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Klaus Süß (1951)

Hailing from the Saxon Ore Mountains, Klaus Süß was born in 1951. His occupation as a heating engineer and later as an engineer in air and refrigeration technology in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now known as Chemnitz) did not hinder him from pursuing his artistic interests. In fact, over the years, Klaus Süß immersed himself in painting and artistic printing techniques, all while being self-taught. He eventually left his job in the industry in 1978 and became a cultural manager in a large company. Around the same time, he joined the Chemnitz artist group CLARA MOSCH.
Since 1986, Klaus Süß has been working as a freelance artist, his focus primarily on linocuts. In 1987, he became a member of the Association of Visual Artists. His initial portfolio, including “Der große Gesang” (The Great Song) based on poems by Pablo Neruda and “Kassandra” based on Christa Wolf’s book, garnered attention. Klaus Süß is known for his dynamic and often richly-colored graphics featuring expressive human figures. He was one of the most renowned graphic artists in East Germany, and following the fall of the Berlin Wall, his works quickly gained recognition and appreciation in the West.

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Augusto Canedo (1958)

Hailing from Oporto, the esteemed individual obtained his academic degree in 1985 from the prestigious E.S.B.A.P. Subsequently, he served as a lecturer in the field of Painting at the E.S.A.P. from 1985 to 1990. In 1998, he accomplished the pinnacle of academic success by achieving a PhD in Art History from the University of Salamanca. In the year 1986, he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the renowned Quadrado Azul art gallery, followed by co-founding the esteemed Por Amor à Arte Gallery in Oporto in 1994. Demonstrating a keen passion for sharing knowledge and shaping future artists, he served as an assistant lecturer at F.B.A.U.P. from 1988 to 2002. In the new millennium, he embarked on a partnership with “Nome aos Bois Arte Contemporânea,” a project studio based in Salvador.

The captivating artwork of Augusto Canedo served as a catalyst in the renaissance of figuration during the 1980’s, delving into the complexities of spatiality, composition, and a nearly academic approach to lighting. Beyond this revolutionary movement, the focal point of his creations shifted from figures to dynamic representations of the human form, incorporating elements such as stains, textures, and organic materials. This marked the beginning of a new era, aptly named “Litoralidade” (meaning coastal life). The sea, in close proximity to his hometown of Oporto, influenced his art with an evident presence of the immaculate blue hue and the inclusion of fossils, frequently employing techniques such as encaustics.

www.ftn-books.com has one Canedo title available,

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Rémy Blanchard (1958-1993)

Raised in Nantes alongside his ten siblings, the artist Rémi Blanchard embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Initially pursuing studies in mechanical engineering, he later enrolls at the School of Fine Arts in Quimper during the late seventies. By the early eighties, he has established himself in Paris. A recent graduate of the art academy, the young Blanchard joins a group of artists who would eventually become known as the ‘Figuration Libre’ movement. His highly personal painting style greatly contributes to this new art movement. Drawing inspiration from mythology, history, the universe of stories, and his own childhood, Blanchard creates vibrant and powerful works of art. His recognizable figures and symbols appear consistently in all of his works. Deer, feline creatures, birds, humans in animal form, circus figures, and caravans are frequent motifs. Primordial elements such as the sun and fire, as well as Eastern symbols, also make regular appearances. As his career progresses, the human figure takes on a more prominent role in Blanchard’s art. His paintings often feature characters reading, sleeping, or reclining, clearly seeking a sense of tranquility. Blanchard employs a simple palette of lively and bright colors. His early works are characterized by expressive, loose brushstrokes. Later on, his style becomes smoother and more stylized, with defined color blocks and clear contours. Blanchard’s intimate images blur the lines between dream and reality, nostalgia and magic, poetry and a certain cruelty. His body of work shows influences from masters such as Vincent van Gogh, Fernand Léger, Henri Mattise and Gaston Chaissac. Blanchard exhibits his work in galleries all over Europe. From 1981 onwards, he also spends time and showcases his art in America and Japan. In the early nineties, a fire destroys his storage space and workshop in Paris, resulting in the destruction of many of his works. The artist passes away at a young age in Paris in 1995.

www.ftn-books.com has several titles on Blanchard available.

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Robert Schad (1953)

Since the early 1970s, Schad has been working with raw steel as the material for his sculptures. Using solid rods of square steel, he forges and welds simple, highly minimalist, or even whimsically shaped figures and installations. By consistently incorporating proportions found in the human body and nature, his creations take on an organic form that, despite the chosen material, can seem weightless. A distinctive aspect of his work is its integration into the surrounding environment. Whether interacting with architecture or nature, it always maintains an exciting balance.

Schad lives and works in Larians-et-Munans, in the Haute-Saône department of France. In addition to his studio, Schad has had his own sculpture park since 2004. In 2010, he was awarded the Goslar Kaiser Ring and his work was exhibited at the Mönchehaus Museum Goslar in Goslar.

At this moment an important Schad exhibition is being held at the Coppejans gallery.

www.ftn-books.com has several Schad items now available,

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Eva Lansink (1980)

Eva Lansink, a burgeoning contemporary artist based in Leiden, the Netherlands, possesses a unique skill set encompassing sculpture, graphic design, and photography. Her graduation masterpiece, DRIFT, comprised a collection of sculptures and etchings, accompanied by an art book. The story within explored an anthropomorphic realm where rabbits roamed free, unburdened by societal expectations, and fully embracing their fantasies without hesitation or guilt, challenging the receiver and observer alike.

In her latest photographic endeavor titled RAW, Lansink delves into the concept of raw love – an unbridled force guided solely by intuition and impulse. Her subjects are immersed in nature, unashamedly perverse and exhibitionistic.

The crux of Eva Lansink’s artistic expression lies in exposing the animalistic facets of human character, typically subdued to conform to societal norms. Through her work, she offers a glimpse into a world that exists beyond our mundane reality – one where our desires and needs can be indulged anonymously, free from the constraints of society.

www.ftn-books.com has t the DRIFT publication from an edition of 100 signed and numbered copies now available.

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Aldo Rossi (1931-1997)

Rossi was born in Milan and began working for Ignazio Gardella and Marco Zanuso in 1956. From 1955 to 1964, he served as the editor-in-chief of Casaballa-Continuita. In 1966, he authored the book “Architettura Della Città,” which became a bestseller and was translated into 8 languages. Rossi also taught at the Polytechnic University in Zurich, Milan, Venice, and New York, and has been the director of the Venice Biennale since 1983.

He believes that it is impossible to think without a certain obsession. For him, that obsession consists of abstraction and reduction, two elements that can be found in all of his designs through their geometric simplicity. Rossi is known to us as the architect of the Bonnefant Museum in Maastricht.

www.ftn-books.com has several publications on Rossi now available.

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André Dieteren (1943)

Dieteren embodies the various hues of the painter’s urge. The lure of the paint, the seduction of form, drenched in a plethora of colors, all while never losing sight of unity in invention. All components of the work are interconnected and inextricably linked, with the focus on a cohesive whole. He gives this unity the space and time to “grow”, to evolve into a final masterpiece. His expressionistic yet introspective art is liberated from the obligation of fixating on overtly recognizable themes and motifs. The transitions of color can be sudden, sensual, or gradual, flowing into one another.

All of this creates a symphony, a harmony of paint and canvas, composition and content, and most importantly, plasticity and expressivity. Restrained yet effortlessly fluid, spontaneous, seemingly naive but deeply calculated and conscious. Dieteren’s body of work encompasses all of this and more. The doubt that lingers between the lines is deliberate and contrived. For even though Dieteren initially follows the principles of line, hand, and movement, he never forgets to engage his thoughts. He is capable of creating from the deepest spontaneity of hand and paint, with reason and direction, never haphazardly. He knows the path laid out before him. His mind never loses sight of the flow of the line. “Objectification, the intensification of reality through his own experience of the object, that is, according to him, the ultimate intention of his most intimate work.”

www.ftn-books.com has the Bommel van Dam book on Dieteren now available.

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Jeroen van Bergen (1979)

To fully comprehend something, it is often helpful to trace its origins and tell its story. Jeroen van Bergen captures the genesis of architecture through his work. In his creation myth, the fundamental principle of architecture is the smallest room – the foundation and origin of the entire concept. He draws upon the dimensions and shape of this tiny yet habitable unit, the building block of cities and the world, from the building standards for WCs in the Netherlands. This module serves as the cornerstone of his artistic explorations. […]

In his earlier pieces, Van Bergen constructed a street, a tunnel passage, a cart, a bathing cubicle, and a shower room, all based on the “principle” of the WC module on a 1:1 scale. These works were not merely scale models, but rather simplified replicas showcasing the functionality of the smallest possible form of architecture. In recent years, Van Bergen has continued to utilize the module as a guiding principle, scaling down his creations and predominantly relying on scale models. His aim is to decipher the message conveyed by the mass reproduction and combination of the “smallest room” in the larger context of architecture. These various versions are created on both a building level, with diverse variations ranging from individual homes to blocks of houses and high-rise buildings, and a city level, featuring streets, rows of buildings, and advanced city models. On the city level, Van Bergen experiments with both horizontal and vertical stacks, resulting in captivating and diverse outcomes. The works featuring low stacks of “smallest rooms” evoke thoughts of sprawling, chaotic shantytowns that often pop up around modern mega-cities, traditional desert cities like those of M’Zab in Algeria, or even pre-Columbian settlements.

www.ftn-books.com has one Jeroen van Bergen title available.

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David Batchelor (1955)

Witness the creations of David Batchelor. The acclaimed artist’s work revolves around the vibrancy of color, a playful exploration of the endless shades that surround us, coupled with a thought-provoking examination of our perception and reaction to color in this era of advanced technology.

Within his London studio lies a treasure trove of fluorescent plastic objects, amassed from cities around the globe. From clothes pegs and fly-swatters to buckets and children’s toys, these everyday items are combined with light-industrial materials such as steel shelving, neon tubing, and acrylics to create extraordinary installations that elevate the mundane and celebrate the gaudy and kitsch. Yet despite their seemingly ordinary origins, Batchelor’s creations are undeniably mesmerizing and beautiful.

Born in Dundee in 1955, David Batchelor currently resides and works in London. In 2013, his two-dimensional work was showcased in a major solo exhibition, Flatlands, at Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, which then traveled to Spike Island in Bristol. Batchelor was also part of the landmark group exhibition, Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 – 2015, at Whitechapel Gallery in London. His Monochrome Archive (1997-2015) was also on display at Whitechapel Gallery until May 2015. In 2019, Batchelor’s sculptures and paintings were showcased in My Own Private Bauhaus, a solo exhibition presented by Ingleby during the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Aside from his exhibitions, David Batchelor has also left his mark on the public realm with several major temporary and permanent artworks. These include a commission for the British Council headquarters in Hong Kong, Spectrum on the Hill in Seoul, South Korea, a 10-meter high light installation at Archway Tube Station in London, and a dynamic chromatic clock titled Sixty Minute Spectrum installed as the roof of Hayward Gallery in London.

www.ftn-books.com has 1 Batchelor title now available. The very thick and heavy FOUND MONOCHROMES book.

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Ir. Peter Timmerman

Ir. Peter Timmerman leads the Studium Generale at the University of Twente. In addition, he regularly publishes articles and books on the subjects of architecture and photography. He also serves as the director of the Architecture in Focus foundation.

www.ftn-books.com has the ZWEDEN bok by Timmerman now available.