Cat

alog

ue W

orks

#4

Oct

ober

201

0 with work by Aafke de Groot | the Netherlands Esly van den Elsen | the Netherlands Marit Maes | the Netherlands Suzanne de Zwart | the Netherlands Tessa Reintjens | the Netherlands Thei Evertz | the Netherlands Wieneke Gerrits | the Netherlands Sabine Bolk | the Netherlands Giel Louws | the Netherlands Hans Overvliet | the Netherlands

Virtual Art Residence

Image: Marit Maes

VAR youngillustrators

October 26 2010

YOUNGILLUSTRATORS

Aafke de Groot

Esly van den Elsen

Marit Maes

Suzanne de Zwart

Tessa Reintjens

Thei Evertz

Wieneke Gerrits

We are a group of young illustrators, just graduated at the art academy of St. Joost, „s Hertogenbosch. Our blog is a place for us to post drawings / photographs / text / anything we like for the Virtual Art Residence project. Tijdens onze periode op de Virtual Art Residence houden wij ons bezig met het onderwerp „de plek‟. Dit kan een fysieke ruimte zijn, een plek waar je ooit bent geweest en die je aandacht trok. Of een onzichtbare ruimte waar gedachten wonen en wachten op een vorm. Ieder van ons zal een plek kiezen en deze naar eigen inzicht vormgeven. De plek heeft ook een link met het net afgestudeerd zijn en het vinden van een eigen plek in de wereld. De Virtual Art Residence is de virtuele plek waarbij al onze individuele plekken, „eilanden‟, bij elkaar komen.

Finis Terrae

Finisterre (Galicisch Fisterra), Galicië, Spanje. De naam Finisterre is afgeleid van het Latijnse Finis Terrae en

betekent „het einde van de wereld‟, ofwel daar waar de wereld stopt. Vroeger werd er gedacht dat de aarde hier ophield, vanuit het idee dat de aarde plat was. Vanaf de kaap (Cabo Finisterre)

is er alleen nog maar water te zien. Verder lopen is niet mogelijk.

Na mijn tocht naar Santiago de Compostella besloot ik verder te reizen naar het einde van de wereld. Gewoon omdat het zo

poëtisch klonk. Ik denk vaak terug aan deze plek. En de mensen die daar waren. Alsof ze per ongeluk op die plek waren

aangespoeld. Ik ontmoette Igor, hij deed me denken aan de kapitein uit de Iglo vissticks reclame, maar dan na een zware

zeestorm. Een zeeman zonder boot aangespoeld op het einde van de wereld.

De komende tijd zal ik mij bezig houden met verbeelden en reconstrueren van deze plek.

Marit

VAR youngillustrators October 17 2010

Kaap Hoorn

Terschelling is voor mij een van de mooiste plekken in Nederland. De huizenbouw, zulke mooie authentieke huisjes en veel ruimte om je heen. Samen met mijn moeder ga ik geregeld

een weekje naar Terschelling. We wandelen dan veel en stranden vaak bij Kaap Hoorn aan. Kaap Hoorn is een

strandpaviljoen waar mensen voor of na hun wandeling graag gaan zitten om wat te drinken, een boek te lezen, gesprekken voeren met andere bezoekers en ideeën uitwisselen of gewoon

niets doen. Een sfeer gekenmerkt door vrolijkheid, ongedwongenheid en veel zon. (Wij hebben tot nu toe geluk gehad met de zon). Kaap Hoorn kent een lage drempel voor

iedereen, groot of klein voelt zich direct welkom. Door de speciale ligging in de luwte van de duinen, vriendelijke mensen

die van overal komen is het een plekwaar je eigenlijk wel dagenlang zou willen zijn. Het langer willen blijven vind ik een

interessant gegeven. Deze plek wil ik naar eigen gevoel proberen vorm te geven zoals ik het zie, ervaar. Tot gauw voor

de eerste schetsen! Aafke

YOUNGILLUSTRATORS

Weerspiegeling De plek brengt mij heel veel associaties, in de brede zin van het woord plekken waar ik ooit ben geweest,

plekken waar ik goede of minder goede herinneringen aan heb, plekken waar ik mij thuis voel of juist niet en plekken waar ik nog nooit ben geweest en waar ik ooit nog eens naartoe zou willen gaan.

Ik zal me voor dit project richten op het laatste, omdat dit voor mij ruimte biedt om erover na te denken en te fantaseren. Een plas water met de weerspiegeling van alles daarboven vind ik ook de naam „plek‟ waard. Los van het feit dat een weerspiegeling

ontastbaar is, geeft het iets heel tastbaars weer. Beeld volgt later, omdat ik momenteel even niet over een scanner beschik.

Wieneke

VAR youngillustrators October 20 2010

Ontstaan van een plek

In mijn werk speelt het experimenteren, het overgeven aan „toevalligheden‟, de beelden die tijdens mijn proces ontstaan een

hele grote rol. Vaak loop ik buiten gefascineerd om me heen te kijken naar alle mooie plekken die ontstaan als je er voor open

staat. Geen tastbare plek, maar een plek die ontstaat door lichtval, projectie, schaduw of een spiegeling op de grond, een

muur, een voorwerp. Juist het creëren van een plek, soms bewust, en soms juist onbewust, is mijn uitgangspunt voor dit project.

Suzanne

YOUNGILLUSTRATORS

VAR

Niemandsland

Tijdens mijn reis door Thailand voeren we op de Mekong rivier. Bij de Gouden Driehoek scheidt deze rivier de plek in

drie landen (Thailand, Laos en Myanmar). Wanneer je op de rivier

bent, bevind je je eigenlijk in niemandsland. „Niemandsland‟ vind ik een mooi gegeven om mee te werken. Het is interessant om plekken die geen definitie hebben/niet toebehoren aan

iemand toch te kunnen zien of weer te geven. Ook al bevinden ze zich

eigenlijk alleen in je gedachten. Hier volgt alvast een idee:

Esly

Plaatsjes en psyche Een plekje is behalve dat plekje eigenlijk niks anders. Als er geen organismen zouden bestaan, of andere wezens buiten organismen die kun-nen „ervaren‟, of „meemaken‟, dan werd er niets van een plaats gevonden. De betekenis van een plekje is voor iedereen anders. Iets wat me interessant lijkt om te doen is om bepaalde plekken op een verschillende manier te benaderen vanuit 1 karakter of meerdere. Wat ik precies ga doen weet ik nog niet te kaderen, maar psyche zal hoogstwaarschijn-lijk een grote rol spelen in mijn thema. Thei

youngillustrators October 27 2010

YOUNGILLUSTRATORS

VAR

12.12 h Start from Rijpstraat towards Heuvelplein, already off the map.

Sunflowers on Dreef

12.56h Post office

My route

Today I started my Virtual Art Residence! Plan for today was: route to Princenhage to collect some mail, go to my studio, visiting the Vincent van Goghstraat (street), enjoying the autumn air!

Sabine Bolk Off the roadmap, starting my residence

Sabine Bolk October 8 2010

VAR Sabine Bolk October 8 2010

Strange things at Haagweg

Locking my bike a big swarm of jackdaws flew over me into the grey sky..

After the van Gogh sign I stopped at the

Emmaus second hand shop at the Nieuwe

Haagdijk. I looked at my printed out map

and noticed that my map ended there.

Vincent van Goghstreet

Inside hung a framed Gauguin jigsaw puzzle

and I decided to go home

Off the roadmap, starting my residence

VAR Sabine Bolk October 12 & 15 2010 Picked up the only book I have about Vincent van Gogh from my studio yesterday. It‟s a

book about his letters & sketches he send to his brother and family, he didn‟t really own a journal as far as they know. Flipping through it I came across this note: “I ran out of paint, canvases and money. My last painting, which I made with my last paint and canvas – a park that should be green – is painted without green, only Prussian blue & chromate yellow. Since my arrival I begin to feel like a different person: I have no doubts, I don‟t hesitate to take action, and that feeling could only get stronger.” Arles, France, September 1888

News today

Irises & Bed rest

Seventy works of Vincent are show in Rome. The first opening weekend they had 15.000 visitors. The exhibition is open till the 8th of February.

From Vincent’s journal

Discovered I have another book about Vincent. I bought it once at the “Blokker” for 1 euro. I also have Gauguin & Monet from the same series. It strange that they try to tell a life story in like 10 pages, but on

the other hand they manage quiet well to tell the history of a painter in understandable language without making it fake or cheap.

Reading it I came to the chapter where they talk about Vincent‟s famous use of colors. His art was inspired by Japanese woodcut prints. In Japanese art they use strong, bright colors and everything is

outlined, like in a comic, with a thick black line. When the borders of Japan opened in 1854 it was under great influence by the western world, but also

the Western world was fascinated & exiting to learn about this “new” culture. Object transported from Japan where often packed with paper of Japanese woodcuts prints. They didn‟t have value in Japan, but

in Europe art collectors & painters collected them. Vincent had over a hundred woodcut prints from Japan when he died.

When he arrived in France he felt one step closer to reaching Japan. The light of France inspired him and he dreamed that he was in Japan already. His use of contrasting colors was unique. He used a lot of

yellow & blues which vibrated on the canvas. I was looking at the colors and looking at my wall. The synchronicity with my chosen subject is

remarkable. In every work I see colors combinations I use or would like to use. His portraits of people are filled with pattern on the background, with clear brushstrokes, but still full of detail. He paints objects,

gives them a name, a face almost. He adds the right small stuff like a pipe and the work starts telling a story.

Who would have thought that I would find synchronicities with Vincent van Gogh...

VAR Sabine Bolk October 15 2010

Irises & Bed rest

Visiting the Vincent van Goghhuis in Zundert on Sunday. I send an email to the director that I participate in an virtual art re-sidency, that I‟m staying at the virtual Van Gogh caravan and that I would like to make an autumn rice carpet for Vincent. His comment was: “That‟s fine. Why don‟t you come by and find a nice spot (for the rice carpet)”. I‟m so happy!

Vincent van GoghHuis - 1

View from garden, back to the first floor

View from upstairs into the garden

Philippe Vandenberg (1952 – 2009) “Les tournesols de Vincent” 2008

Last Sunday I visited the Vincent van Gogh house in Zundert. This small, very pretty museum is build in the birth house of Vincent.

An audio tour tells the live of Vincent, also work is shown based on or inspired by Vincent‟s painting.

The Vincent merchandise is limited to small items like the bags and the joke on the chips shop. It‟s not like in Amsterdam where you literally stumble over the sunflowers. It‟s still nice & quiet, and authentic.

VAR Sabine Bolk October 21 2010

Temporary exhibition by Arnuld Rainer about Van Gogh. Paintngs of Vincent‟s selfportrets are over painted with ink and other materials. The artist made these painting to get closer to the “holy” van Gogh and to show his connections with Vincent‟s drive.

View front of Vincents birth house.

Zundert is a small town.

VAR Sabine Bolk October 21 2010

Vincent van GoghHuis - 2

Old pear tree in the garden

View from garden, back to the first floor

Rice carpet for Vincent in Zundert

VAR Sabine Bolk October 21 & 23 & 27 2010

Next week, on 27 & 28 October, I‟m going to make a ricecarpet for Vincent van Gogh in the garden of the Vincent van GoghHouse! The carpet is the end of my Virtual Art Residence. I‟m still staying at the Van Gogh Caravan and I‟m excited about the inspiration that Vincent‟s work has given me. So the rice carpet for Vincent is not the last work about or for Vincent, so keep following this blog. The rice carpet is not only an ending it‟s also the start of the building of a real artist-in-residence in Zundert. From April 2011 artist from the Netherlands and abroad, can stay at the former sexton‟s house and “follow in Vincent‟s footsteps”. Come take a look at the rice carpet for Vincent! On Wednesday 27 Oct. and Thursday 28 Oct. I‟m making the carpet, the Vincent van GoghHouise is opened from 10h till 17h. On Friday 29 oct. and Saturday 30 Oct. (from 12h till 17h) you can see the rice carpet, but the carpet disappears fast, because there are a lot of birds in the garden of Van Gogh. Take your time to visit the Van Gogh house, they have a temporary exhibition about Arnulf Rainer and the audio-tour tells about the work & life of Van Gogh. More about the Vincent van GoghHuis on www.vangoghhuis.com

Infinite patience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bt_GeTJHGQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Sketch #2

VAR Sabine Bolk October 27 2010

1st

day, making of rice carpet for Vincent

In the newspaper on Saturday

Like to start with thanking my mother for bringing the beautiful materials from her garden! Susan, thanks for making the pictures and helping me all day with everything!

And of course Dorien for lending me the party tent! Enjoy the pictures Susan took today!

VAR Sabine Bolk October 27 2010

1st

day, making of rice carpet for Vincent

VAR Sabine Bolk October 28 2010

2nd

day, making of rice carpet for Vincent

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cent is fo

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irds.

On S

atu

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o b

ack to

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ave a

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VAR Sabine Bolk October 30 2010

Sabine Bolk constructs her 'rice carpet for Vincent' on local T.V. 28|10|2010 - Omroep Brabant [ Dutch spoken ]

De beeldend kunstenares Sabine Bolk uit Breda legt ‘een rijsttapijt voor Vincent’ in de tuin van het Van GoghHuis in Zundert. ‘Mijn werk gaat over vergankelijkheid’. Zundert – “Zo, en nu maar afwachten wat de vogels er van over laten, want die zijn morgenvroeg eerder wakker dan ik”, lacht de 26-jarige Sabine Bolk opgewekt, als ze woensdagmiddag rond vier uur naar huis gaat. In de tuin van het Vincent Van GoghHuis in Zundert heeft ze uren achtereen gewerkt aan een kleurrijk „vloerkleedje‟ van zaden, pitten, bessen en rijst. Haar project, dat een zonnebloem moet gaan uitbeelden, is een eerbetoon aan Van Gogh, legt de Bredase beeldend kunstenares uit. Vier jaar geleden studeerde ze af aan kunstacademie St. Joost en sindsdien legt ze „rijsttapijten‟. “Mijn werk gaat over vergankelijkheid. Zo‟n kleedje van organische materialen blijft maar heel even liggen. Als het vannacht hard waait of regent, blijft er niet veel van over. En ook niet als de vogels het als ontbijt zien. Maar dat is niet erg, het symboliseert niet voor niets de vluchtigheid van het leven.” Vandaag – donderdag – gaat ze verder met haar project. Bolk hoopt dat veel mensen nog even komen kijken voordat de dag om is. Want daarna is het kunstwerk voor de vogels. “Ik hoop dat er niet alleen meeuwen op afkomen, maar ook musjes en koolmeesjes.” Artikel in BN de Stem door Riet Pijnappels op donderdag 28 oktober 2010 foto Riet Pijnappels

VAR Giel Louws October 3 & 5 010

Here is a picture of the state where my vulnerable body‟s project is in now. The working method makes it possible for every painting to still change. The most of them are already painted over previous works. Many works do not make the cut, but they provide good, rich under painting. Also there is more room for coincidence to happen. The difficulty is to see and recognize the good coincidences.

Politics I really don‟t know if an artist should be involved in politics. The current movement in The Netherlands pushes me to speak up shortly though. We have come to the point that our democracy fails. The public has spoken, and the public turned out to be mindless. They choose out of pure selfishness, and short sight, political parties that serve their fear for losing their richness. Has anyone of them really read the political program of the PVV before they choose them ? Has any so-called Christian Democrat risen above the idea of being the only true religion ? And what bothers me as an artist, is that we are considered as subsidized tramps, living of other peoples money. Just because they don‟t understand what we are doing, and do not visit the Concertgebouw, or the Stedelijk Museum. Well I do not have a car, so do not need more asphalt, and I do not need animal cops. I am ashamed of this cabinet, and worried where this populism will lead us to.

So, since this is a studio blog, maybe it is interesting to show some of the works that did not make it. It feels weird, but they do create context.

this one, with the hole in it; what a far fetched idea.

overworked, and too complicated for the small size..

I even facebooked this one, temporarily not accountable for my actions ?

Well I c

ould

go o

n

fore

ver h

ere

, but y

ou

get th

e id

ea.

Giel Louws

Giel Louws October 12 & 13 & 15 2010

VAR

Finally, after a week of earning money, I am back in the studio. Together with my new friend; Swanlight, the new Anthony and the Johnsons c.d. He brings me right back in the mood to paint. I really admire him for bringing emotions without barriers. It has the danger to be melodramatic, but he is the real thing. That side of artistry I hope to bring into my own work.

Rearranged paintings on my wall, realizing that a lot of them need work. K. walked in and said that he liked the direction I am going in. Good to hear that from him.

I discover a humanistic theme in my latest works.

Giel Louws October 18 & 19 2010

VAR

When? When does a picture become a painting ?

This is the question of the day.

Sleep Today I linked my blog to facebook, to widen the exposure for my blog, and the other artblogs on virtualartresidence.com The last days I continued working on my new paintings. A new series of sleeping people are added to the vulnerable body project. The object is to get extremely close to the body. It has to coincide with an interesting painting. Pretty hard to do.

\

Giel Louws October 18 2010

VAR

Speaking of the Germans, Anselm Kiefer does excite me, he combines the expressionist working method with a intellectual content. Which balances the heroic sizes and heavy content out.

Inspirators A contemporary painter can only exist in context of the history of painting. Every new generation of painters builds on the previous generations. From cave painting via the Flemish primitives to today. An exceptional painter in my book is Rogier van der Weijden, (1399 or 1400 – June 18, 1464) he was an Early Netherlandish painter. His body of work contains many highlights, but this almost abstract painting is astonishing.

On the other side of the range; Rene Daniels (1950), who inspired a whole new generation of painters. His works are playfull, direct and skillfully painted, and are a refreshing counter to the heavy handed

new German expressionists.

Giel Louws October 20 2010

VAR

An opposite to Kiefer is the painter Lucian Freud, 1922, who chose to tell a small story. He comes the closest to the human existence.

My dear friend Hans made some catalogs on the Virtual Art Residence site about the activities of the other bloggers, make sure you check them out ! They made me realize the recent changes in my work, and that a lot of the works that I showed will not make it.

work-work-work This week was a mix of art related pursuits. I did a workshop, and two lessons at a primary school. Yesterday a good friend, M, came to film and interview me in my studio. It is a deal we made, she would make a document about my work, and would in return get one of my works. The first attempt of this interview was surprisingly good, it felt very good anyway. There is a great danger though to let an artist talk. In explaining the work to much, the possibility of interpretation could be affected. I leave it to her to sift out the good text. The lesson at the school I based on my latest works, to make a close-up. I made them bring a cut out picture from a newspaper, an then zoom in on it. It appeared to be very hard for a lot of them. The good thing was that I brought some of my latest pictures with me, and when I packed them I realized they became dear to me. They became desirable objects to handle, that was a good feeling. This was one of them, in the series of the vulnerable body; the albino.

Kiefer documentary Yesterday evening there was a documentary about the latest movements of Kiefer. The work he is doing in France is unprecedented by any modern artist. I could only watch in astonishment, and have a bad night sleep over it. I‟m not sure what to think about this work he is making, but you can only be amazed by the man. If you have not seen

it, watch it !! at http://beta.uitzendinggemist.nl/afleveringen/998384

VAR Giel Louws October 25 & 28 & 29 2010

Hodgkin Yesterday I went to see the Hodgkin show at the Pont in Tilburg, with some friends. To my shame I just recently found out about his work. He is after all a real painters painter. His work is as much about painting as it is about content. The exhibition showed a good overview of his latest work, including the more recent large works. The first large work I saw, with only green brushstrokes really grabbed me. Over all I have mixed feelings about his work, some of it is too dramatic to my taste. The documentary with and about Hodgkin really impressed me though. A visit to the sublime De Pont sets you straight when you get back in your studio.

The Daily Exhaustion This week a newspaper artwork that I ordered on the net arrived in my mail. It is a stunning work of art by the photographer Anouk Kruithof, available for a few euro‟s. It is called The Daily Exhaustion, and contains self portraits of the exhausted artist at the end of the day. It made me think of all hard working artists around the world, most of them we never heard of, some of them we have written of their works. All of them working hard, going through the ups and many downs of being an artist. To them this little shrine. Who ever heard of Ronny Delrue, Franz von Chossy, Yves Cothouit, my befriended artists, and art promoters? Stepping out of their studio after a lonely day of work and thoughts, and get home exhausted. This one is for them, and Anouk who payed homage to these unsung heroes.

Let‟s be bold and still show this sleeping man, from my latest works

VAR

Giel Louws

VAR Hans Overvliet October 3 2010

Wednesday, October 6, 201

From the management In order to give Virtual Art Residence a new boost, Hans decided to construct a fourth version to be displayed.

Thanks to Bianca Runge, director of museum Le Secet, a third location of Virtual Art Residence found its way to the CBK-Rotterdam [ Centre for Visual Arts ].

It was displayed last Sunday, October 3.

We do hope that some artists from Rotterdam will join us.

photo ©2010 Bianca Runge photo ©2010 Bianca Runge

VAR Advertisement by the artistic management – KipVis presents

Museum Le Secet

Raadhuisstraat 9, 4458 AH 's Heer Arendskerke, 0113-707133/06-44258442

Exposerende kunstenaar(s) / exhibited artist(s): Ans Couwenberg - Els Dominicus - Femke Gerestein -Monique Jasperse - Jeroen Kersouw - Giel Louws -Hans Overvliet - Michiel Paalvast - Petra Rouwendal -Peter Steutel - Barbara Voit Photography: © 2010 Petra Rouwendal

Virtual Art Residence

Image: Sabine Bolk

Cat

alog

ue w

orks

#4

Oct

ober

201

0