Piet Dirkx cigarbox 110
Piet Dirkx daily ..110
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 110
Walasse Ting ( 1929-2010)
The first time i saw the work by Walasse Ting, was at gallery Nouvelles Images in the mid eighties and i was blown away with the large standing ladies with parrots. Extreme sized acrylic paintings on paper. with and impressive signature stamp by Ting. This was totally new for me and since, i have been following Walasse Ting. About 5 years later a publishing firm in Amsterdam ( Art Unlimited) began to publish on a very large scale the works by Ting. They were published as postcards, calendars, posters and limited editions. This meant there was no longer any exclusivity any more and the images began to loose their appeal to me. Still the craftsmanship of Ting stayed intact, but because of the sheer number of publications there was no attraction any more. Now it is 25 years later and i wished i had been following Ting a little closer , because what i have learned during this years is that there is another Walasse Ting too. An expressionist painter who has been highly important for modern art and made many collectable and beautiful paintings before his time as a “commercial” artist. Still his chineese ladies are very pleasing on the eye and a little more bold….. the ladies from the “red mouth” series are attractive pin ups treated the Walasse Ting way.
But as a whole Ting is a true modern artist who deserves to be recognized for his entire oeuvre and not only for his Ladies/parrots paintings.
www.ftn-books.com has some nice publications by Ting
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Piet Dirkx daily ..109
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 109
Ap Gewald …. 40 years Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.
In the first couple of years i always thought Ap was Ab, because i had known several people with the name Ab. Since Ap corrected me, it became Ap/ @p and since we have stayed in contact with each other…not only professionally , but also socially.
His career at the Haags Gemeentemuseum/Gemeentemuseum now spans a period of 40 years. 40 years in which Ap has become one of the “mastodons” of the museum and one of those few within the organization of the museum, who contributes, as a registrar, to every exhibition that takes place within the museum walls. I think Ap is one of those people that you like instantly… easygoing and open hearted and because of that we stayed in contact with each other, meeting occasionally and discussing the art and museum world. There is one occasion that i want to mention in this blog. A few years ago i held an auction on Catawiki, within the auction there was a small Stedelijk Museum book with a lithographed cover by Christa Ehrlich . I mentioned it on Facebook and got an answer from Ap in New York. He was there with the design of the cover from the collection of the Gemeentemuseum which was lend to the Moma(?). This can not be coincidence, but must have a meaning…. so let us try to find out what the meaning of this is in the years to come. Ap, not only a colleague but also a friend! Thanks for 40 years Gemeentemuseum and 36 years of friendship and keep practicing your logistic skills in the coming years with the present we just gave you 😉
wilfried & linda
Piet Dirkx daily ..108
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 108
David Robilliard . musician, poet and painter (1952-1988)
I first encountered the works by David Robilliard at the exhibition which was held at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1993. I learned that he was diagnosed HIV positive and died from aids in 1988. Before that time he was one of the models of Gilbert & George and found for them others who were willing to pose for them.
During his life he was not that succes full, but after his death his drawings and paintings were finding their way into museums, art dealers and collectors. Resulting in the 1993 exhibition curated by Rudi Fuchs who is a long time friend of Gilbert & George. They must have persuaded him to organize a Robilliard exhibition because on the invitation for the Anthony d’Offay presentation they described Robilliard as “the new master of the modern person. Looking, thinking, feeling, seeing, bitching – he brilliantly encapsulates the ‘Existers’ spirit of our time. This must have been for Fuchs the trigger to organize the exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in 1993 and publish the book A ROOMFUL OF HUNGRY LOOKS.
Robilliard is strongly related to the 80’s and together with his partner Andrew Heard, they are two of those eighties artists who deserve to be remembered and must not fall into oblivion.( both books are available at www.ftn-books.com
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Piet Dirkx daily ..107
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 107
Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856-1931) and Taormina.
Arcadia on Sicily. That is what Taormina in Sicily meant for Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden. One of the pioneers of modern photography and one that had a preference for photographing young men. This preference made von Gloeden for a very long time a controversial photographer. He grouped these youngsters and photographed them in classic poses and settings….. or chose a single young men for his photographs. One of them, Pancrazio Bucini, became his long time friend and partner for the rest of his life.
Not so long ago his publications were sold from under the counter, but fortunately with the acceptance of homosexuality these beautiful photo’s can be presented in the open and many publications have been published since. Wilhelm von Gloeden is one of those artists who contributed in his own way to the acceptance of homosexuality and the gay emancipation. some of his publications are available at www.ftn-books.com
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Piet Dirkx daily ..106
Piet Dirkx cigarbox 106
Marlene Dumas…The Lava-Edge(1983)
This time a blog on one single item. The Lava-Edge, according to me this is the very first monographic publication by Marlene Dumas ever published. There are only 2 publications that i know of which are 1 year older, but these are publications with group exhibitions in which Marlene Dumas featured. So this is really special and what is more…. it was published in an extremely small edition of only 250 copies by Museum Fodor / Amsterdam in 1983. The publication was part of a cardboard box containing publications by : Ansuya Blom, Marlene Dumas, Erik Andriesse, Frank van den Broeck, Rene Daniels, Jean Paul Franssens, Peer Veneman, Henk Visch and Martin van Vreden. This box was published together with another box with Icelandic artists on the occasion of an exchange exhibition “Reykjavik- Amsterdam, ter weerszijden van de Meridiaan” (1983).
The Lava- Edge is the contribution by Marlene Dumas. A true artist book and as said probably the first ever monographic publication.
Oblong sized and containing 28 pages filled with text, illustrations and photographs. The text is partly in South African and partly in English. This book is extremely rare and as far as i know ,i am the only book seller who is offering this publication at the moment and by some coincedence i have 2 copies available. One as a single copy of the Lava-Edge and one in the complete box with all the other artists. To give a good impression of the item i took some extra photo’s to show the importance of this publication and since i have an extra copy there is a 10% discount for the first who orders it. use: lavaedge10 for the discount.
use it at www.ftn-books.com
