Tag: conceptual

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Niele Toroni (continued)

We are relocating!
In the coming weeks we will be occupied with packing and moving our internet store inventory. The entire collection needs to be transferred from Leidschendam to Oegstgeest, and this will take some time.
If all goes according to plan, we will be fully operational again on November 21st, but until then, it may happen that we are unable to immediately assist you with your order. We ask for your understanding, but as soon as possible, your order will be fulfilled with the utmost speed.

Niele Toroni, a contemporary Swiss artist, is renowned for his radical abstraction in painting. As a pictorial minimalist, he is a member of the B.M.P.T. founded in 1967 alongside Daniel Buren, Olivier Mosset, and Michel Parmentier. Since 1966, Toroni has employed a unique painting method, using a flat brush that is 50 mm wide to apply regular 30 cm intervals on a given surface, never deviating from this established routine. However, to limit Toroni’s artwork to a single statement would be to overlook its multifaceted deployment. The painter’s intention is to convey a consistent message through an array of varying pictorial events. In this sense, Toroni’s technique inherently opposes a conceptual approach, as the goal of conceptual art is to expose itself as a purely linguistic statement.

www.ftn-books.com has some important Toroni titles available

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Lawrence Weiner ( continued)

We are relocating!
In the coming weeks we will be occupied with packing and moving our internet store inventory. The entire collection needs to be transferred from Leidschendam to Oegstgeest, and this will take some time.
If all goes according to plan, we will be fully operational again on November 21st, but until then, it may happen that we are unable to immediately assist you with your order. We ask for your understanding, but as soon as possible, your order will be fulfilled with the utmost speed.

Lawrence Weiner was a conceptual artist and self-taught. He was early on impressed by Frank Stella and Jasper Johns. Verbal elements – texts and signs – play an important role in his work. He often presents cryptic texts, strongly magnified, on walls of museums and galleries, but also on graphics, photos, and everyday objects. The words form verbal abstractions of the artwork conceived by Weiner. It only comes to life in the mind of the spectator when they read the text and try to understand it.

Since 1970, Weiner has alternated between living in New York and Amsterdam, where he also creates books and graphics, often combining them with geometric graphic forms. For him, language is the most abstract thing that we have developed. He considers texts as sculptures that come alive in the minds of spectators.

Lawrence Weiner wants to break and change the conventional understanding of “visual art.” Initially, he worked with spray cans to let fire or bleach work on a fabric. In the late 1960s, that gave way to words, or statements. Over time, the texts became more abstract, philosophical, and poetic. He used adhesive letters to express his ideas.

Weiner also made films, in which texts were spoken and depicted. He is considered one of the first representatives of conceptual art. Later, he would also collaborate on performances in which artists made their own bodies the subject of the action: body art. In the Netherlands, Lawrence Weiner had major exhibitions at the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, 1976) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, 1988/89). At the Spui in Amsterdam, Weiner’s work “A Translation” lies, from one language to another, a commission from the University of Amsterdam to make it more visible in the city.

www.ftn-books.com just added 3 important Weiner titles to its collection.

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IN & OUT of Amsterdam/ Conceptual art

Arguably the best book on Conceptual art from the Netherlands.

Book published with the exhibition and examines approximately seventy-five works by artists of different nationalities relating to travel and the city of Amsterdam, which was the nexus of intense art activities in the 1960s and 1970s, when artists converged there from all over the world. Hanne Darboven, Gilbert & George, Sol LeWitt, Charlotte Posenenske, Allen Ruppersberg, and Lawrence Weiner, among others, spent considerable amounts of time in Amsterdam and often produced works in direct relation to the city. The Suriname-born Stanley Brouwn came to Amsterdam as a young adult in the mid-1950s, where he developed work that plays with the idea of dimensions and distances and prefigures a number of conceptual-based art practices. Reciprocally, some of the most influential Dutch artists traveled abroad extensively before establishing themselves in Amsterdam: Jan Dibbets studied in London, while Ger van Elk and Bas Jan Ader trained in Los Angeles. Because cross-influences between Dutch and American art scenes were so abundant, it is impossible to understand the historical significance of these artists without acknowledging their new mobility. In addition to drawings, installations, wall drawings, and films, the exhibition includes a large number of posters and ephemera.

One of the most outstanding books on the complex world of Conceptual Art in recent years is undoubtedly “IN & OUT of AMSTERDAM/ Travels in Conceptual Art 1960-1976.” This book holds a special place in my heart as it is a veritable treasure trove of ideas and exceptional publications that can still be found on the market. Published by MoMa, the same institution that held the exhibition of the same name in 2009, “In & Out of Amsterdam” showcases the most significant and arguably best works of the following artists: Bas Jan Ader, Stanley Brouwn, Hanne Darboven, Jan Dibbets, Ger van Elk, Gilbert & George, Sol LeWitt, Charlotte Posenenske, Allen Ruppersberg, and Lawrence Weiner. These exceptional artists were all featured in the Bulletins series published by Art & Project, and their publications have now become highly sought-after collector’s items. As these publications have been scarce since their initial release and have now been around for over 40 years, I highly recommend starting a collection of them while they are still accessible. Check out www.ftn-books.com for more information.

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Allen Ruppersberg (continued)

Being a long time admirer of Ruppersberg i. was happy when i acquired a small stack of books with Conceptual Art. Among them “24 PIECES” from 1970 which is now available at www.ftn-books.com

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Op Losse Schroeven by Wim Crouwel

Yesterdays blog was on the “OP LOSSE SCHROEVEN” exhibition. A breathtraking and important exhibition on Conceptual Art at the Stedelijk Museum. Poster and catalogue design by Wim Crouwel and while preparing the blog i found a page in the book  IN AND OUT of AMSTERDAM ( also available at www.ftn-books.com ) which explains the story of the exhibition and even mentiones the poster by Wim Crouwel.

Here is the page from the book:

schroeven in and out

 

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Lothar Baumgarten (1944-2018)

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Lothar Baumgarten is one of those artists who’s fame never was never worldwide, but who rightfully deserves to be known and admired by many more. In recent years a new reveived interest grows in his works. Baumgarten, a conceptual artist< has had his exhibitions in the Netherlands at the Stedelijk Museum and Museum de PONT, but these have been some years ago, but lately i see a raised in interest and the works that appear at acution are sold at fair but rising prices. A good work from an edition is sttill to be acquired far below euro 250,–

Baumgarten is an artist to follow, and if you admire his works, like i do, focus on the editions. These are still to be bought at low prices.

www.ftn-books.combaumgarten bulletin has some nice Baumgarten publications available.

 

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Sigurdur Gudmundsson (continued)

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Just a simple message today…. I have added the very best book on Sigurdur Gudmundsson to my inventory. Published by Zsa Zsa Eyck who presented Gudmundsson several times in her gallery. A very large publication with over 300 pages and arguably the very best and most important book on the artist.

gudmundsson aa

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Lawrence Weiner at Konrad Fischer, 1989

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Readers of this blog know of my admiration for Lawrence Weiner and this is the reason i want to share this very special invitation that i recently added to my inventory. It is the invitation for the Weiner exhibition from 1989 at Konrad Fischer . The invitation by the artist is a piece of art by itself. Making this a true collectable multiple by the artist.

WEINER HYDRO A

weiner hydro b

weiner hydro c

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Allen Ruppersberg (1944)

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Allen Ruppersberg and the Netherlands is a combination which feels natural. It is a little bit the same like with Lawrence Weiner. Both were supported by Willem Sandberg and had their first major exhibitions outside the US in the Stedelijk Museum and after?……they kept a strong link with the Netherlands since both were represented by the Art & Project gallery who published with both important Bulletins within their series of Bulletins. Both these artists are considered by many as the next worldwide greatest, since Conceptual Art is becoming more and more important in time and admiration for these two is growing significantly.

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I like both , but perhaps i more have a weakness for Weiner since his work at the Gemeentemuseum was present all the time i was working there and it never stopped impressing me. But Ruppersberg….. certainly a close second and perhaps in the long run i will like him even more. www.ftn-books.com has soem of the mentioned Ruppersberg items still available.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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Stephen Prina a Post Conceptual artist (1954)

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Stephen Prina is an American artist whose work has been categorized as post-conceptualism. Prina is a professor at the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University.

He was born in 1954 in Galesburg, Illinois.

This is probably one of the shortest introductions i found on an artist on the internet. I like Prina’s art very much. Crates, monochrome paintings , ladders and the decoration of an entire space/ room are the elements that Piet Dirkx uses too. Both are from my generation and perhaps that is also one of the reasons i understand their art and like it so much. Where i have followed Dirkx for over 3 decades now, Prina is a discovery from the last 10 years. His exhibitions are true events but rare to be found in Europe. Still there was one held at the Boymans van Beuningen Museum in 1992 and to accompany that exhibition an artist book was published . The only color used for all pages is a bright yellow. A scarce book and now available at www.ftn-books.com

prina a