beeldend kunstenaar
18 september – 28 november
Andreas Schotelmuseum | Esbeek
The exhibition shows about thirty watercolours from the recently published book Brabantse Heerlijkheden; old estates and new nature reserves in watercolour and text, by Peter van Tilburg (watercolours) and Emmanuel Naaijkens (text).
For more information about the book, see above.
This year that we enjoy 75 years of freedom, the National Artists Society De Ploegh in Amersfoort celebrates its 75th anniversary. This is observed by four exhibitions, slightly adjusted in time due to the current corona problems.
September 26 – November 8
– Gallery De Ploegh, with work from its own members | Website De Ploegh
– Museum Flehite, under the title ‘Freedom = Imagination’ | Website Flehite Museum
– Eemland Archive, with original works from former Ploegh members
October 22 – November 8
– Rietveld Pavilion de Zonnehof, under the title ‘The Artist’s Soul Movements’
In honour of its 25th anniversary, De Ploegh has published an anniversary book with work from all its members. This book can be ordered for € 29.95 (subscription price € 25.00) at De Ploegh in Amersfoort.
August 15 – September 27
Gallery Beeldschoon | De Pol | Overijssel Province
January 12 – March 8
De Ploegh | Amersfoort
Silence in time of turmoil
My explanation and interpretation of art refers, among other things, to how to connect new expressions with existing images. This not only indicates the advancing development of art, but also my antagonistic experience of the arts. Assimilation of modern, sober forms with romantic expressions of art could result in an interesting synergy: a new pattern that scours, though nevertheless could be well-balanced. The result is, so to speak a new layer of which the total is more than the sum of the individual components. That I am trying in my spatial work, but also in this etching: capturing the silence in our time of turmoil.
November 24 – 2020 January 5
For the second time De Ploegh has organised a Wintersalon with work from 31 artists. Just like the salons of old in Paris the gallery will be filled from plinth to ceiling with pieces of art.
October 2019 – October 2020
My two sculptures are located at Logement & Gasterij Frederiksoord. This location is part of the KunstRondje of 49 km in the area of the Free Colonies of Benevolence, a unique area of Dutch history located in Drenthe, Friesland and Overijssel provinces.
Iron Man (1996)
This work work shows a person, a man, staring into the distance. As a person of iron, he stands still with his eyes on the horizon. The art is anything but ice cold, but requires a sharp and steadfast look at reality. That view indicates how wide and limitless art is.
Internal conflict of an artist (2019)
This artwork was originally created in honour of the 200-year birthday of the North German writer of realistic novels Theodor Fontane. It brings together in abstract form his sympathy for human freedom and freedom of expression on the one hand, and conventions and moral leadership on the other. The shape of the work is vaguely reminiscent of a person who raises the glass of freedom in one hand, while the other hand embraces a sword-shaped object that symbolises coercion. The colours are tailored to these symbols: red for a warm, possibly revolutionary gesture, light blue for a neutral consideration, and dark blue for cool repression.
September 25 | 2019 – March 8 | 2020
In 2019 the Mondriaanhuis (House of Piet Mondriaan) in Amersfoort exists 25 years. In honour of this, the museum is organising an exhibition by members of the National Artists’ Society De Ploegh in Amersfoort with 2D work of 25 x 25 cm and 25 x 25 x 25 cm for work in 3D.
I am participating with a small sculpture: Mondriaan’s Trees. Normally I make spatial work from metal, but the required small size (25x25x25 cm) does not allow that. I have chosen for the material I use for models: cardboard, reinforced with polyester. The work is autonomous and suitable for indoor use. But it can also serve as a model for a possibly larger sculpture from metal for outside.
June – October 2019
Sculpture Garden Funnix, Leonard Wübbena, Wittmund, Germany
This year the 200th birthday of the German author Theodore Fontane is being celebrated (1819, Neuruppin – 1898, Berlin). For that occasion I have created a sculpture: Fontane, Liberal and Nationalist.
Introduction
The German writer Theodor Fontane wrote realistic and naturalistic novels. He did not only want to portray people’s everyday life, as in realism, but also and specially to show which underlying forces had influenced his characters. His stories are mostly situated in his birthplace Prussia, the present federal state of Brandenburg. He is known for constantly having been troubled with his conscience by the contrast between on the one hand his interest in democratic reforms as he had seen in England and his sympathy for liberalism, and on the other hand his longing for stability and bourgeois morality. His fluctuating sympathies for liberalism and conservatism testify to this, and are reflected in his novels set in petty bourgeois society. In his most famous work, Effi Briest, he exposed the parochial pettiness of such environments. The book’s main character, Effi, the free-thinking protagonist, perishes due to the rigid narrow-mindedness of the society she lived in, and is said to be a strong autobiographical representation of Fontane himself.
Explaining the work of art
My work of art in honour of the 200-year anniversary of Fontane is an abstract image of the dichotomy between, on the one hand, Fontane’s sympathy for liberalism and freedom of expression and on the other hand, his tendency to conservatism and moral leadership.The form of the sculpture is vaguely reminiscent of a person who is holding a glass in one hand, bringing a toast on freedom and democracy, while the other hand is holding a sword-shaped object that symbolizes oppression and coercion. The colours reflect these symbols: red for a warm, possibly revolutionary gesture, light blue as a neutral, sober consideration, and dark blue for cool and sobering repression.