Hall of Art (Kunsthal)

With my money spent, I need other ways to work on my art collection.
In Rotterdam exits the Kunsthall (Art Hall.) They held there the first day of June two exhibitions for the last day.

One was dedicated to the "Prix de Rome 200 years" the most distinguished award one can get in art in the Netherlands. It used to be a certain amount of money which had to be spent to make a journey to Rome. This started 200 years ago, when the Netherlands were occupied by the French, and the French King from the Netherlands, Lodewijk Napoleon, (a brother form emperor Napoleon) created the award following a French tradition.
Nowadays the award is biannual and the artist can do whatever she likes with it.

Also in the Kunsthal was an exhibition dedicated to the former owner of Torch gallery, who recently died from cancer. He owned the gallery for 25 years. So his artists are a cross section from 25 years contemporary art. He very much liked photography, he was one of the first to bring it into the contemporary art world.

Below some pictures:


This is a photo from Elpseth Diederix. She won the first prize of the Grand Prix de Rome 2002 photography.



This photo is from Inez van Lamsweerde who was supported by Torch gallery.





This is an overview from some Torch painters in which you get an idea from the architectural style the Kunsthall is built in.



These photographs are from Anuschka Blommers and Niels Schumm. If you think these are just pictures upside down. Then try this: click on the picture to enlarge it and turn your monitor 180 degrees. You will be surprised.

After Rotterdam I went to Amsterdam. The Fotoacademie (Photo Academy) had her graduation exhibition. I went there to scout for new talent. I found many of them. One I wll be certainly following, because I did not understand her work at all.

She is Sanne Thunissen. Her website is here
Her Artist's statement was put in a Haiku from Onitsura.
So they blossom,
and so I look, and so,
they drop down and so.

These pictures below are form her.

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.

Art Brussels 2009

This Friday I went to ArtBrussels. I should have been we but my Mfac co-student was confused by the wrong house number and never reached my house.
Artbrussels is held in the Expo next to the Atomium. It is divided into two halls. I took the backdoor because of the parking lot I'd put my car for the incredible amount of 4 euros. (I expected 10.)

I walked in and the first thing I grabbed was the floor plan. ArtBrussels is large. 172 galleries are represented. (425 wanted in) I think 3 to 4 football matches could take place in this space now dedicated to art. The next thing I did was grabbing a lunch and looking at the plan looking for familiar galleries.

Off course I should go to Ronmandos the gallery I had the invite from. I actually saw their booth just 5 hours later. I started in Hall 3 and had my first good surprise within 15 minutes. Aeroplasctics Contemporary sold paintings from Amanda Besl. Her paintings are on the first picture. They're all small, very realistic made in high detail and all from young women. I own two from her paintings. I bought them at ArtAmsterdam two years ago, my first buy from a gallery.

They had more work, I liked Shadi Ghadirian as well. But I think her fame Will make her very fast too expensive for my taste. Good for her though.
I saw a wonderful video from Antoine Roegier and missed an other one. I strolled from booth to booth saw very nice works from artists who are very well known but I had never known them. Endless my stroll was, after two hours I was just halfway hall 1 and still had one and a half hall left.
My conclusion half way therefore was. ArtAmsterdam and ArtRotterdam may be nice, but this is a different cup of tea. The quality of the art is the same, but the quantity is way larger. Luckily there was also a bar which sold good an cold Belgian beer. In total I visited them twice in my 5,5 hours walking amongst art, to drench my thirst and to rest my feet. I saw some nice works from Marina Abramovic. I thought she just made performances jeopardizing her own life. But she also makes pictures from Chinese children sleeping with M-16's.

Guided tours were held twice a day, and I joined one of the. Together with just two other people. While being guided I found out that I thought I'd covered now three quearters of the exhibition. Bu it really makes a difference which way you go through an aisle. The aisles I'd covered form left to right we now went through from right to left and while walking that way I saw completely different art.
So I'd missed a lot.
The tour was very nice. It mentioned the sculpture from picture two below. Is seems to abstract but if you look well enough a face can be seen.

After the tour I scooted through the last aisles, vsited RonMandos, and started to collect the prices and other information I wanted from the artists I really liked an were probably within my budget. The Austrian artist Marc Aschenbrenner shown by gallery Olaf Stueber (Berlin) , is one of them.
I collected my data, didn't buy a thing and went home. Dead tired but content after a 5,5 hour walk between international works of art I headed for my car.

Final cononclusion: best art fair I ever visisted, from the point of quality and quantity
Below some more overview pictures:

Delivered Boukje Janssen

In law school one learns that there is a huge difference between sale and delivery. In the art world it happens all the time. It seldom happens that the moment I buy a work, I instantly can take it away.

This Friday and Saturday I got 6 works delivered. Friday morning I went to the atelier from Boukje Janssen. I had a nice chat saw some interesting work and collected 4 works of art I had bought earlier during ArtRotterdam.

I have two pictures which do some justice to the works.



As the title says: both works ar from Boukje Janssen

Primavera Art Fair

Last Saturday I went to the Primavera Antiques and Art Fair in Rotterdam. I hadn't been there before so I was wondering what kind of fair this was.

The entrance fee was 10 euro's, but I had a discount and paid half . The parking ticket for my car was 10 euro's. So a parking place near the center of Rotterdam is twice as exclusive as a ticket to Primavera.

When I entered the first piece of art I saw was Balance of Destiny by Robert Heindel. It had a price tag of 120,000 euro's.

That was a mixed signal. It had a price tag. It costs 120.000 euro's, I could buy my half house for that amount. So on the one side the precence of a price tag which means middle or low end, but 120,00 euro's is a huge amount.

If you go to the Dutch high end Art Fairs like ArtRotterdam or ArtAmsterdam price tags are considered tacky. I don't know why: Everyone who has a booth on those fairs wants to make money. But it should be hidden as long as possible. I very soon found out that the painting was with some other paintings from Robert Heindel the only objects this expensive.

So I found out the fair had mainly middle class Dutch art. Most of it was figurative some abstract works. 99% under 10,000 euro's.
I'm only interested in contemporary art. There were about 40 booths with that kind of work. Next to this, jewellery, old instruments, icons and other art from previous centuries.

I like fairs because these are the only places you can compare so many various works of art in a very short time. And all the art is for sale.

This Fair was very Dutch. The art displayed ready tame. No place for Tinkerbel here. Strangely there wasn't much photography either.
An amazing kind of craftmanship I saw in the works from David Begbie. It is a sculpure from steelwire. When behind it a spotlight is placed, the shadow from the scuplture makes a briljant "drawing" from a nude.

At the end of the fair I was wondering if I would buy a work. Before the fair I had intended not to buy anything. My budget for this year has already been depleted. (more about the works I've bought this year later) And there is one fair I allways buy is at Whitsun in Eindhoven so all the money I've got left I will spend there. However the flesh is weak.
I was choosing between a work from Marianne Venderbosch "Mood"
and a work from Oskar (Spierenburg) "haarlem"

Finally I was wise and just bought a bottle like this It was painted by Douke van der Ploeg.

What did I learn: price tags are really handy. I can control myself by not buying art and I still like figurative art but I'm not swept of my feet by it.