bye bye twelve twelve

Well, there you are, another fact of life:

Twelve twelve gallery closes its doors.

It was still a young gallery and full of energy.

In spite of its small space it always featured very diverse artists, always well presented and with much dedication and devotion to both content and aesthetics and to both artists and viewers.

I’m sure i won’t be the only one who’s going to miss that.

However, Twelve twelve’s Silvia Bakker is still young and full of good ideas, so i am sure we can regard the gallery as just a stepping stone to a next level.

A big thank you to Silvia and to the artists whose work she presented in the gallery!

Hope to meet you all again soon!

© Villa Next Door 2019

Content of all photographs courtesy to all artists and Twelve twelve gallery, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Joran van Soest, The in between; Twelve twelve gallery, The Hague

The in-between is probably the biggest part of the World as we see it.

Even bodily contact only seems to underscore that fact.

However, seen as a spiritual space the in-between is a vast reservoir of emotion, thinking, feeling and the unknown between the self and the rest of the world; the in-between is in fact the immaterial Other.

As an artist you are able to materialise these aspects and as such make a vessel for these thoughts.

Joran van Soest (1994), who graduated last year from the arts academy in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, is quite literally working on a vessel at the moment: a zeppelin.

Of course since the Hindenburg disaster civil aviation with zeppelins has come to a dramatic standstill, but the idea of a big ship steadily ploughing the waves of the enormous aerial ocean that surrounds our planet appeals to the imagination, as it does to Van Soest’s.

Whether he will succeed in making an airworthy airship may be doubtful, but that is not really important.

The spin-off of the project, materialising things, physical experimenting in and with the Other will probably be its main result.

To give you a good taste of it you can see Van Soest’s present show at Twelve twelve gallery.

© Villa Next Door 2019

Content of all photographs courtesy to Joran van Soest and Twelve twelve gallery, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Sam Lock, unremembered; Twelve twelve gallery, The Hague

Technically Sam Lock’s present solo exhibition at Twelve twelve gallery differs quite a lot from last year’s, which featured works on paper.

Now Lock (1973) shows works in different techniques, amongst them paintings and sculptures.

As usual the sculpture tends to dominate the show in that it gives direction to the sight lines.

Especially in this city near the sea Lock’s works seem to remind you of the coast and its natural processes in light and gestures.

Even though their titles mostly don’t refer to the sea, his sculptures may recall the surf along the coastline.

Like his other works they monumentalise the short moment of a gesture and sunlight.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Sam Lock and Twelve twelve gallery, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

LE SUD; Twelve twelve gallery, The Hague

The Dutch and the Flemish share a common language, but the histories of the areas they live in are quite different.

Their minds are shaped differently by cultural, political and economic developments, by different landscapes and by different geographical contexts.

For the Dutch it seems easy to understand the Flemish, but there also seems to be something ununderstandable in the Flemish way of thinking or in the Flemish human condition.

The same can be said about Flemish art.

The Dutch usually have admiration for the sincerity, lyricism and spirituality in Flemish art, aspects that don’t immediately spring to mind when thinking about Dutch art.

In an earlier exhibition at Twelve twelve gallery Gert Scheerlinck already showed his very personal ways of seeing.

He addresses his audience in an almost private way, inviting you to come very near and to challenge your imagination.

There is a sense of absurdism in his works but they don’t deceive you, they are as honest as their simple materials.

For the present exhibition Scheerlinck was invited to put together a presentation of works by himself and by Flemish artists of his own choice.

This resulted in a small but wonderful show with mostly lyrical works by, apart from Scheerlinck himself, Nicolás Lamas, Johan De Wit, Rein Dufait, Katleen Vinck and Johan Gelper.

On one hand one would wish to see solo presentations of each, on the other hand this group show is a very well composed treasure-trove, circling around Vinck’s robust and marvellous Plano and even going underground in the dark of the gallery’s cellar.

Content of all photographs courtesy to all artists and to Twelve twelve gallery, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Saskia Tannemaat, I wish my name was Louise; Twelve twelve gallery, The Hague

The present show of work by Saskia Tannemaat at Twelve twelve gallery gives a good idea of her expressive way of working.

Her paintings/drawings are often inspired by the margins and the marginalised of society.

Rather than an idea of sentimentality they show a sense of both vulnerability and strength.

The characters become as strong as the works themselves, also because Tannemaat knows how to improvise and how to use different materials.

She knows where to be sober and where to be flamboyant, where to use only black and white and where to be as colourful as possible.

Content of all photographs courtesy to Saskia Tannemaat and Twelve twelve gallery, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

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