More housekeeping.

Yesterday I installed my last piece of art I bought at ArtRotterdam. It's very fragile and really 3-d. So I had to find a spot. Where know one comes I don't know about, my cat cannot come, where there is no wind or draught.
So I placed it in my bedroom on eye level.
It consists of two small mirrors in an angle of 90 degrees and in between a transparent sheet with the text from a sermon on it, with as a subject: when does one actually exist.
The object is between two photographs, one from Isolde Woudstra on the left and one from Mery on the right.

just another day at the office

So what does a collector do on a quiet Wednesday. Due to circumstances I was early away from work. So I went to the inner city of Utrecht.
At first I bought the book Puur (pure) from Mery dedicated to her project of photographing Teenage mothers.
Next I bought some white gloves to handle my art more cautiously. Some works form Boukje Janssen I recently bought, require more subtlety on handling.
After that I went to Flatland gallery to see their exhibition. It was a nice exhibition in a very nice building. I'd actually never been to that gallery. They focus on photography which I like but their aim is a little bit too high for my budget. After that I went to a second hand bookshop and bought an old catalogue from Sotheby's "photographs from the Bert Hartkamp collection" It gives a nice overview for the contemporary photography.
Finally I got home and found a letter from gallery Smarius. They sent me a special guest badge for the fair Art Amsterdam, so I can enter the preview and enter during this fair whenever I like for free.

Amsterdam

For 15 years I've been living in Eindhoven. There goes the proverb "The only good thing in Amsterdam is the train back to Eindhoven." Nowadays I live in Utrecht, which is 80 kilometers closer to Amsterdam. Utrecht even looks like Amsterdam. An overcrowded city center. Parking problems combined with huge parking costs. Entering the city center by car without a TomTom or ten years experience is impossible. On the positive side. Because of the crowd everything is always happening. There are beautiful canals. The ancient city center has lovely buildings. By foot or bike you can reach any destination within 10 minutes.
The main difference between Utrecht and Amsterdan is, that Amsterdam is about three times as large. Both city center and city.

I had a meeting in Amsterdam for "My first art collection" We discussed how a gallery owner makes his prices and how taxes mingle with art. The latter one was discussed with Sigrid Hemels lecturer at Leiden University. She wrote a Dutch book for non-tax lawyers about that subject.

After the meeting being in Amsterdam I decided to go to the Melkweg for the exposition Pure from Mery I previously wrote about.
The exposition was overwhelming. I usually don't see many pregnant women. I never see them nude and I never ever saw 75 together in one building. Most amazing was that Mery was capable of showing each woman as an individual. All pictures were really different. I am happy to own two of these pictures.
A print 140 x 90 cm is 1000 euros one size smaller is 650 euros and 40 x 55 cm is just 250 euros.

Walking from the gallery "Serieuze zaken" to the Melkweg I encountered about 4 galleries which I all entered and where I studied the works of art.

After that I went to gallery RonMandos at the Prinsengracht. I encountered again about 4 galleries which I entered and where I studied the art.
At Ronmandos I was amazed about the huge gallery, which was just exhibiting two artists. I had a nice chat with the two employees and the quality was pretty high although not my collector's taste.

Now it was rather late so I just visited two unplanned galleries and went to "Eduard Planting fine art photography"
I saw beautiful pictures there and two very scary pictures. Loretta Lux showed these two.
Have a close watch to see WHY they're so scary.

Then I finally got lost towards Koch en Bosch That gallery I bought my works form Marjo van den Boomen. (having a baby so not on the art mood right now) My remarks about this exposition won't do it justice. The artist "mijn schatje" is a girl and she is mainly bought by girls.
Have a look at the picture. In an edition of 70 it is just 95 euros, Which I consider a bargain. All other works are under 1000 euros as well. If you anywhere like this get your work of art.

I really have to admit. Amsterdam is amazing with regard to the amount and quality of galleries. Probably half of all the galleries in the Netherlands are in Amsterdam. I just walked through a part of Amsterdam and saw dozens of interesting galleries.
Content I took the train back to Utrecht. Not the only good thing but still the best.


PS I bought a work of art yesterday night and I am really content about it.
Close visitors have seen that I moved one artist from "watching" to "in collection"
More Later.

Exhibition in the Melkweg, Amsterdam.

Yesterday I got an invite for the opening of the exhibition: Puur Trotse Tienermoeders. (Pure, Proud Teenage Moms.) Exhibited are pictures (photography) from nude teenage moms either high pregnant either with a fresh baby.

Actually I own 2 of those pictures which are presented in th huge size of 140 X 90 cm. They're hanging in my bedroom (whether pictures of baby's and pregnant women are an incentive or a warning in my bedroom I leave to your own imagination)

The exhibition is in the Melkweg in Amsterdam and starts 2nd of April to 3rd of May.
You can find more info about the exhibition here.

For those who cannot afford a picture there is also books on sale from these exhibition for just 20 euro's.

At the right hand side the picture (Jilanka with Zion) I own which will also be exhibited.
Check the Mery's webisite for more pictures and info.