Rien Monshouwer (1947) and Jean van Wijk (1953), two old hands in the trade from The Hague, exhibit at Kadmium gallery in Delft.
Near the place where William I of Orange (1533-1584) unwillingly left a hole in the wall and in time, Monshouwer and Van Wijk are also creating space and time but, happily, they are still actively doing so.
Monshouwer shows paintings, text drawings and a small sculpture.
The sobriety of his work is in stark contrast with the sheer inexhaustible array of objects, computer prints and installations by Van Wijk.
While Monshouwer’s abstractions reflect on the social and aesthetic implications and relics of modernism in urban housing, Van Wijk’s work drags you into the space in between the walls, inside and outside, freely narrowing or widening the gap as it pleases.
It is as if space itself re-imposes its rule over architecture and the landscape, creating a kind of architecture of the vacuum.
While Van Wijk corrupts every sense of measurement and as such invents new shapes for space, Monshouwer re-assesses the world of modern urban measurement and the abstract remnants it leaves in the mind as a remembrance of the ideals of modernism in the microcosm of the city.
Not without a tour de force these seemingly incompatible spirits are drawn together in the exhibition, challenging the viewer.
Quite successfully so, as both seem to reinforce each other’s qualities.
Although it’s wonderful to see works by both artists in Delft, it is a bit strange that they are not household names in The Hague itself.
© Villa Next Door 2019
Contents of all pictures courtesy to the artists and Kadmium, Delft
Bertus Pieters
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