June 5, 2014

Major UK Mondrian exhibition opens in Liverpool

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 10:11 am
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On June 6, The Tate Liverpool museum will be opening the exhibition Mondrian and his studios, a huge UK Mondrian exhibition, including a life-size reconstruction of his Paris studio, all commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dutch painter’s death.

I first saw his paintings as a 14-year-old when I travelled to New York City on a school trip from MontrĂ©al. We had visited the Whitney Museum of American Art and I had bought a few postcards of his work. Back then, I knew he was from the Netherlands, but what I found odd was writing ‘Mondrian’ instead of ‘Mondriaan’, even if that is how the artist wrote his name to make it more international. And today, the most banal of products, including hair products, have the Mondrian touch, truly making him a household name.

Closer to home, the Mondriaanhuis (Mondrian house, pictured above) in Amersfoort is surely a much more solemn experience, but very authentic, as I remember. The Mondriaanhuis features works from the artist’s early figurative period as well as artwork from other contemporary artists. In other words, more of his drawings of flowers and less of the primary coloured squares. The folks who work there will talk your ears off about their local international artist, don’t you worry about that.

Check out the Facebook group with Mondriaan-related things.

(Links: www.bbc.com, www.mondriaanhuis.nl, Photo by Elly Waterman, some rights reserved)

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February 14, 2012

Travelling rubbish museum supports cleaners’ plight

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 11:50 am

Street combing is cool, but then so is calling rubbish art and exhibiting it at big venues, including the city hall of Heerlen, Limburg. Starting today, visitors there can have a look all kinds of things collected by cleaners who are trying to attract attention to issues such as being paid for sick leave and getting more respect.

This travelling exhibition already seen in The Hague, Groningen and Utrecht tells stories about some 1,000 found objects such as a gold bracelet, a can of cola, a teddy bear and a syringue. The idea is that cleaners reflect our society and are indispensable, while they are not treated fairly despite the relatively well-organised Dutch labour system. Cleaners all over the country have been striking as well to get their point across.

(Link: www.limburger.nl)

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May 12, 2011

Art Amsterdam 2011 sneak preview

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 10:37 am

It’s true, this year’s edition of Art Amsterdam held at the RAI exhibition centre was indeed very international, with galleries from all over the Netherlands as well as ones from Paris, MontrĂ©al, Seoul, Berlin and more. 24oranges was lucky enough to walk around on VIP night before the fair opens to the general public today, running until 15 May, courtesy of a sponsor of art site Trendbeheer.com.

Instead of just selling art like the other galleries, Trendbeheer are doing something cool, they call ‘For The Love of Money’. Managing Director Niels Post, an artist himself (we saw his stuff in the 1500 euro or less art lounge) explained the plan to sell 150 unique works at 150 euro a pop with a frame and box. The works themselves (seen in the pic) are hi-resolution pictures taken of works of art at the fair with a red dot, meaning they have been sold. Photographers are taking turns running around the fair ‘dot hunting’ and snapping pics of sold works, printing them out, framing them and then selling them. Almost all the ones in this picture were sold and from the moment they started, it was going fast.

Of all the stuff I saw, this German work of art from I totally forgot to write it down shame on me caught my eye, probably because it had words on it.

If you’re up to buying art for your office or design studio, you have to check this art fair out. They also have books and there are presentations and even tours of the exhibition. If you just want to look at cool stuff, this is not quite the right venue, but it will give anyone with artist’s block some good ideas.

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December 22, 2009

‘Not being normal is disturbing to others’

Filed under: Art,General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:54 am
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The recently opened exhibition Niet Normaal (‘Not Normal’) Difference on Display features 80 works by major international artists who question normality, held in the famous Beurs van Berlage building downtown Amsterdam.

In an attempt to talk about something else than snow and trains, I failed with the latter. The NS (Dutch railways) has banned a poster picturing a nude sculpture by British artist Marc Quinn of a disabled athlete missing one upper arm and lower leg because they apparently feel that it is too confrontational and unfit for the public at large. What about all the horrible (by horrible, I mean just badly done) sexist, sexy, racist, boring, stupid and ugly posters? If those are normal, them I’m a proud freak in my own sane way.

So bravo ‘normal people’ of the Dutch railways, you’ve managed to tell the entire country that disabled people are not normal as well as being ‘offensive’ to look at even in picture form. Splendid marketing coup for the exhibition I guess.

(Link: nrc.nl, Photo of Mosaic by pink_fish13, some rights reserved)

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April 14, 2009

Haunted by high heels and other girly things

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 2:00 pm
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Galerie Rob Koudijs in Amsterdam is currently holding an exhibition of works by Dutch jewellery designer Ted Noten called ‘Haunted by 36 Women’, which will run until 23 May. It features “assemblages and rapid-prototyped pieces based on architectypical perceptions of the woman.”

Follow the link below for more pictures.

(Link and photo: dezeen.com)

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January 23, 2009

Bomb wreck jewellery exhibition in Groningen

Filed under: Art,Automobiles by Orangemaster @ 11:17 am
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The pieces of a bomb wreck in Baghdad that killed 38 people and that were collected and presented at the exhibition Autobomb III in September 2007 in Rotterdam have now been turned into jewellery, says Bright.nl. For this project artist Jonas Staal worked together with Jiska Hartog and Michiel Henneman, better known as Wanted Jewellery (see pics). The trio used glass and metal slivers from the bomb wreckage to produce a series of unique pieces of jewellery (more pics). The jewellery is on display in Groningen as of this evening.

And yes, the whole idea is not about producing jewellery out of people’s misery (the jewellery is not meant to be worn), but discussing the bombings and the idea of jewellery being used as a means of questioning social issues.

(Link: bright.nl, Photo: Hartog, Henneman and Staal)

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July 1, 2008

Photographs of centenarians

Filed under: General,Photography by Orangemaster @ 10:16 am
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Recent photograph

Dutch-born photographer Annet Van Der Voort lives in Germany and photographs time going by and the time that has gone by, two things that interest her very much. Her series A Lifetime (1998-1999) features portraits of centenarian women and a series of small photographs of beauty queens, which were made at the time that these women were still young. The still prevailing ideals about beauty and youth are placed next to the natural aging process that everyone goes through: an idealised image is linked through time with a face upon which life has left its mark. With Lifetime Annet van der Voort raises questions about youth, age and beauty. How long can beauty be maintained? What does our mortality do to us?

Annet van der Voort has had some 20 solo exhibitions, including in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. Her work has been acquired by various international museums. In September 2008 she will be part of the Lyon Septembre de la photographie in France.

(Link and photos zoumzoum.blogs.liberation.fr)

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June 17, 2008

Artist censors her own explicit artwork

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 8:10 am
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The 7-meter-high artwork “Miss Universe” by Dutch-born American Lara Schnitger exhibited in the Sonsbeek exhibition ‘Grandeur’ in Arnhem was adjusted after people complained about the ‘pornographic character’ of her work. The artist decided to cover up genitals on the work with little red hearts, which actually ruined the work for many people. Ironically, no one from the organisation had any problems with her work, but visitors did. Schnitger’s intention was to make a work about love, but apparently the photographic quality of people making love is still pornographic to many.

The usual remarks range from ‘too bad if people are shocked, it’s art’ to ‘religious art has naked people too, should we put stickers on it’. Well, that last one is considered less explicit and realistic than photography nowadays. Roland Barthes comes to mind very quickly all of a sudden.

(Link and photo: gelderlander.nl)

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November 7, 2007

From illegal cleaning lady to photographer

Filed under: Film,Photography by Orangemaster @ 8:00 am
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Suzanne Raes has made a documentary about Hristina Tasheva, a Bulgarian woman who spent years cleaning people’s houses in Amsterdam illegally. Since Bulgaria joined the European Union in January 2007, Hristina can now live a more normal life as a photographer. But back then, she took pictures of the houses she cleaned. (This is not one of them!)

The documentary is called “The Houses of Hristina”. Her pictures provide an interesting look at the private lives of ‘average’ Amsterdam residents who live in those nice big houses on canals with high windows, wooden floors and primitive art on the walls.

The film will premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) 2007, held from November 22 to 2 December in Amsterdam and will be shown on TV in 2008.

(Link: wereldjournalisten.nl)

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September 3, 2007

Fake bomb was a planted work of art

Filed under: Art,Music,Weird by Orangemaster @ 1:21 pm
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The fake explosive that caused the city centre of Gorinchem, South Holland to be evacuated just before a Rowwen Hèze concert last Saturday was apparently an actual work of art. Thousands of visitors of the Zomerfeesten in Gorinchem and dozens of residents were evacuated from the city centre around midnight once a suspicious package was spotted on the roof of the local museum.

The object that looks like an explosive is part of an exhibition called ‘Leven uit een koffer’ (‘Living out of a suitcase’), which opens on 8 September. According to the museum, artists Marcel Doorduyn and Niek Verschoor wanted to draw attention to the chaos that occurs when a suspicious package is found.

(Link: nieuwnieuws.nl)

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