Who would you pick?

So give your opinion on http://artblahblah.com/?p=749

A very interesting art blog anyway!!! created by Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery (http://www.monkdogz.com)

Jo Baer

Jo Baer, courtesy of Petrovsky & Ramone

Last Friday I visited the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven with my friend (and visual artist) Ameli Viaux. The museum it self is every artists wet dream to be able to exhibit in. Enormous and (sometimes extremely) high white walls, big enough but not too, so it gives you the feeling of intimacy. The classification of the area is very playful and everything besides the floor is white.

There were 3 solo-exhibitions of female artists and one of them, Jo Baer (born in Seattle, now living in Amsterdam), to me was the eye-catcher. She was born in 1929 and started exhibiting when my parents still were children. But what she's created in all those years and recently, definitely is of all times. When I look at her oeuvre I feel just like a rookie, still wet behind the ears. With this exhibition you travel through a selection out of 50 years of her art which changes from abstract expressionism to extremely abstract minimalistic to radical figuration. Being on top of her success in 1975 she dare to turn away from abstraction and started examining and experimenting with figurative forms. Her goal was to connect social reality and illusion.

I endorse her statement: "All of the so-called abstract artists always have a tissue of meaning. I always did certainly... I meant layers. I meant boundaries. I meant very specific things always” Jo Baer, 1987

Technique

Part of a new painting which is under construction.

A lot of people ask me how I am able to create the textures in my paintings.

My paintings are made with paint on canvas. Nothing more, nothing less. No acrylic gel medium, no sand, no glue, no textile, nothing of any other kind of 'aid'. I build my paintings, sculpt them using palette knifes, brushes and my fingers. That's why there is so much paint on my pants, and that's how the reliëf rises on the canvas.

Before I start to paint, I've got to free my mind. If I don't succeed in that, the painting will not be good. It's not always easy to free your mind when you're tight up with the issues that confront us on a daily basis, especially when they are more serious and numerous than average. In that case it takes a lot of concentration to 'step up' but when I succeed it's a perfect get-away from daily life. The result of my paintings, though not figurative, always is autobiographic. But everybody can 'read' them using their own interpretation.

Simon Vinkenoog - expert in the Art of Living

Saturday evening I read that Simon Vinkenoog, a famous Dutch writer en poet, was dying. He had an enormous brain haemorrhage. Sunday early in the morning he died, his family was with him.

Simon would have become 81 next week and was a lightning example for humanity in positivity and staying young in his head. Always happy and full of energy. I admired him and his lifestyle at his age. He was a bright light and still performing on stage with Spinvis. He was not only an artist, but also an expert in the art of living! Or as we say in Dutch 'een levenskunstenaar'. You would not have given him 81 at all! Also he was the ambassador of marihuana, smoking joints every day til the day he died.

Lately I saw a documentary on television (made by Hugo Borst) about Jan Ykema, a former Dutch professional skater who, after finishing his career, was heavily addicted to cocaine and speed for some time. A black period in his life. He rehabilitated, but not without his 'medicin' as he calls it... smoking a joint from time to time. It calms him down and lightens him up. People who suffer from chronic pain also benefit from this medicin. In the Netherlands marihuana is not forbidden, like in many other countries. But under pressure of European laws etc... the laws about buying and growing it are getting tighter. Hugo interviewed Jan, and also his son (a teenager) who was very happy that he got his father back and understood that smoking a joint is not that bad at all. Drinking alcohol every day, is much worse.

Jan Ykema's demented father is staying in a home for the elderly. He was sick, getting sicker and did not want to get up and could not walk anymore... until Jan one day decided to put marihuana-leaf in his tea.. In a few days the old man recovered, got out of bed, started walking again and was much happier....

Maybe we should give the elderly who don't enjoy life anymore, the choice to drink some marihuana-tea from time to time and brighten up their days! Life would be much more beautiful for them and I think it would save a lot of costs in medication and sleeping pills as well!

Why not learning from this?... Why not trying to learn the art of living? Just like Simon Vinkenoog! Why does everything has to be so strict and why can't everybody loosen a bit?
Get a life!

Uncertainty

Wiped out

The weather last week was warm and sulty. It was 32 degrees Celcius/90 degrees Fahrenheit. When the temperature is this high it tears the energy and inspiration out of me. I've worked very hard lately and said to myself that taking a week off would do me some good. So I did some jobs in my house, slept in the shadow of the nut tree in the garden and read this beautiful book: 'La sombra del Viento' of Carlos Ruiz Zafón... (English title: The Shadow of the wind), which has already been read by at least 15 million people worldwide.

I can tell you, I've read a lot of books, but this is absolutely the most fabulous one I've ever read. To me Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a fantastic artist. I envy him for his talent, for his imagination and the strength to compose it into a book. It took him 7 years to write the next book: El juego del ángel (The angel's game) which I'm absolutely going to read and immerse into this promising story. I cannot wait! I wonder, does Carlos ever feel uncertain? Does he ever doubt himself, feeling small, just like me?

It happens to me every time after taking 1 or 2 weeks off.... I get uncertain and find myself thinking that I lost 'the magic touch', that I cannot do it anymore. This goes skin deep, every time again. Up til now I've always retrieved 'it'. Today I stepped into my studio again.... and screwed up. So now I'll be giving myself some peptalk and start over again tomorrow.

Dare to be UNIQUE!

Heartbeat, 100x120 cm/39x47 inch, follow your heart, not your head.

On Artblahblah, the blog of the gallery who represents my work in New York: Monkdogz Urban Art, the Gallery Diva wrote a, in my opinion, very interesting article. Essence of the article (and quote): "People are buying art for the monetary value, more now than ever. They’re buying a known commodity, limited availability and safe. It has nothing to do with understanding the language of art."
For more: http://artblahblah.com/?p=586

I agree with her view on this phenomena.
In the USA sales are under pressure even more than in Europe, but galleries and artists overhere who live from the sales of their art all are having a hard time now. A lot of my colleague-artists who were in a rising (or sometimes established) position up til the beginning of 2009, are confronted with a lot less sales or no sales at all!
I've been lucky I think, because up til now it has not been that bad for me, but I know that I'm not going to dance away from this crisis.
Most of the people who are buying art now, do this not because they love the artpiece, but for the monetary value of it... So they invest in 'established' art. Most of the time these artpieces are at least 40 years old, and older.
Even though they've got enough money, they don't dare to follow their heart and buy art they really love. They rather buy art that has been valued by others.

Apparently in times of crisis people react primitive. This is pure biology, the animal in us shows herd behavior more than ever. In times of abundance it's more easy to distance yourself from the rest of the crowd. There's not much to lose (in terms of money) when things go wrong. It also is a sort of luxury to (try to) be unique, different than the rest of the world. But when times are rough, we act primitive and there is not much we can do about it. This shows that we're so small, so humble, only a tiny part of the enormous universe we live in and we are dragged into the maelstrom.

For the people who don't have much to lose during this crisis, speaking of money, I urge you to make the difference. Be unique, choose the art you really like and which hits you, not the amount of money that it represents. I like the way the Gallery Diva puts it: 'What about being part of history?'... Wouldn't it be great if a contemporary artist becomes more known, and later on maybe even famous, and you were the one who discovered and believed in this artist back in 2009? Or would you rather be part of the crowd, just like sheep or ants and play it safe? Think about it. You might be making a better investment than you could have ever dreamed of, besides the fact that a good piece of art, which you fell in love with, can bring so many moments of happiness in your life!

Pop-ups in the open and Ivo Daniëls

Close up of 'the beauty of ignorance' from the pop-up series

Today my handsome webdesigner has put the images of the new paintings from the Pop-up series on my website. More new Pop-up-paintings are on their way! Some of them still only popped-up in my head, some of them are under construction yet.


One of 'The nothing between the something' illustrations from, and courtesy of, Ivo Daniëls.

Yesterday Ivo, a young old friend of mine, came to visit my studio. He lives in Amsterdam but was in the neighborhood and we had an inspiring talk. Ivo recently graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven and is working on a few projects right now. He's one of the most distinctive persons I know, always following his own feelings. The consequence is that his path is not the most easy one, but the results are the ones you would not have thought of. He's always looking for challenges and is very inventive. If you want to visit his website and discover more about him: www.ivodaniels.nl

Open letter to Brad Pitt

courtesy Georgios Kefalas

Dear Mr. Pitt,

Congratulations with the pieces of art you bought on Art Basel 2009 (June 10-14, 2009, Basel, Switzerland).
I like 'Etappe' a lot (and also the other work of Neo Rauch) and I adore the fantastic art and architecture of Atelier van Lieshout from Rotterdam. You've got an eye for it!

My art is represented by 8 (soon to be 9) renowned galleries in the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA, and my paintings are sold on a regular basis. They are still very affordable because I've been hiding them for the top-galleries who are able to present themselves at 'top of the bill' art fairs like Art Basel, Frieze Art Fair, or Art Basel Miami.

Of course, once you've bought a piece, the value of my art will rise, just because YOU bought one.
Maybe that could make it possible eventually to realize my altruistic ideals.
I can assure you that you won't have any regrets! Also everyone who has already bought my work will be thrilled!!! Can you imagine how many people you would be making happy?

So if you do like my work and you've got some money and empty walls in one of your houses left, please do not hesitate to contact one of my galleries (1 is located in New York City, I think you're in the neighborhood sometimes) or me in person. Of course I'd be more than pleased to deliver my work at your house personally (without ulterior motives!)

Sincerely yours,
Esther Barend

P.s.: If so, can I bring my youngest son? He's 12 and adores Angelina!
--
http://www.estherbarend.eu
http://estherbarend.blogspot.com

Gallery & Studio Magazine

New York City - June 2009
Image search.
Part of my art on the 1 page advertisement of Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery in the summer edition of Gallery & Studio Magazine. Proud to be one of their artists.

For more Monkdogz:
www.monkdogz.com and www.artblahblah.com

Pictures of my exhibition at Suite Gallery

My paintings do fit wonderful on the walls of Suite Gallery, Bredestraat 2 in Loenen aan de Vecht, Netherlands.

'Mettlesome', 'Atmosphere' and 2 of the 'Panoramic'-series

It looks like some walls are black, but when you take a close look, you can see that they are purple, intense purple.


'Turbulence' and 'Life's a rollercoaster'


Cute girls... in front of 'Agility'


'Coziness' and 'Felicity'

If you want to see more and for real: Suite Gallery is opened on Thursday and Friday 11-17.00 hours, Saturday 10-17.00 hours.

Pictures courtesy of Suite Gallery

Art fair - ART LAREN 2009

Yesterday the 14th edition of ART LAREN started. This art fair is in open air under the trees on 'De Brink' in Laren Noord-Holland, the Netherlands.

27 galleries present the art of about 150 artists, curated by a commission to guard the quality of the presented art on this fair.

WARNARS & WARNARS (Naarden-Vesting) represents my work at this art fair which runs until Sunday June 7 from 11.00 - 18.00 hours.

Free entrance! For more info: www.artlaren.nl - www.warnars-warnars.nl

Pop-up

Love poem in black & white, 39x23 inch/100x60 cm

I've been busy the last few weeks with my new series 'Pop-up'.
While experimenting, and not being entirely satisfied about the result, the idea came up to continue with an experiment I started 3 years ago. Of course I had to adjust it to the developments I've made ever since. And so the first painting in the Pop-up series arose. The painting appeared first, and then the name of the Pop-up series popped up.
There are 11 paintings now in this series, smaller and large ones. My head is filled with variations on them and I cannot wait to implement them. It's a pity that I cannot project them directly from my head, through my eyes to canvas... that would be really nice!!

Sometimes I'm too impatient and it takes a lot of energy to keep focussed on the canvas if it does not grow as quickly as I would like it to do.
On the other hand... I love to watch what comes out of my hands.
It's amazing to experience that sometimes it's like the painting paints itself and I've got nothing to do with it, only my hands working.

I'm feeling very happy in my studio with all these new paintings surrounding me. Often I find it difficult to give up my paintings when they are sold or going to one of the galleries representing my work. The knowledge that I might never see it again.... So I'm very happy that I still do have the pictures!

Exhibition at Suite Gallery

Next Saturday May 30, my exhibition at Suite Gallery in Loenen aan de Vecht will get started. My newest paintings will be shown, together with art-photography of Karen Kaper. I've delivered my paintings so I'm ready for take off now!

I already had a lot of positive reactions on the series of small paintings in the series 'Panoramic', 'Sign of the times', 'Landscapes' and 'Passage' and now I've started a new series the 'Pop-up'-series.... maybe more about that next time.

Garbage and art

The use of garbage in art is wellknown. Recycling is a good thing, so why not use garbage or old things to create art? One thing is for sure: we've got LOTS of garbage!

At Studio Hergebruik in Rotterdam, you can buy creations of artists and designers who used old and broken things which would normally have ended on the rubbish dump. I think this is a great initiative. For example: Artist Iri5 makes art out of old cassettes and Matthijs Vogels makes bowls made of leek waste, coffee or tea, etc... There are so many possibilities and it starts to itch heavily when I think about all the creations I would like to make... I think I'd have to divide myself in at least 4 Esthers if I wanted to produce all of the ideas flying through my head.

Jimi Hendrickx, made by Iri5, courtesy of Iri5

Platform 21 has made a 'repair manifesto': "Things should be designed so that they can be repaired". "Don't ditch it, stitch it". They prevent the recycling because if you repair it, recycling isn't even necessary. If you want to read it all www.platform21.nl Good initiative!
courtesy of Platform 21

You can also use a complete rubbish dump to make a statement, like I saw at 'Palais de Tokyo' in Paris last year. (a very nice museum!)

Trash in Palais de Tokyo, Aug. 2008, Paris

Yesterday I went to the opening of the final exhibition of Chloé who's in her 6th and last year on secondary school, specification graphics. Each student had to make a campaign for the municipality of Overpelt (where her school is located). The assignment was to make a clear campaign to stimulate people to throw their garbage in the trash can, not on the ground (like, it's unbelievable, a lot of people do ????????). The exhibition took place in old sea-containers on the market place and also there was an exhibition in the school from the art-department. I was really surprised by the great ideas and concepts from the talented students. The municipality is actually going to make a choice out of the campaigns.
Chloé (right) and a classmate in front of a train made by cans (project of another classmate)

Gallery Delfi Form and Warnars&Warnars

'nayika eye keeper', 100x160 cm Ton Mertens, courtesy of Delfi Form and Ton Mertens

Yesterday I had to make a long trip through the small Netherlands. 'Long' because travelling in the Netherlands is really aweful. One traffic jam after another... I like driving, but I hate it when you have to stop for about a 100.000 times! Feels like we're living in/on an anthill.

First I went to Gallery Delfi Form in Zwolle to bring new work. The gallery director, Jan Buizer, runs his gallery for about 2 decades and is a real connoisseur!
I like his gallery very much. It's located in the ancient heart of Zwolle. He really has got a beautiful collection and works with great artists. I'm very happy that my art makes part of his collection.
At this moment there's an exhibition of the paintings of Ton Mertens... Wow, this artist has not only got a lot of imagination, but he knows exactly how to reproduce it on canvas. If you want to read more:
http://www.delfiform.nl/kunstenaar/7/ton-mertens/
Sorry, it's only available in Dutch.
If you want to visit the exhibition it lasts untill June 4. Also Delfi Form always has paintings in stock.

Next I went to Naarden, which is near Amsterdam to deliver new paintings to the Warnars-brothers, Arnold and Bernard. Arnold immediately installed small paintings of the series: "Sign of the times" in the display window.



Warnars & Warnars is located in the centre of the lovely Naarden-Vesting (the old fortress is still there), close to 'Het Arsenaal' of the famous designer Jan des Bouvrie. They've got a long history, are very enthusiastic and represent old and contemporary artists, classic and modern. I like very much the work of Jan Scholten. He's a contemporary painter and his paintings (Dutch landscapes, but you've never seen them before in the way he makes them) are as beautiful in a classic design as in a super modern environment.
For more info watch http://www.warnars-warnars.nl

Good opening weekend at Gallery ART-ist

The start of my exhibition at Gallery ART-ist in Geel has been a success. There has been sold, there are some options and the amount of people who came to the opening weekend and their reactions on the show were great. Frans and Nicole, the gallery owners, are very satisfied with the result. It brought a lot of new visitors as well! It was very nice meeting the people who had already bought one or more of my paintings and those who are so enthusiastic about my work. It gives me lots of positive energy to hear and see what my work means to someone.

A day of contemplation

When I am in the middle of starting a project, a new series of paintings etc... I'm not there. I'm there physically but in my head I'm somewhere else. And I'm restless, very restless.

When I am in that state of being, I'm not the nicest company in the world. I have trouble sleeping, or I even dream about the new idea and I don't feel comfortable.
Next I start worrying. In my head the painting or series of paintings are already made... but then I have to make it real, put the paint on canvas. What if I do not succeed? What if the paintings cannot be made like I've seen them in my head? There is a decrease of my self esteem... I start wondering if I will even be able to make another good painting ever again.... This has its negative effect on my work, so I have to get over my doubts. I can only do that by taking a few days off or just start to paint. Sometimes I waste a canvas. It's a pity. I have to pick up myself, talk some sense into myself... and then... suddenly I realize that 'it' is back. I'm never aware of that at the very moment, but always afterwards.
That is one way...

I also have days that I'm totally relaxed. I start painting without doubts, without thoughts, just painting, I forget everything, I forget me ... and at the end of the day I'm surprised by what I have made and I wonder if it was really me who created it.
The next day I still wonder...
Sometimes I start a new painting and when the beginning is okay, I can dance through the day. It's like the painting paints itself.

The only similarity is that either way I lose track of time, and because I ignore my physical signals, it sometimes exhausts me. Yesterday and the day before.. and the day before I felt so tired.... that is why today I did nothing but enjoying the beautiful weather, reading, sleeping and contemplating.
It helped... I feel great! Tomorrow it's time to start with a new painting... again!

Preparing the last things for the next exhibition

I've made a few new series of small paintings. This is new for me... from the very beginning I made large paintings. I cannot help it, I just love 'big' art. I think this comes from the fact that I get overwhelmed every time again when I'm in front of a big piece of art, that I like, in a museum and I would like to get in to it... lose myself in it. On the other hand, this does not mean that I cannot get hit by the beauty of small art. It was really fun making these small paintings, and since I made series of them, they can be hung together... that makes big too!
Some of them will be shown at the new exhibition at Gallery ART-ist in Geel, Belgium that will start Friday May 1.

Article about my work on ARTBLAHBLAH

I'm very proud that the Gallery Diva of Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery in New York City published an entire article devoted to my work on their Artblahblah blog.

If you're interested: http://artblahblah.com/?p=325

Exhibition Gallery ART-ist in GEEL - Belgium

On the cover of a magazine

Next Friday, May 1, my exhibition at Galerie ART-ist in Geel, Belgium, will get started. The gallery will have special days on May 1, 2 and 3.
Sunday May 3, I will be attending the exhibition from 13.30 until 18.00.
Everybody is very welcome.

Next to the paintings that are already present at the gallery, also new work will be shown from a new series.

The making of...

Applying the first layer.

Next I start playing with the paint.

Adding new colors

Continuing with details. Lots of details.. this takes a lot of time.

The finishing touch... (always takes longer than I plan)

Finished
'Propulsive', 90x110x4,5 cm / 35x43x2 inch

Videos about art

If you need background information on an artist, or you're just interested in art there's a new website you can visit. To me it looks like an artchannel, but not on tv, but on internet. It offers videos about art from sources including the MOMA (New York) LACMA (L.A.) and the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). You can also watch videos about how an exhibition is installed in a museum. For example Marlene Dumas in the MOMA.

www.artbabble.org

Great artist

FAD website announced the exhibition of Ashley Bickerton in White Cube in London. What a great artist. He hasn't got a website (doesn't need to..) but if you're interested you can go to this site: www.lehmannmaupin.com/#/artists/ashley-bickerton/ It gives a good impression of his work.

Vanity galleries don't make the world more beautiful

Almost every week I receive emails from galleries all over the world, telling me what wonderful art I make and 'offering' me an exhibition. Sometimes a solo, sometimes a group exhibition. None of them are original in their manner of approaching and I recognize them immediately... the so called 'vanity galleries'.

A vanity gallery is a place where an artist can hire space by the ft2/m2. It doesn't matter if your art is good, bad, ugly or not original at all.. the only thing that matters is that the gallery owner gets the money for the walls and space. This way the gallery already covers its costs and often they even already have profit without selling anything. It has nothing to do with love for art, or being passionate about it. If the gallery sells one of the art works the artist has to pay commission on top of the rent.

A good gallery presents a varied or specialized collection of art, and works with a permanent group of artists in whom they believe, completed with emerging artists that they've 'discovered'. Sometimes during an exhibition nothing is sold, or it takes some time before it starts rolling. This is the risk that a gallery has to take and that is why they do not accept just any artist who walks in. The gallery has to fall in love with the work AND the artist. The work should not be competitive with the artwork of the artists the gallery already represent and it should complete the excisting collection. An artist should be loyal to the galleries he works with. When the gallery sells a piece of art, the artist pays commission to the gallery. In fact a gallery and an artist are business partners and need each other. The artist does what he's best in: creating wonderful and unique art. The gallery specializes in representing the artists work in the best possible way. 1+1 = 3

In my opinion vanity galleries do not benefit the art world nor the artists nor the art lovers. People who just get acquainted with art can be confused. By entering a gallery, they cannot see if the gallery is a serious one, or a vanity gallery. If you're an art lover and you're experienced, you can immediately recognize a vanity gallery. Most of the time, what is shown is not the best art in the world. In fact, what is shown, is art made by people who can afford to pay to exhibit OR by artists who really do create good art but don't know yet that this is not the right track to follow. They already invest a lot in their canvas, paint, website, studio rent, transport of the paintings etc... So it's not appropriate to pay to exhibit on top of all that.

I advise emerging artists not to do business with vanity galleries. It doesn't help you to get any further.

GREAT artists!!

In April 2008 I payed a visit to the best exhibition I've ever seen in my life (up till now) in the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
This was my first encounter with The Guggenheim in New York, which is a fantastic piece of art of its own. The exhibition inside was breathtaking. It was the 'I want to believe' retrospective travelling exhibition of one of the greatest contemporary artists (in my opinion) in the world Cai Guo-Qiang. What a fantastic versatile and innovative artist he is. The ingenuity of his art made me shiver and gave me sensations I've never felt before visiting an exhibition. I felt very fortunate to be able to experience this.

If you want to look him up:

www.caiguoqiang.com

Currently his 'I want to believe' travelling exhibition can be seen in the Guggenheim in Bilbao. If you're able to visit his art one time, you should... it's like with all good art... you get absorbed by it when you see it for real! It hits you to the bone.

Two other great artists, but in my opinion absolutely not to be compared with Cai Guo Qiang are:
www.joshkeyes.net
and
www.ryoheihase.com
Very original art and of great quality.

Stargazing

Stargazing, a painting from the Black & White series, in detail.

My paintings in group exhibition New York March 16 - Mid June 2009

Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery presents a new exhibition of 4 of their artists.
Several works of Steve Reinhart, Batis Campillo, Bob Hogge and myself will be exhibited as from tomorrow Monday, March 16, in midtown Manhattan, 150 East 52nd Street, New York City. This show will run until mid June 2009.
www.monkdogz.com

Retrospective

2008 has been a crazy year for me with lots of exhibitions. In the fall I had about 9 exhibitions, one following the other, with overlap. I worked my ass of... Could not think of anything else than my paintings and art, art, art. Got absorbed by it... and I love it! But now it's time for reflection and a few steps back.. probably only for a short period... I know myself very well ;-) I keep on painting (can't do without it), but I'm giving myself a bit more space and also I'm experimenting a lot now.

I think it's about time to publish this blog, and not keep it for myself anymore. So in my next newsletter I'll announce it.

Living art

My life breathes art and I cannot imagine living without it. Everything I see, hear, smell, feel, and think is immerged with art. To me it seems like I have a filter in my head. Every observation through any sense automatically has to pass that filter first... eager as I am to explore and archive everything I can, to use later on in one of my art works. I never have a day off... I cannot help it. But I like it!!!! so you don't hear me complain.

I often laugh at myself, because I get overwhelmed every time again and again. By the colors of the changing of the seasons, by nature, architecture, cinematographic movies, documentaries on National Geographic about nature, mother earth etc... Music (I've got my preferences) does the same with me. It hits me in my soul. Literature that is written so beautifully, with so much love that you cannot contain it.

I astonish myself by getting surprised time after time... don't I ever get used to it??? Shouldn't I? I hope I don't, because I really enjoy it!

www.artblahblah.com

The gallery who represents my work in New York, Monkdogz Urban Art, started a wonderful art talk on the following link
www.artblahblah.com

I really like their point of view on the art world and it is very interesting to read, follow, and (if you want to) participate in this blog!

Salon Primavera - art fair in Ahoy Rotterdam - with Gallery De Kei

Feb. 25 until March 1 the 4th edition of the art fair Salon Primavera was in AHOY, Rotterdam. Gallery De Kei represented my work at this fair.

Economic crisis and art - Uniqueness and quality

I'm still doing well in creating and selling art (through the galleries I work with). But I'm sure I will also be confronted with the consequences of the world wide economic crisis. Of course this crisis has its impact on art sales all over the world. It even has its impact on making art too, but that can have a possitive effect, depending on the artist. Crisis and poverty make creative!

I think it's the same as in a lot of other sections.... The strongest/best will survive. Regrettably there's also money involved. If you've got enough, you do not have to worry and/or work your ass off. You will survive anyway... but that has nothing to do with the quality and uniqueness of the art you create or sell.

The last decade we've been overloaded with art. Everyone is an artist these days... at least that's what they claim to be. And if you're a famous actor, deejay or tv-personality and you start to create art, your name is your brand and you sell. Even if the art is bad.

I find this quite disturbing. My vision on art is that you have to fall in love with a piece of art.. not with the name of the artist who created it. That comes second (when you discover that you'd like to have more of the artists work because you adore it). Maybe now (and as long as the crisis lasts) is the time to make the difference and show what you are worth as an artist, but also as a gallery owner.

During the last years I visited a lot of art fairs, musea and galleries to broaden my horizon. I read everything I can about contemporary art, exhibitions etc.. in magazines, books and on art websites from all over the world. Unfortunately I must conclude that there are a lot of copycats. Not exact copies, but stealing styles... Most of the time the 'artists' who work like that are not the best ones. They do not have enough imagination of themselves. Of course, when you're a student and you need to learn the techniques, you look at wellknown contemporary artists and the range of famous historical artists. You learn a lot by trying to peer with them. But in order to become a real artist you have to develop yourself and create your own unique style. Not one that already has been done by a lot of other 'artists'.

Sadly I often run into this not-unique-art.... a lot of galleries who try to play it safe, offer their clients those "ready-to-eat chunks"/"consumption-art", and the 'brand' art of already famous actors/singers/tv-personalities. Persons who were (often) never trained as a visual artist or even have the talent for it. You can say: 'but that's what the people want'.... on the other hand.. it's what the galleries show and if there is nothing else to choose from... ??

But... there are no solid rules about what is art and what is not, and who am I to judge ones taste? So... the more I try to analyze this and seek for answers, the more I realize that there are no right solutions. In the end it's all about money... anyway... most of the time it is! I'm glad there are still people who really go for the piece of art itself.

Economic crisis or not, I think it's best to do your own thing, on your own way but with an open vision and all of your heart. That way you can never have regrets, even when you don't make it as an artist or as a gallery owner. You can never say that you never tried...