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Otaki show of diverse media: 3 of the Hague based artists

12Nov

Left to Right: works by Sonja van Kerkhoff (print on aluminium), Sanne Maes (video + drawing) + Thom Vink (photographs + model on shelf)

Josephine’s Mother, print on aluminium and oil paint by Sonja van Kerkhoff.
The pose and composition of Josephine’s Mother is similar to the 1871 painting Whistler’s Mother where in this case, Josephine is the child the young woman is carrying. The mother looks alert and details such as a watch and the wall plug indicate that hers is a contemporary world, although she wears clothing typical of a bygone age. More >>

Still from Bird of Prey by Sanne Maes

Bird of Prey, drawing on tracing paper + video, loop 0’25”, 21″ LCD tv in custom made frame by Sanne Maes
Her work consists mainly of video installations; video images (either on a monitor or projected in space) which are projected onto a drawing, a painting or an object. She uses short looped clips to create the sense of repetition in motion. In some works this creates a sense of the picturesque where images move and come to life and in other works this creates a sense of the body being locked or trapped within the drawing.
In her other works the dissonance between the still and moving images often alludes to mortality. This theme of transience and transformation is a reference to our humanity in relation to our environment – everything is linked, from micro to macro. We are all parts of the natural world. More >>

The Speed of Dark by Thom Vink


Dark Entries, black and white photograph by Thom Vink. Edition of 5.
Untitled, black and white photograph by Thom Vink. Edition of 5.
The Speed of Dark, 3 cardboard models + shelf by Thom Vink.

Thom is a graduate of the Royal Academy of the Hague School of Art (1990). In 1992 he co-founded the artist-run gallery, Quartair (www.quartair.nl). His works are poetic references to our lived-in space. Often he builds house-like models as a counterpart to his atmosperic black and white photographs. These ‘wall-based installations’ are also a play on the theme of display and objectivity. Just as in the site-specific work of Sol LeWitt, Vink has given instructions for the poetics of how his work is to be arranged, rather than specifying a particular composition. They appear as one work and yet are several works in which the boundaries are blurred. Recent exhibitions are his 2009-10 solo exhibition, MOTH HOUSE in the Hague Centre for Visual Arts and Architecture, The Netherlands, and the group exhibitions Patterns of the Mind, Turku Biennial 2011, and Limbus, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, also in Finland. More >>

Watch this space for a daily blog on the works by 13 New Zealand and Hague Based artists in The Poetic Condition show until 10 Dec 2017 at the BackWal Gallery, 99 Atkinson Ave, Otaki.  13 Nov blog | Exhibition info

“The Poetic Condition” Backwal Gallery, Otaki

20Aug

Still from Cleaning the Air by Pietertje van Splunter

The Poetic Condition
De Dichterlijke Aard

28 Oct – 10 Dec 2017
13 artists from
The Hague and
Aotearoa | New Zealand

A Red Lemon (Een Rode Citroen), 2015, 9′ 53” Sound: Anne Wellmer. Drawings: Geerten Ten Bosch. Animation: Harriët van Reek. Text: Helene Cixous. Voice: Stephie Büttrich-Kolman


Thom Vink
Sanne Maes
Channa Boon
Anne Wellmer
Martje Zandboer
Sonja van Kerkhoff
Pietertje van Splunter
Michelle Backhouse
Adrienne Spratt
Edward Walton
Brenda Tuuta
Brit Bunkley
Hopeha

99 Atkinson Ave, Otaki

Still from Bird of Prey by Sanne Maes

Open
Saturdays + Sundays
10-4 p.m.
or by appointment.
021 260 5723

Exhibition events
28 Oct: 11 a.m. – 12 noon “Impressions of the Venice Biennale, Documenta + Munster Skulptuur” by Sonja van Kerkhoff

Meet the artists
in the gallery
28 Oct: 10-3 pm Michelle Backhouse, Edward Walton, Sonja van Kerkhoff

“Lake Alice” – from the abject history series by Brit Bunkley.

These artists explore, respond or extend the theme of our human nature and the relevance of the aesthetic of poetic intervention to the self, socio-political or society with a wide range of media and approaches to ‘big questions’ (who are we, how do we live, how do we think/feel), so that the exhibition as a whole is like an installation encompassing diversities of vision.

Netting by Michelle Backhouse.


Some artworks are poetic selections with direct reference to contemporary political worlds, such as Channa Boon’s video, Brit Bunkley’s objects referencing abject histories of place or Sonja van Kerkhoff’s nature vs nurture flower transparencies. Others use materials or metaphors associated with cultural expression and relate them to the personal, such as Brenda Tuuta’s woven ‘speaking’ pieces, Adrienne Spratt’s giant sized basket and Anne Wellmer’s videos. Martje Zandboer’s suspended miniatures, which contain family photographs from the Dutch East Indies, mix Dutch colonial history with the theme of the personal and intergenerational. Thom Vink’s works take a more material versus human spirit perspective, where architectural models and photographs create a composite humane aesthetic, while Sanne Maes’ self-portrait video/drawing connects the self with the natural world. Pietertje van Splunter’s videos are like a poetics on the mundane: housework. Her brooms seem animated by an unearthly force and the constant stacking of the differing tribes of kitchen utensils suggests a game with secret rules. In using humour with the overkill her videos are reminders that the everyday domestic, is also a microcosm of the amusing, perhaps necessary banality of habit while Michelle Backhouse’s sculptures use seemingly banal materials, building paper, netting or house paint to create ethereal protusions.

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Inter-sensory correspondences

13Jan

Detail of “The Poetic Condition” in the Shutter Room, Whangarei.
Left to Right: Triptych by Inge Reisberman, Photos and model by Thom Vink, Video-drawing by Sannes Maes and the grid of photo-drawing combinations by Christiaan van Tol.

Tomorrow is the final day of the show and this ends with a spectacular presentation beginning at 12 noon by Auckland artist, Raewyn Turner, who will show and demonstrate inter-sensory correspondences in her own art projects as well as leading a discussion on ‘the poetic condition’ when it comes to the artistic practice. Links to a 7 min film about her scent work and where and when, and the Facebook event page.

Left to Right: Photograph + mixed media by Marg Morrow, Photogram by Megan Dickinson, Videos by Pietertje van Splunter, detail of a photo-model installation by Thom Vink

Left to Right: Detail of photos and model by Thom Vink, Two photo-grams by Lisa Clunie, Photograph by Elektra Bakhshov.

Left to Right: Photograph by Ellie Smith, Print by Sonja van Kerkhoff, Video by Anne Wellme (in collaboration with Geerten Ten Bosch, Harriët van Reek + Stephie Büttrich-Kolman), Photograph + mixed media by Marg Morrow, Photogram by Megan Dickinson, Videos by Pietertje van Splunter, detail of a photo-model installation by Thom Vink, Video by Channa Boon.

The Poetic Condition opens on Dec 7th, 2016

10Nov

Still from “Bird of Prey” by Sanne Maes

“The Poetic Condition |
De Dichterlijke Aard” looks at today’s big questions as an aesthetic exercise. All works by the nine Dutch artists explore, respond or extend the theme of our human nature and the relevance of the aesthetic of poetic intervention to the self, socio-political or society. They use a wide range of media and approaches to ‘big questions’ (who are we, how do we live, how do we think about others or relate to the news), so that the exhibition as a whole is like an installation encompassing diversities of vision. Some artworks are poetic selections relating to contemporary news, such as Channa Boon’s video or Christian van Tol’s drawings. Others take images associated with ‘the other’ culture or people and relate them to the personal, such as Inge van Reisberman’s photo-triptych and Anne Wellmer’s videos. Martje Zandboer’s suspended miniatures, which contain family photographs from the Dutch East Indies, mix Dutch colonial history with the theme of the personal and intergenerational. Thom Vink’s works take a more material versus human spirit perspective, where architectural models and photographs create a composite humane aesthetic, while Sanne Maes’ self-portrait video/drawing connects the self with the natural world. Pietertje van Splunter’s videos are like a poetics on the mundane: housework.

Still from “Cleaning the Air” by Pietertje van Splunter

Her brooms seem animated by an unearthly force and the constant stacking of the differing tribes of kitchen utensils suggests a game with secret rules. In using humour with the overkill her videos are reminders that the everyday domestic, is also a microcosm of the amusing, perhaps necessary banality of habit. Sonja van Kerkhoff’s photographic works pose questions focussed on an object–subject that is extended beyond the domestic, where an image of a baby is extended into the three dimensional incorporating philosophical slogans.
The five New Zealand artists, Lisa Clunie, Ellie Smith, Marg Morrow, Megan Dickinson and Elektra Bakhshov have been asked to respond to the theme, The Poetic Condition as well as to the various ways the Dutch works push the boundaries of the photographic medium.

The Poetic Condition | De dichterlijke Aard
The Shutter Room
7 Rust Avenue (opposite the public library entrance)
Whangarei

7 Dec – 14 January 2017
Wed-Fri: 12 noon – 4p.m., Sat: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

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