Art in corona times 73. Voorhout Monumentaal 2021; Lange Voorhout, The Hague

To write a review for Villa La Repubblica about Voorhout Monumentaal 2021, i went to Lange Voorhout to see the public sculpture show there. Click here to read the review in Villa La Repubblica (in Dutch).

As it happened only two sculptures in the show – by Ewerdt Hilgemann (1938) and by Joncquil (1973) – were worth taking some more pictures of.

One of Hilgemann’s so-called Implosion Sculptures is on show.

These are welded geometrical shapes, which are vacuumed.

As such they look like post-modern statements about a worn-out modernism, where chance plays a role again.

Surrounding shapes and colours mix in the crumpled surface of the sculpture, making it part of the surroundings itself.

Joncquil’s Le moule qui rit (The laughing mould) –a title derived from the French cheese spread La vache qui rit (The laughing cow) – refers to both le moule, French for “the mould,” and la moule, French for “the mussel.”

As such it is also referring to Marcel Broodthaers (1924-1976) and his Pots of Mussels. Of course Lange Voorhout is full of shells, moulds if you wish, but as an absurdist object in The Hague’s chicest avenue Le moule qui rit also works very well, apart from its references.

Click here to read the article in Villa La Repubblica (in Dutch).

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© Villa Next Door 2021

Contents of all photographs courtesy to Ewerdt Hilgemann, Joncquil and Pulchri Studio, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

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Art in corona times 5. For the Love of Art, Galerie Ramakers, The Hague

Galerie Ramakers recently opened a new show specially made for these difficult times.

Reinier Lagendijk; background left: Warffemius,; background right: Bob Bonies

The gallery is quite spacious, so the five feet distance rule can easily be observed.

Of course there are setbacks for the gallery and its artists.

Fairs are postponed or don’t take place and works made for these events or meant to be shown at them have to be exhibited in another way.

In the gallery is, of course, the best and most obvious way to do so.

One can look at zillions of works of art on the internet, but nothing can beat the real thing.

Many of the works presently on show are for the inquisitive and have the power to absorb you.

Personally i enjoyed seeing these works very much. Some of them are golden oldies, others are quite new.

© Villa Next Door 2020

Contents of all photographs courtesy to the artists and Galerie Ramakers, Den Haag.

Bertus Pieters

VILLA NEXT DOOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ADVERTISING ON THIS PAGE!!

25 Years Galerie Ramakers, The Hague

Galerie Ramakers is celebrating its 25 years anniversary.

Left to right: Yumiko Yoneda, Pat Andrea, Michel Hoogervorst

Warffemius; Bob Bonies in the background

Some artists of the gallery were invited to make a temporary monumental work on the walls.

Near the windows Bob Bonies (1937) made an apparently simple, but in fact quite sophisticated work, while Ien Lucas (1955) made such an unobtrusive work on the opposite wall, that one would almost think it is a common feature of the gallery.

In the back space of the gallery four men, Mat van der Heijden (1964), Joncquil (1973), Pat Andrea (1942) and Michel Hoogervorst (1961), are competing, each in his own special way.

In the conservatory Yumiko Yoneda (1965) has made an installation of her sensitive drop-like sculptures which now slowly change with the changing of the daylight.

In between all this monumentality there are some smaller works by other artists of the gallery on show.

It is not a minor achievement to run a successful gallery for 25 years, and the general mood of the exhibition is warm and festive.

Left to right: Joncquil, Pat Andrea, Yumiko Yoneda, Warffemius

It also goes to show how important the bond between a gallery-keeper, the artists and the gallery’s visitors and customers is.

Pat Andrea; in the background Yumiko Yoneda

Of course it is business, but it is very much a business of love.

It is very much the enthusiastic and informal personality of Catalijn Ramakers and her aesthetic choices that has made this brilliant artistic party possible.

In fact this party of love and dedication has been going on already for many years and by all means i wish her a prolongation of many years to come.

© Villa Next Door 2019

Contents of all photographs courtesy to the artists and Galerie Ramakers, Den Haag.

Bertus Pieters

VILLA NEXT DOOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ADVERTISING ON THIS PAGE!!

Yani Chuang, Anatole de Benedictis & Joncquil, Found Footage; Heden, The Hague

Making an exhibition with three artists is quite a venture, especially if all three show personality in their works.

Often the works of two artists seem to communicate while the third gets isolated in one way or another.

Heden made a show with works by Yani Chuang, Anatole de Benedictis and Joncquil in which this doesn’t happen.

The works are concentrated in the two main exhibition rooms, but they are also presented in the rest of the gallery, more or less embedded in Heden’s collection.

Indeed all three artists need space.

They were brought together as they make use of found objects, found footage if you wish.

Chuang, who graduated last year from the Royal Academy in The Hague (KABK), takes chairs in different types and styles as her starting point.

She transforms them into sculptural characters and even gives them individual names.

Her works function as a kind of beacons in the show.

It will be interesting to see how her work will develop.

De Benedictis already graduated some years ago and his work has very much grown since.

In his drawings rigorous precision and a clear graphic pencil line are his hallmarks.

Their ‘coolness’, completed by objects that reflect the subjects of the drawings, seems to mask a world of falling and rising, including the pains, the joys and the discrepancies.

Joncquil’s world has expanded gradually octopus-like with the different interests and different disciplines he incorporates in his practice, of which painting, film and on-the-spot happenings are not presented in this show.

But, well, art is always ‘happening’ the moment you see it anyway, especially in Joncquil’s case.

Heden’s choice to make this rich and expanding show with these three artists is a very happy one indeed.

Contents of all photographs courtesy to the artists and to Heden, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

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