there in the Guggenheim store. None can be bought…except outside in the souvenir shops you can still find snowballs with and ceramic puppies of the famous statue outside. These are non authorized puppies. A nice remembrance to your visit of Bilbao , but not the same quality of the official ones. Now and then ,one is offerend at auction fetching prices of 200-450 euros. When i will find one again, i will let you know at www.ftn-books.com, where of course the books on Koons are available, but unfortunately not a Koons puppy because mine are not for sale.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Piet Dirkx daily ..145
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 0145
Mudas…Museum of Contemporary Art on Madeira
Last week , me and my wife had a short holiday on the island of MADEIRA ( Portugal). We stayed there among the 350.000 inhabitants, numerous hotels, scenery which is beyond imagination and ….one museum of Modern Art. . The museum is build from top to bottom, instead of erected from the ground up into the sky. Nearby a cliff and with views on the Atlantic Ocean. What struck me most was the architecture in combination with the constructivist art which was on show. The Museum consists of 4 floors which are connected to each other with small staircases, but when entered they have an air of roominess and because of the light within the rooms they are perfect for exhibitions. The entrance fee is only 4 euro, but this museum is well worth a visit. Do not expect the most famous names in modern art, but these Portugese Artists on show are well worth visiting in this MUDAS museum.
Rua Simão Gonçalves da Câmara nº 37, 9370-139 Estreito da Calheta, Portugal
Piet Dirkx daily ..144
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 0144
ZERO….the second exhibition
Mid sixties ZERO became an important part within the exhibition and collection program of the Stedelijk Museum. a.0. Jan Schoonhoven being one of the artists being presented. Zero had become “main stream” and accepted and therefore it was time for a large overview of what was and had become ZERO/ NUL. Wim Crouwel was asked for the design of the 2 catalogues. One with text and one with images. Both are exceptional designs executed in a glossy silver , perfect measurements and simple but beautiful typography.
( set is available at www.ftn-books.com)
Crouwel set
ZERO Stedelijk Museum
Piet Dirkx daily ..143
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 0143
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)
Two occasions spring to mind. Both occasions i was highly impressed. First there was the special Alberto Giacometti exhibition at the Haags Gemeentemuseum in 1986. /Curated by Mariette Josephus Jitta.
A large and important exhibition which showed many of the iconic sculptures by Giacometti…including a walking man and walking stray dog.
The second occasion was decades later when we visited the Beyeler Museum for the very first time. In the room with views into the garden the WALKING MAN was combined with one of the very large Monet paintings he painted in his studio at Giverny. It was so impressive that i will never forget this stunning combination. An outstanding display of classic “modern” art. Since , i have seen many more statues by Giacometti, but never again the combination was so beautiful as within the presentation at the Beyeler museum.
Of course the Giacometti catalogue of the 1986 Gemeentemuseum exhibition is available at www.ftn-books.com
Giacometti
Giacometti
Giacometti
Giacometti
Piet Dirkx daily ..142
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 0142
Informele Kunst exhibition / 1983
Yes ….34 years ago i was a rookie and just had walked into the museum world and there there was this exhibition which i could not understand. An exhibition on INFORMELE KUNST in Nederland en Belgie ( dutch language) in the Schamhart wing with at the entrance an extremely large painting by Jan Cremer. At the time it was painted he asked a price for it of 1 million guilders.
At that time a ridiculous amount of money for a work of art, but time passes and if i had known what i know on art now i would have started collecting these works which were within the exhibition. names? Schoonhoven, Leblanc, Cremer, Peeters, Armando, Verheyen, Gentils, Mortier. If only……….
A pity I did not start collecting these artists, because then the time was perfect to buy at reasonable prices. Prices started to rise from that year on and the end is not in sight. What remains is the excellent catalogue which is still available at www.ftn-books.com
Informele Kunst
Informele Kunst
Informele Kunst
Informele Kunst
