On this wonderful day right at the beginning of the new year - but more importantly at the start of the life of a beloved newborn (!) - we will begin our writings in 2016 with a great find of some months ago. With a newfound introspective focus on what really inspires us, rather then just sharing those projects which are universally considered to be relevant or influential, we turn to the art of painting once more. British artist Kes Richardson started figurative, but for some years now has moved all the way beyond most familiar shapes into the geometric abstract, through which he really caught our attention when we discovered his incredible 'Garden Paintings' series, which was presented to the public by London-based Fold Gallery in 2013. [ Continue reading ]
We discovered the talented Dutch painter Jurre Blom when his work was exhibited in last Summer's graduation show of the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. Clearly standing out in the multi-story building filled with fine art graduate work, the captivating realistic paintings of Jurre even proved to be amongst our favorites from all Dutch academies, if not the favorite. The artist, being a child of the digital era, creates work directly representing remarkable scenes he finds on the internet. With an endless stream of photographs being unleashed every day, this field of inspiration proves to serve him endlessly. Rather unusual frames portraying familiar situations, often-times evoking a sense of awkwardness or discomfort, but always succeeding to intrigue - the photographs Blom selects are personal insights found through numerous chains of visually similar image searches through Google images, starting from his personal database of photographs of 'in between' moments. Keep an eye on this highly promising name! [ Continue reading ]
Through the insightful feature by our friends over at yatzer, we couldn't but notice the incredible retrospective on one of the most important contemporary multidisciplinary artists from Belgium; Jan Fabre. Thirty years ago him and gallery holder Mark Deweer started an impressive collaboration, which is translated into the exhibition '30 Years / 7 Rooms', celebrating these thirty years of collaboration for another two weeks at Deweer Gallery in Otegem, Belgium. It extends over all the exhibition spaces of the gallery and is divided into seven themed rooms, built especially for the occasion. '30 Years / 7 Rooms', in this way, presents a broad overview of the first historic objects, drawings, sculptures and installations, up to the latest works. The exhibition offers an exceptional opportunity to become acquainted with the most important groups of works in the oeuvre of Jan Fabre in a unique dramaturgy, created especially by the artist. A must visit! [ Continue reading ]
On the 17th of November, London-based The Redfern Gallery opened the third solo exhibition by one of our favorite contemporary British painters, Danny Fox. The new work of the self-taught St. Ives-born and London-based artist has moved on to become less calligraphic, more solid, but maintaining his signature fluidity. The inspiration for Danny's paintings continues to have strong roots in the heritage of the European Masters, where the subject matter still is the artist's unique non-sentimental vision of cowboys, indians, strippers, cavalryman and those (like himself) who like to drink more than they should. The color palette is as punchy as before, applied more solid compared to his older eclectic works, still grabbing one's gaze by the horns and sucking it into the little narratives they portray. With Danny's star rising in the art world, part of the new works were created through new friends like painter Patrick Heron, who invited him to stay in his old St. Ives studio and a period in Los Angeles, in which he always maintained his fast paced production of some of the most exciting work being created today. [ Continue reading ]
We are very inspired by the incredible 'Atmosphere' series of Chili-born, Berlin-based Macarena Ruiz-Tagle. The images of the artist are immaculately painted on paper, resembling color field paintings to perfection. Each of the works show a different mix of pigments that plays with the viewers’ perception and mood, being the result of an extensive physical movement training process of meticulously hand made accumulation of gradual degrees of saturation. When observed from close, there is a detailed pigmentation of the paper, and from a distance, the color vibration appears to the eye in an effort to focus the wandering mesmerizing tinted-air surface with blurry edges, forming a perfect vision of what the incredibly talented artist sees as atmospheres. [ Continue reading ]
On the 31st of October the Paris-based gallery Air de Paris opened 'Love is Never Enough' by the exciting art collective Claire Fontaine, presenting a new selection of works revolving around the emotional bankruptcy of our times. The title of the exhibition suggests that our need for love is almost unlimited and it cannot be satisfied by the current configuration of society but also that in our world, more than ever before, good intentions cannot be carried out without material means. The exhibition tackles the issues of exclusion and inclusion, security and fear, through the conceptual use of diverse medias. When in Paris make sure to catch the exhibition by one of the more exciting contemporary collectives active, before it closes at the end of December. [ Continue reading ]
In these troubled times with some people from different ends strongly engaged in polarizing the world, the inspirational work of Moroccan-born Najia Mehadji, who spent most of her childhood and teenage years in Paris, should be seen as the perfect union between the cultures of the East and the West. Since we encountered the extraordinary paintings of the Paris- and Lamssasa-based artist we've been very inspired by her intellectual approach, fine technique and remarkable focus on and play with form. Her most recent series named 'Enroulement' inhabits everything -the familiar living and generative network of volumes floating on the canvas- which makes Najia Mehadji an undisputed favorite of ours in contemporary painting and living proof of the intrinsic value of cultural exchange rather than aggressive isolation. If only more people would see this... [ Continue reading ]
At the end of this Summer, British artist Pryce Lee’s first solo show in Amsterdam opened at The Garage. The new and highly anticipated body of work named 'Ceasefire' sees the artist explore the meaning of ceasefire, the culturally charged term after which the show is named. Both in its appeal by politicians and in its definition, ceasefire has become an ambiguous and often murky term. With this new installation Lee thrusts the question of its meaning centre stage by invoking icons of peace and war to explore the intent and meaning of a word that has become increasingly part of political parlance while its outcomes have become less clear. When in Amsterdam make sure to see this extraordinary show! [ Continue reading ]
The truly stunning 'Color Photographs' exhibition with incredible new work by Japanese artist Daisuke Yokota formed his highly anticipated debut in the United States, which opened for the public last September. Celebrated internationally for his interdisciplinary and energetic approach to art and bookmaking, the show focusses on the artist's experiments with color photography. With this series, as Yokota explains, he “tried not to take pictures,” and instead sought to “draw out the physical aspect of film.” Yokota layered sheets of unused large format color film and applied unorthodox developing methods before scanning the results. Here, documentation is replaced with darkroom alchemy in order to show that the essence of photography rests not necessarily with the camera, but in film itself. Resulting in a extraordinary body of work, reminding strongly of the experimental cinema of Stan Brakhage, in the sense of it in our eyes being a perfect homage to the cutting edge work of the filmmaker. When in New York make sure to see this thrilling exhibition! [ Continue reading ]
Some months ago we were asked by Utrecht-based studio Autobahn to participate in their '26 Creative Characters' project, which yesterday had its official debut in the newly opened Autobahn Gallery. The ambitious initiative celebrates the typographic diversity of todays graphic design, marking the 10th anniversary celebration of Maarten Dullemeijer and Rob Stolte's design studio. As part of 26 contemporary (typo)graphic designers - among which are Studio Airport, Baster, Jaap Biemans, Martin Pyper, Max Kisman and Thonik - we were invited to create our vision for the letter 'X'. The diverse outcome is a unique mix of styles, materials and ideas, with our design being directly inspired by and executed on a collection of 22 vintage wooden baseball bats, all individually numbered, carrying a little hand painted piece of the X. While creating the project we received numerous inquiries about the unique bats and therefore we decided to make them available for everyone in the newly revived Another Shop (with more coming in the near future!), where you can select your personal favorite numbered piece of the X. [ Continue reading ]
We are big fans of Ghent, Belgium-based CASE STUDYO, which since its foundation has been producing numerous limited edition products/pieces of art with some of the most exciting creatives minds from all over the globe. We discovered the platform some years ago through Andy Rementer's People Blocks, after which the project really took off with everything they have been putting out flying of the shelves in no time. Two days ago CASE STUDYO presented its first collaboration with Los Angeles-based artist Cleon Peterson. The unique graphic aesthetic of the artist always roots in a 2D world of chaos, violence, sex and drugs, which the artist perfectly translated into a sculpture of 23 centimeter made out of white porcelain. Named 'Destroying the Weak' two violent characters symbolize the essence of Peterson's work: the struggle of power. [ Continue reading ]
Two weeks ago, the London-based FOLD Gallery opened a new show by the extraordinary English artist Simon Callery named 'Flat Paintings'. With the new series the artist is suggesting that one of the defining characteristics of painting is now one of many characteristics in contemporary painting. Callery's works combined in the exhibition bear all the markings of their creation. Reevaluating the conventions of painting, the British artist who originally trained as a sculptor has recently worked alongside the University of Oxford's archaeological excavations in Moel y Gaer, Bodfari, North Wales where the landscape informed the surface areas of the large-scale works on show here. Canvases have been saturated in intense pigments, which have then been crafted, torn and stitched onto stretchers. Our favorite work is the large-scale work called 'Flat Painting Bodfari 14/15 Cadmium Red Deep': a mysterious patchwork in a tremendous shade of red, inevitably sucking in any gaze that is placed upon it. [ Continue reading ]
We just became familiar with the extraordinary work of the recent Royal College of Art London graduate Eden Barrena. With her work, the Spanish-born artist explores the relationship between the self and the other, and in the estrangement and conflicts that this encounter generates. Using print, drawing and bookmaking in order to collect these confrontations and transmit the amazement to the viewer. Sometimes, these are small stories very well localized in a determined context, but in other occasions her work remits to phenomena that expand through history: migration, cultural identity, racism, colonialism and the discovery of the alien. We love the raw and dynamic aesthetic in her images, mostly consisting of minimal depiction on blank backdrops achieving maximum effect. Keep an eye on this incredible talent! [ Continue reading ]
Last week we became familiar with a soon to be released art project which continues to haunt us ever since - and very likely will continue to do so - because of its seldom seem hybrid of sheer beauty and mind-boggling concept. In this collection of sculptures named 'Papaver Rhoeas', the British artist Paddy Hartley has created a series of highly emotive and thought provoking handmade poppy sculptures using pathologically preserved lamb’s heart tissue (!). Drawing on the poppy’s synonymity with the commemoration of World War One, 'Papaver Rhoeas' consists of finely crafted artworks produced by a unique team of art and science practitioners that address contemporary notions of remembrance and the cultural phenomena of memorialisation. Every poppy varies in colour and composition, and each will be installed in a thematically diverse range of institutions covering topics such as the military, science, social history, theology and contemporary art. What a truly remarkable project! [ Continue reading ]
On the 25th of September the inspirational 'Van Gogh+Munch' exhibition opened at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, after it had been on display at the Munch Museum in Oslo. The exhibition - for the first time - explores the similarities and connections between the two influential artists; starting with alignment in aesthetics and stylized kinship to their connections which exist on a deeper level. Rather than uncritically accepting established perceptions, the exhibition takes a closer look at their artistic point of departure, the influences they were exposed to, the development in style and technique and what artistic goals they set for themselves, and in this way create a deeper understanding of why these artists are so often compared to each other. When in Amsterdam make sure to visit. [ Continue reading ]
Artists Jarmila Mitríková and Dávid Demjanovič, now based in Prague and Košice, had their breakthrough in the Slovakian art scene after they graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava in 2011 with their paintings created through pyrography. A traditional technique in which one burns motives into plywood and colors it with wood stains. Their use of pyrography forms a direct reference to a folk amateur art, being the most popular technique during socialism in the former Czechoslovakia. In their case it is not only the reinvented visual attraction they are working with, but mostly a medium through which they are joining a critical discours with different cultural contexts. Mitríková and Demjanovič's art inhabits elements of folklore, through religion and mysticism typical for geopolitic region of Central Europe, to national history and identity all translated into a dark aesthetic. We are particularly drawn to their most recent works in which the duo has created extraordinary ceramics with a haunting political, mystical and ritualistic mood. [ Continue reading ]
During last week's London Design Festival the super fascinating Plants Out Of Place initiative curated an exhibition with a selection of inspirational projects to introduce its mission to the public. The London-based initiative seeks to engage with the world to re-consider the value of wild plants and how we may utilize them to design for a better future - a vision through which they created a sensory event aiming to trigger the public on an experiential level to question the values and approaches to sustainable practices. The exhibition showed an overall high standard with work by inspirational names like Studio Drift and Drink Factory, yet we are most impressed by the work of our favorite; Coloni which combined forces with Studio Aikieu, resulting in some of the most beautiful imagery we have seen in months. [ Continue reading ]
The infamous(ly great) Studio Job returns once again with an incredible new show. For 'The Banana Show', the Antwerp- and Amsterdam-based studio of Job Smeets and partner in crime Nynke Tynagel, created a series of lamps - fitting their subversive aesthetic perfectly - shaped like peeled bananas for an exhibition which opened last month in the Belgian Samuel Vanhoegaerden Gallery. The limited-edition collection of Banana Lamps comprises seven different lights, including five standing models held up in different positions by the curved representations of a banana's peeled skin, as well as a hanging wall light and an oversized version. Each light features a polished bronze skin and an etched mouth-blown glass fruit filled with LED lights. The show also includes the Buoy Mirror, which has a red ring-shaped frame with four white bands and resembles a lifebuoy. The facet-cut mirror features sintered glass and hand-painted banana graphics in keeping with the exhibition's theme. Seven new ink banana drawings on A2 paper in oak frames will be displayed alongside 30 drawings taken from Job Smeets' archive from 1998 to 2005. [ Continue reading ]
With globalization of the creative industry at an all time high and digital interaction just one mouse-click away, we seem to have entered the most fruitful period ever of unlimited cross-pollination within the global creative community. From a different perspective one could argue the exact opposite by pointing out the copycat culture which has become a significant element of the digital era's zeitgeist. We try to look at it from the first angle and appreciate the worldwide exchange of ideas, inspirational collaborations and formerly unexpected joint ventures. If the new (copy enabling) preconditions make that one has to be more critical then ever to separate the wheat from the chaff, the collateral damage of the digitalization is nowhere near life-threatening for great work to be created and discovered. One of the most exciting collaborations we recently discovered comes from England, where two of our favorites: Joe Cruz and Jack Davison have found each other. Although they lived far from worlds apart before they got together, it was still the internet that opened the door for the newly created work. To learn more about the works we've asked Joe Cruz some questions on the collaboration and can only hope that this is only the start for more to come by the two talented artists. [ Continue reading ]
The absolutely incredible work of Dutch artist Marcel van Eeden, who's been a favorite of ours for years, is known for a deeply characteristic aesthetic reminiscent of film noir, evoking an ambiguous sense of romance and melancholia. Employing charcoal and colored pencils, as well as watercolor paint, his stylized and tightly cropped cinematic images visualize dramatic scenes which immerse the spectator in mysterious narratives. When framed as a entity, van Eeden's individual drawings out of a series form complete compelling fictions based on historical facts, interweaving several chronologies and narratives. Subjected to unforeseen experiences, the protagonists' - often developed by the artist parallel to his own life, traveling and subsequently taking shape inspired by the same places he visits - lives begin to converge as their stories gradually are revealed by van Eeden's ingenious labyrinth of gripping tales and thrilling twists. We can't get enough of van Eeden's remarkable images. [ Continue reading ]
The intriguing show named 'Coming to Terms' is emerging artist Abdul Abdullah's New York debut, featuring a new series of performative photographic portraits. The 29-year-old Abdullah is one of the most interesting emerging artists coming out of Australia, who after graduating from Curtin University had a focus on painting and in recent years moved into photography and video. Notions of contemporary ceremony, genesis, ritual, reinforcement of personal identity, cultural hybridity and intimate aspects of the self are revealed in his work through his darkly distinctive oeuvre that is confronting and deeply elucidating in regard to the human condition. We are super fascinated by both the images itself as the symbolic instilled in them, and look forward what the future will hold for this exciting young Australian artist. When in New York see this incredible work! [ Continue reading ]
On the 15th of July the London-based White Cube opened an exhibition of fascinating new work by Marc Quinn. The show named ‘The Toxic Sublime’ includes two new bodies of work and is the culmination of two years of investigation by the artist into natural phenomena and our distanced and complex relationship with the environment. These works after which the show was named are distorted, three-dimensional seascapes that blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture. Next to these works, a new series of highly extraordinary sculptures - minimal arcs in stainless steel - including one measuring over a staggering 7 meter long titled ‘Frozen Waves’ are on display. These super impressive, primal and gestural shapes originate from the remnants of shells, eroded by the endless action of the waves. In the moment before they disappear and become sand, all conch shells end up in a similar form – an arch that looks like a wave, as though an unwitting self-portrait by nature. [ Continue reading ]
On the 27th of June a beautiful new art project opened in the heart of Amsterdam. 'The Garden Which is the Nearest to God' is the first creation in the Netherlands by the renowned Japanese artist Taturo Atzu, who was invited to create a structure for the historic weather vane and the small roof turret of the Oude Kerk, located in the red light district of the capital. Atzu's project links the monumental 13th century church - the oldest building in the city - to its recent incarnation as Amsterdam's newest cultural institution. He gives the weather vane an update by re-imagining it in a fully furnished, modern living room. Interpreting contemporary Dutch interiors, the décor features a table, chairs, and above the sofa a classical print from the church collection. The Japanese artist brings the spectator closer to the experience of wonderment as we make our metaphoric journey on high – climbing the 156 steps to the 300 m² open space above – to a fictional living room and the built-in seating area around the clock tower. Make sure to visit the Oude Kerk and enjoy the extraordinary project before it is gone. [ Continue reading ]
In our eyes Danny Fox is one of the most exciting names who has arrived in the London art scene in recent years. The artist with the appearance of an outlaw biker is an autodidact who found his interest in painting somewhere in his mid teens, inspired by the work of Alfred Wallis, who like Fox lived in St. Ives. Over the years he created a style which is unpolished and uncompromising, showing elements of early Modernist art, the graffiti aesthetic and a color palette that reminds of African art. Both the figurative, symbolic and decorative elements are slapped with great speed onto the canvas as if they were a sheet of flash tattoos (as immortalized on the artist's own skin for instance). Fox's figures represent boxers, horses, cowboys, snakes, fruit, transsexuals, strippers or patterns reminiscent of ancient Greek decoration, with everything blending together perfectly in the artist’s fascinating raw narratives, rooting directly from Fox's own memory or personal history. [ Continue reading ]
