Saturday 25 April 2015

Josine Timmer / Claude Monet



Claude Monet
Water Lillies
1917-1920
100 x 300 cm
Musée Marmottan, Paris


I found it so difficult to choose. Many different artists crossed my mind, but finally I chose Monet. His later work I find fantastic. This work in particular, because of the sketchy character and the openness, and the 'swirl' and speed of the brush strokes.
Josine Timmer, 2015


 
Josine Timmer (NL)
Untitled
2014
watercolor and ink on paper
99 x 149 cm



Sunday 19 April 2015

Simon Benson / Dante Alighieri - Sandro Botticelli




Dante Alighieri
The Divine Comedy
1308–21


Sandro Botticelli
The Chart of Hell (from the Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy)
1480 -1495
coloured drawing on parchment
33 × 47,5 cm
Vatican Library, Rome





Simon Benson (UK/NL) 
The Dream Is Long (The Winding Path)
2014
graphite on paper
100 x 280 cm
www.simonbenson.nl





Saturday 11 April 2015

Stijn Peeters / James Ensor



James Ensor
Alimentation doctrinaire
1889
etching enhanced with wash and colored chalk on Japanese paper, plate I, second state
18 x 23,8 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles


The neo-liberal ‘flat’ world of international money and their local lackeys is pressing hard on the everyday life of citizens, everything is sellable and what does not sell isn’t worth anything and can be discarded. It’s a deeply cynical belief. The real threats that face our planet and future generations are not addressed, the people we choose to represent us, act like clowns and players in a theatre. Reacting primarily to the last tweets, facebook posts and internet-scandals, they are under constant pressure from the media to perform.
Ensor made fun of power, cynical, hard and unforgiving. How would the present day version of his 'Alimentation doctrinaire' look? Church, army, king and court? It would look very simple, ordinary guys in power suits, white mostly, apparatchiks and managers, people rewarded for being able to take harsh decisions, lacking the powers of fantasy to even begin imagining the effects of their actions on other people. This is a challenge and I’ve decided to make ‘necessary‘ works, work that needs to be made, thoroughly democratic in spirit, hopefully uplifting and stimulating.
Stijn Peeters, 2015
 




Stijn Peeters (NL)
Sorgeloos
2014
acrylic and oil on linen
250 x 200 cm