Rob Verf / Willem Claesz Heda

Willem Claesz Heda 

Still Life with a Fruit Pie

1644

oil on panel

80,6 x 101,5 cm

 

 

 

There isn’t a particular artwork that is my favourite. In my paintings (but also in my spatial work, collages, videos, etc.), there are many demonstrable interfaces with works of art from the past. All with different reasons: through the subject, the way of painting, the composition, the concept of space or colour. Some of my works are direct references to works by Pablo Picasso or by Vincent van Gogh. But the majority of my inspiration comes from Dutch baroque paintings, with painters such as Pieter de Hooch, Johannes Vermeer, Gabriel Metsu, Willem Claesz Heda, Rembrandt, and others. 

 

One of the subjects that interest me in the paintings of the Dutch Baroque Period is the fact that objects, as well as persons, are isolated in the whole. Nothing is present for decorative reasons, but has a function in the image. In addition, especially with Johannes Vermeer, light is very important. Unlike Rembrandt van Rijn, who depicted light as a material, Johannes Vermeer paints a spiritual light. The light is energy between the objects. 

 

The images of these historical paintings mix with the visual language and views of the contemporary. Social topics in the country where I am resident (Argentina), in South America or from the world in general mix with the Dutch tradition in painting. An example of this juxtaposition was my exhibition Vanitas (2022) in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires in Argentina, where the vanitas /still life subject was drawn towards the contemporary. Garbage -with it’s sculptural value- is a subject that can be found in many of my paintings and photographs over the years, either as a theme in it self, as an installation or as part of a painting. Garbage has direct interfaces with the vanitas theme. In particular, it clearly reflects the anthropogenic era in which we now find ourselves. 

 

The exhibition showed my artworks made in different decades about the subject, in combination with paintings from different centuries from the collection of the museum (Jan Fyt, Diego Rivera, Georges Braque amongst others). It was centred on an installation with five paintings that form a huge still life of garbage. A landscape of garbage as it appears in the street. Painted as an image of a hospital MRI-scan: representing an analysis of society.

 

Rob Verf,  2022

Rob Verf

MRI-Scan Of Society

2014

acrylic on canvas

140 x 210 cm

(collection Bank Of The Nation, Argentina)

Rob Verf

MRI-Scan Of Society

2018

acrylic on canvas

140 x 1020 cm

(Installation at the National Museum Of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2022)

Rob Verf (NL/AR)

MRI-Scan OF Society

2018

acrylic on canvas

140 x 200 cm

(One of the 5 paintings that form the installation)

www.robverf.com

Remco Dikken / Henk ter Horst

 

Henk ter Horst

Geen titel

watercolour

14 x 11,5 cm

collection Jan en Wiepke Noltes

Henk ter Horst

Geen titel

collage, mixed media

17 x 12,5 cm

collection Jan en Wiepke Noltes

Henk ter Horst

Zelfportret

felt tip pen on paper

14 x 10 cm

collection Jan en Wiepke Noltes

 

 

After graduating from the Aki in Enschede, I was invited by the HeArtpool Hengelo Foundation for the HeArtfund prize. This meant a year of financial support, a studio, a solo exhibition in the art center of Hengelo, accompanied by a publication of my work. In this year I was updated by colleague Henk Lassche about the rich painting past of Hengelo. Names like Eef de Weerd, Riemko Holtrop, Jan van der Leest, Theo Wolvecamp passed by. But my favorite is Henk ter Horst. 

 

Ter Horst was an outsider. And it was only at the age of 52 that he took the step towards free artistry. Ter Horst often worked with cardboard or paper that came in through the letterbox. He preferred to work with Taleta, a Talens paint that is no longer made. This paint resembles gouache paint, but can be applied in thin layers without the colors flowing together. His spontaneous way of working really appeals to me. Everything seems to be right with him! In my opinion the faster, direct to the paper, the better the work. 

 

I recognize that in my own work. Often when I think about something, it goes wrong. Like Ter Horst, I want to preserve the spontaneity of a drawing. In 1983 Ter Horst gained national fame and many doors opened for him. With his participation in the exhibition of contemporary art organized by guest curator Albert Waalkens in the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam. Nevertheless, he remained loyal to Hengelo and preferred to work in isolation from his home studio. The HeArtfund prize has also been created for this purpose. To connect people with Twente. Keeping young artists for this region. So that they can work on their oeuvre in peace.

 

Remco Dikken, 2022

Remco Dikken

Dancing in spring

2022

acrylic on canvas 

30 x 24 cm

collection Akzo Nobel Art Foundation

Remco Dikken

Eiland 

2008

mixed media on paper

65 x 110 cm

collection Reyn van der Lugt 

Remco Dikken

I'm a cat

2022

acrylic on paper

19 x 28 cm

private collection

Remco Dikken (NL)

Rabbit Hill

2022

acrylic on canvas

60 x 50 cm

www.remcodikken.com