centraalmuseum – FTN-blog

Posted on 30 July 20207 April 2020 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Ruud Kuijer (1959)

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It takes some time to appreciate the sculptures by Ruud Kuijer, but as his scultures grew in their sizes i started to admire more and more his works. It must have been in the mid Eighties that we once met, shook hands and had a short conversation, but i never have met him since and i did not search for his works until a few years ago i saw pictures of his WATERWERKEN series.

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Impressive, complex, extremely large sized sculptures that reminded me in their size and presence of the Richard Serra THE MATTER OF TIME, which is also extremely large and can only be admired within or from a distance. The Waterwerken series can be found on the Ruud Kuijer site, but there is much more to the sculptures by Ruud Kuijer. You can find some nice publications at http://www.ftn-books.com in which his earlier sculptures can be found and admired including the recently Centraal Museum catalogue from1990. kuijer centaal

The sculptor Ruud Kuijer is known for his abstract sculptures made from ordinary materials such as wood, concrete, iron, rope and threaded rod. His Waterworks project, a line of seven large sculptures situated along the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal in Utrecht, has attracted a lot of attention. Kuijer’s work is involved in many contemporary sculpture exhibitions, private- and museum collections and projects worldwide.

Posted on 27 January 202017 October 2019 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Ben Akkerman (1920-2010)

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I have always been an admirer of the works by Ben Akkerman. The first time i saw a painting by Akkerman was at the Centraal Museum and since i have been interested in his works. The paintings and drawings i could not afford so instead i started to collect Ben Akkerman publications. The result is that i have collected myself a small but important Akkerman library and the years made me find some duplicates which i now have put up for sale at www.ftn-books.com

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Ben Akkerman was , the same as Jan Schoonhoven, an employee for the municipality of Enschede and he painted in the evening in his spare time. Called a ‘hardcore abstract ” painter i personally share his paintings among the Minimal paintings from that era. These are very delicate compositions that are pure minimal art.

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The Gemeentemuseum used the “diamond” by Ben Akkerman for almost 10 years in its letters and invitations, but now that the name has changed in the far less appealing name ” Kunstmuseum Den Haag” they left the beautiful yellow diamond shaped logo for one i do not like at all. To commemorate the diamond they collected 30 Ben Akkerman paintings and made a wonderful presentation to honor Ben Akkerman and its “diamond”.

Posted on 5 January 201930 September 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Kiki Lamers (1964)

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Try to find a photo portrait of Kiki Lamers on the internet and you will have a hard time finding one. I do not know if this is the result of the anonymity the artist wants for herself or that she wants that her art is judged on itself and that the creator of the art is of no importance. Her portraits are one of a kind and perhaps her child portraits are best known of them all.

There was a time that her paintings, because of oscenity, were removed from a show in France and she had to go on trial to defend herself and her art. The court in France even sentenced her after her appeal to pay a fine of 5000 euro, but did not dare to sentence her with prison time. Personally i think that the artist is one of the persons that is free to express him/her self in a way he/she choses to do and when you look at the delicate portraits of the young/boys and girls Kiki Lamers has made over time you must admire them. These are far from obscene. www.ftn-books.com has some Kiki Lamers titles available.

Posted on 17 December 201817 September 2018 by ftnbooks — Leave a comment

Jiří Georg Dokoupil (1954)

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We are from the dame generation and perhaps that is why i appreciate Dokoupil’s painting. Always extremely colorful and becoming more and more abstract.

The association is one of “stained glass” and i would not be surprised that in the end of his career he will be invited to make some church windows ( btw. Marc Mulders made some for the Chapel in the Gouda Museum). It takes some time to get accustomed to the art of Dokoupil, but once you get know his paintings you only can admire them. Fled to Germany from Tsjechoslovakia in 1968, he soon joined the Mulheimer Freiheit group and participated in performances and group exhibitions together with Dahn and Adamski. In the Nethertlands he had his “one man” exhibitions at the iconic galerie Riekje Swart and became part of the exhibitions organized on the NEUE WILDEN by Frans Haks in the Groninger Museum and the Centraal Museum Utrecht. From these early days on his art developed into an abstract kind of art which is personal and typical for Dokoupil. An artist to keep following and see what his next step in art will be .

There are some Dokoupil publications available at www.ftn-books.com