Art in corona times 98. Reinoud Oudshoorn, sculptures; Galerie Ramakers, The Hague

Some things in life are as they are, but they don’t always seem what they are.

One of these things is the way we see.

Our stereo view gives us an idea of space helped by linear perspective.

We tend to take this linear perspective for granted as a tool to automatically measure the distance around us.

However, perspective can play tricks on us and as such it has been used in art since the Renaissance.

By the end of the 15^th century you can almost speak of a perspective-mania amongst painters; they all wanted their viewers to believe their paintings were three dimensional.

Architects have also known for centuries how to create space that isn’t really there by means of linear perspective.

There are many examples in architecture, one of the most famous is St. Peter’s Square in Rome which looks bigger than it really is as Bernini manipulated the height of the colonnades around it.

And that is the idea that clearly obsesses Reinoud Oudshoorn (1953): creating space that doesn’t exist.

Maybe that isn’t really the right description as space is already there; it can’t be created, whatever architects are trying to tell you.

Space can only be limited by walls and signs. In Oudshoorn’s work only these signs remain.

They are the signs of space that has never existed, they are the signs that create space in the mind of the viewer.

And it is real space in the sense that the signs are not two-dimensional, but it is not the space it pretends to be. Space, as anything in art, needs to be pretended.

Oudshoorn’s works look like carefully made and measured situations, but they are not just clever stuff; they invite you to look actively; it’s the art of seeing with its own playfulness and its own aesthetics.

Presently his works are on show at Galerie Ramakers.

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Contents of all photographs courtesy to Reinoud Oudshoorn and Galerie Ramakers, 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!!

Uit het atelier! (From the studio!); Galerie Ramakers, The Hague

Presently Galerie Ramakers has a show of works by five artists – Jérôme Touron, Azul Andrea, Reinoud Oudshoorn, Max Fouchy and Frank Halmans – which connect the optical to the slightly absurd.

For example Oudshoorn’s K-17 is a sculpture that may remind you of a graphite drawing or a black and white photograph and plays a game with your sense of perspective.

Andrea’s many sided works as shown here might probably be best described as optical lyricism.

Fouchy’s optical adventures vary from quite simple jokes to far more intricate works.

Touron’s Botanique (Botanical) is one of the more monumental works in the show.

Its simple concept contains a world of rich absurdity.

But undoubtedly the highlight of the show is Halmans’ Verlaten galerijflat (Abandoned Block of Flats).

It looks a bit like a big sum of the different aspects of Halmans’ works about which i wrote quite extensively in 2016 in Villa La Repubblica. Click here to read that article (in Dutch).

The works are still on show this week and over the weekend, so you have to hurry if you don’t want to miss this!

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

Bertus Pieters

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