Michael Ryan (*1953) has been alternating between his home country of America and the Netherlands since 1981. Initially led towards impressionism by his classical training in New York, he expresses a particular interest in color and composition. As a lover of poetry and music, he infuses these influences into his work, leading him to the city, concert hall, and theater, but also to cafes and streets where, in the evening light, images of people and buildings fade into contours and abstractions.
Returning briefly to the endless silence of “upstate New York,” Ryan rediscovers the landscape. In the paintings that result, he eliminates details and compresses trees, earth, and sky into almost geometric abstractions. These become poignant images, captivating compositions that seem to contrast with his city paintings.
For artist Michael Ryan, the difference between the city and the countryside is not significant. He observes and studies the world around him to solve a painting problem on the canvas. It is not a depiction of reality that is important, but the representation of his reality.
The painting does not prove, it shows. There is no story, no lesson or message; there is only a painting that pretends to be nothing more than convincingly itself.
The act of creating a work and its contemplation by the viewer are two distinct processes. The imposition of titles on my work could potentially steer the viewer in their perception and experience. By leaving my work UNTITLED, I grant the viewer complete freedom to interpret and experience it.
Painting is a process of synthesizing countless experiences. These experiences can be gained from nature, museum visits, and browsing through art books and magazines. The act of observing and being open to all forms of imagery can influence the painting process and yield new images.
This broad openness and desire to process all forms of imagery can create a strong contrast within a work, intentionally sought after. It is a process of making opposites work together, embracing the adventure. Opposites that question one another.
The deliberate seeking out of contradictions within the realm of painting is what I want to explore. By repeating the same subject with different approaches, series often emerge.
I usually do not work with a fully developed plan, I prefer to be surprised and react to each emerging result by either continuing or stopping.
For this exhibition, I have chosen works from 1997 until the present. Small clusters from different years will be presented. As previously written by Rob Schoonen in the ED, following my book presentation at the De Pont Museum in Tilburg in 2018: “They are all true Loerakkers.”
Wijnand Zijlmans heeft een passie voor natuursteen. Steen gaat terug tot het verste verleden en heeft al een lange reis achter de rug voordat de beeldhouwer er nieuwe dimensies aan verleent. Wijnand Zijlmans maakt de steen transparant en meditatief. Tegelijkertijd laat hij de massiviteit en het poëtische van de steen zien en raakt zo de kern van het natuurlijke materiaal. Hij laat ons de steen van binnen en van buiten zien. De steen is afwisselend hard en zacht, donker en licht, ruw tegendraads gehakt en satijnzacht gepolijst, rafelig en golvend, sterk in beweging en intens verstild. De huid weerkaatst en absorbeert, neemt op en laat weer gaan. Net zoals een dichter in slechts een paar woorden de essentie weet te vangen, vat hij alles in één stuk steen samen. De beelden zijn een grote aanwezigheid voor wie zich daarvoor openstelt. Ze zijn rustbakens in het hectische leven van alledag, verstilde momenten waardoor de mensen weer even tot zichzelf kunnen komen. Ze geven aanleiding tot bespiegeling en verdieping van het zelf. Er gebeurt iets in het beeld en tussen het beeld en de beschouwer. Voor Wijnand Zijlmans is dit van groot belang, voor hem is het leven één groot uitdagend, complex en intens bouwwerk, als een stapeling, waarbij we bij voortduring op zoek zijn naar de juiste balans.
Leo Vroegindeweij (1955, NL) is renowned as one of the most innovative contemporary artists, operating at the intersection of formal and conceptual vocabulary. Concepts such as uncontrolled circumstances; time and space; and a masterful interpretation of the notions of scale and dimension have become Vroegindeweij’s natural tools throughout his 45 years as a sculptor.
The works of Vroegindeweij grace numerous museum collections and exhibitions. In 2015, the Kröller-Müller Museum added his monumental work from 1992 to its sculpture park. His Apollolaan installation was recognized as a crucial contribution to the Amsterdam Sculpture Biennial ARTZUID 2017, curated by Rudi Fuchs, former director of the Stedelijk Museum. Vroegindeweij, recipient of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1985, was affiliated with the prominent avant-garde gallery Art & Project, 1968-2001, and has since played a prominent role in group and institutional retrospectives of Dutch art. Vroegindeweij resides and works in Amsterdam and Méligny-le-Grand, FR.
Over the last five decades, Brian Clarke has produced radical works that engage with multiple media – including painting, collage, stained glass, ceramic, sculpture, leadwork, mosaic, tapestry and furniture. Widely considered the most important artist working in stained glass today, he has revolutionised the medium, pushing the boundaries of what it can achieve.
Born in 1953 into a working-class family in Oldham, UK, Clarke immersed himself in art from the age of 12, receiving a scholarship to the Oldham School of Arts and Crafts, and later enrolling into the North Devon College of Art and Design. An avid student of design, pictorial composition, drawing, printing and heraldry, he received his first stained glass window commission for a residential home before he was 20. At the same time, he was producing oil paintings, drawings and collages that document the breadth of his artistic interests.
A notable milestone was the 1978 exhibition GLASS/LIGHT, co-curated with stained glass artist John Piper and art historian Martin Harrison, the most extensive exhibition to date of stained glass of the 20th century. In the same period, he created a significant series of paintings, Dangerous Visions, in which the canvas is slashed, evoking a painful bodily wound clumsily stitched back together.
By the 1980s, Clarke began receiving commissions for large scale public projects such as the Royal Mosque of King Khalid International Airport (1982), Stansted Airport in London (1988), the Neue Synagogue in Darmstadt (1988), Al Faisaliyah Centre in Riyadh (1997-2000) and Pfizer World Headquarters in New York (1997-2001). For each of these monumental projects, Clarke drew from the surrounding architectures and cultures to develop a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, a total work of art which could harmoniously weave discrete artistic elements into a synergy of spiritual vision.
In his smaller scale endeavors, Clarke adeptly transforms his practice to convey equally impactful messages. In 2008, he unveiled a stunning series of leadworks at the Don’t Forget the Lamb exhibition at Phillips de Pury in New York. These works exalt lead as the dominant element, with textured engravings evoking the artist’s skilled hand and vibrant accents crafted from stained glass.
Clarke’s ongoing collection of independent stained glass screens, created in collaboration with HENI, are the clearest manifestation of his defiance against the conventional expectations of stained glass. These autonomous screens are elevated to the status of singular artworks, engaging with their architectural surroundings while remaining independent from them.
Through his recent series of stirring multimedia works, Vespers (2019-20), and the Collages edition of prints, set to be released in 2023, Clarke continues to exemplify his dedication to a radically diverse art form. By merging tradition and innovation, rejecting norms and uncovering new potentials, Clarke embraces light as his primary medium. Through this approach, he produces art that boldly delves into concepts of transparency, opacity, light, darkness, absence, presence, order, and chaos.
By persistently pushing the boundaries of genres and mediums, utilizing innovative technologies and addressing poetic concerns, Clarke’s work holds a unique depth that resonates with viewers in profound ways, transcending vision and delving into the realm of the invisible.
Mark Tobey was born on December 11, 1890, in Centerville, Wisconsin. He spent two years from 1906 to 1908 attending Saturday classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. In 1911, he relocated to the bustling city of New York, taking up a position as a fashion illustrator for McCall’s magazine. It was there that he held his inaugural solo exhibition at M. Knoedler & Co. five years later in 1917.
In 1918, Tobey’s conversion to the Baha’i World Faith fostered a newfound exploration of the spiritual in art. By 1922, he had moved to Seattle and started his tenure as a teacher at the Cornish School of Allied Arts. It was also during this time that he began delving into the art of Chinese calligraphy. While in Paris in 1925, Tobey embarked upon a lifetime of travels. It was during a trip to the Middle East in 1926 that he discovered a deep interest in both Persian and Arabic script. After returning to Seattle in 1928, Tobey became a co-founder of the Free and Creative Art School. His artistic journey continued with a residency at Dartington Hall in Devonshire, England from 1931 to 1938. During this period, he frequently traveled to Mexico, the United States, and the Orient. In 1934, Tobey spent a month in a Zen monastery outside of Kyoto, leading him to create his renowned “white writing” paintings the following year. These works were first exhibited at the Willard Gallery in New York in 1944, and Tobey continued to showcase his art there regularly.
In 1938, Tobey returned to Seattle, where he delved into painting, teaching, and music, focusing on the piano and music theory. He drew inspiration from Seattle’s bustling open-air market, resulting in a series of paintings during this period. In both 1940 and 1946, the Arts Club of Chicago showcased solo exhibitions of Tobey’s work. In 1945, he received the prestigious opportunity of a solo show at the Portland Museum of Art in Oregon. Invited by Josef Albers, Tobey acted as a guest critic of graduate art students’ work at Yale University for three months in 1951. That same year, his first retrospective was held at the imposing palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. A solo exhibition held at the Galerie Jeanne Bucher in Paris in 1955 further solidified Tobey’s standing as an artist. In 1956, he was elected to the esteemed National Institute of Arts and Letters and was bestowed with the Guggenheim International Award. The following year, Tobey transformed his approach to Sumi ink paintings, which garnered critical acclaim for his ingenuity. He was also recognized for his talent at the Venice Biennale, where he received the City of Venice painting prize in 1957. After settling in Basel in 1960, Tobey’s oeuvre was celebrated with his first solo exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1961, an unprecedented honor for an American painter. In 1962, The Museum of Modern Art in New York held a solo presentation of Tobey’s work, followed by another at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1966. The National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C. presented a major retrospective of Tobey’s work in 1974. Tobey passed away in Basel on April 24, 1976, leaving behind a legacy of groundbreaking and original artwork.
David Klamen (American, b. 1961) is a contemporary painter whose artistic endeavors evolve in tandem with his love for literature and philosophy. His focus surrounds the probing questions, “How do we acquire knowledge?” and “How do we obtain understanding?”
Klamen’s painting style encompasses both figurative and abstract approaches, at times harmonizing the two by incorporating geometric lines or patterns onto his meticulously finished landscapes. He sees the abstract element as a fourth dimension in this context. His work exudes a contemplative and tranquil essence, engaging the audience in profound tonal values and exquisite control. The viewer is compelled to take a second look and delve deeper into the complexity of each piece.
In his most recent series, “Meta-paintings,” Klamen delves into the perspectives of other artists and viewers, isolating historically significant pieces of artwork in situ, shifting them at sharp angles, and reimagining them with foreshortened perspectives. Each iteration involves upwards of twenty artworks arranged in a salon-style manner to create a large-scale multi-canvas installation.
Klamen obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana in 1983, followed by his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the School of the Art Institute Chicago in 1985. Currently, he serves as a Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University Northwest, and resides and works in Chicago.
A few years ago i first published a b;og on the packaging of the FRIETHOES fries. Last month i noticed that the inside was changed with another Swarte drawing. Impossible to remove this without damaging the drawing but still important for all Swarte admirers i share this to make this available for everyone.
Crafting his films, Jeroen Eisinga (born in Delft in 1966) presents the viewer with a trial without resolution more than once. As long as the film lasts, there is no escape, redemption, clarification, or climax. Thus, the audience is confronted with their helplessness. Despite believing that they have control over their lives, intervention is not always possible. Eisinga states, “Art should elevate an experience, I try to capture a moment that strikes you before you think about it.”
In Distant Sheep (1997), a sheep breathes heavily, as it lies on its back. Unable to turn itself over, the sheep will die without intervention. For the viewer, it remains unclear how the film ends – there is only the moment. The audience is a forced witness, unable to intervene.
Human drama and emotions play a crucial role in Eisinga’s body of work. He describes his pieces as romantic. In Springtime (2011), we see how a swarm of bees takes over Eisinga for twenty minutes, burying his head and bare chest. With this film, Eisinga realizes the sublime moment in which discomfort and pleasure coincide. The fear of experiencing reality is intertwined with the beauty of that same experience.
The romantic notion is also present in the film Longing from 2004. A dead zebra lies on a black and white checkered floor. Eisinga captures the process of decay, the beauty of deterioration. Eisinga explains:
“The German word Longing does not refer to a place or a person, and moreover, it can refer to something that has been but also to something that has never been. It is, therefore, more abstract. My film is about this absence, the emptiness, something that is not there, the hiatus, and the pain felt because of it. It is about the pain of not knowing. If you can study an ‘object in itself,’ then I try to study ‘the absence of that object.’ It is, therefore, about missing, not knowing.
www.ftn-books.com has ten van Abbemuseum title on Eisinga now available.
Jochen Gerz, a transcendent artist, defies simplistic categorization. His creations blur the boundaries between art, recollection, the past, and communal involvement. Throughout his extensive lifespan as an artist, Gerz has consistently deviated from conventional art forms, choosing to interact with individuals, societies, and public domains instead. His undertakings push the limits of distinction between the artist, the beholder, and the participant, compelling us to reevaluate not just the definition of art, but its intended audience and its potential to transform us. Join us as we delve into the profundity of Gerz’s work and comprehend why it remains profoundly pertinent in the present day and age.
Artist/ Author: Oliver Boberg
Title : Memorial
Publisher: Oliver Boberg
Measurements: Frame measures 51 x 42 cm. original C print is 35 x 25 cm.
Condition: mint
signed by Oliver Boberg in pen and numbered 14/20 from an edition of 20
