November 19, 2011 – January 7, 2012
Opening reception November 19, 7-9:30pm (during Art Crawl)
A reception for the Dutch artists will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2011
from 6 – 8PM. Panel discussion at 5PM.
Dutch invasiON
Curated by Maria Smits in collaboration with Mrs. J. Bolten-Rempt
with work by Christine Bittremieux, Anna Bolten, Hans de Bruijn, Demiak
and Jessica Muller
Front & Back BOXes
Dutch invasiON presents the work of five artists living and working in the Netherlands. They are Christine Bittremieux, Anna Bolten, Hans de Bruijn, Demiak (Maarten Demmink) and Jessica Muller. In the variety of their artistic approach one can find one common subject: it is all about space. Every one of them appropriates space in a different way, the outside space, interior space and conceptual space translated into two or three dimensions. This preoccupation with space in and around us is typically Dutch.
With broad gestures in intense color Christine Bittremieux invokes remembered, preferably empty landscapes into atmospherically almost abstract vistas, as visual poetry: as if the after-image still glows even with closed eyes. Or she ‘crops’ just a detail, as enlarged under a magnifying glass. As a drop of gasoline spreads in a split second on the water surface, so the color jells in layers on the canvas.
For Anna Bolten, the observed landscapes or the reality surrounding her are images that become lodged in her memory, also thanks to photography. The context, like location and time of the day, the speed of the movement and the focus of the camera are all of importance. In her studio she creates free, painted collage out of the memory-pictures. As Mondrian creates a harmonious balance with horizontal and vertical planes in the primary colors, black and white, so she constructs a balance with her landscape elements, horizontal, vertical, distant and nearby.
In the mind of Hans de Bruijn, natural space takes its form through the lens of art history with a passion for the Romantic Movement. The unsurpassed knowledge of art works of the past, thanks to the countless reproductions available through the Internet, allows us to see unprejudiced, let alone to paint unbiased. For him his paintings are comments on the observations of space in art (history). He paints the landscape of art, emulating the great landscapists like Hercules Segers, William Turner, Jackson Pollock or Mark Rothko.
The outcome and consequences of nature’s violence and catastrophes are reconstructed by Demiak, pseudonym of Maarten Demmink, in models which he stages. He uses photography and painting to emphasize the natural appearance of the disastrous situation. His works are an actual and convincing “memento mori” (remember dying). The message is not resignation nor wallowing in the misery, it is more an indictment against human “superbia” (recklessness), indifference and negligence.
In the beginning the canvas was empty. Jessica Muller creates with color and paint (her handwriting) a new and visual space in which distance and nearness are synchronous. “The work starts from zero: emptiness, meaninglessness, without any preconception, nor is it a preconceived image to aim at,” Jessica explains. “The whole work is a timeless ‘being’, originated from a piling up of instantaneous actions which together are to be its opposite: timeless or limitless. The result is a view into different dimensions at the same time.”
Maria Smits was born in The Netherlands and currently lives and works in Houston, Texas. She studied fashion and monumental textile at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague, The Netherlands.
During the first 10 years of her career she owned a fashion design studio. She designed many exclusive fashion collections, sold in Holland and Germany. After her post academic study at the V.A., University , The Hague, where she studied sculpture, etching, digital photography and video, Maria started her career as an independent artist and curator. She has curated exhibitions and exhibited work at Pulchri Studio, The Hague. Most recently her work has been included in exhibitions at Gallery New Untitled, Venlo, Gallery TH, The Hague; Art Berlin, Germany, Art Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Art Cologne, Germany, Kunst eijssen, Alkmaar, O’Quinn Gallery, Lawndale, Houston. In October 2010, her work was exhibited at Museum Kunsthalle, Osnabruck, Germany. In December 2011 she will show at Red Bud Gallery, The Heights, Houston. Her work is represented in important Dutch Collections.
Websites:
www.bittremieux.nl
www.annabolten.com
www.hansdebruijn.com
www.demiak.nl
www.jessicamuller.nl
www.mariasmits.nl
This project is funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston’s Mayor’s City Initiative Program through the Houston Arts Alliance.
Additional work for Dutch invasiON will be on view at the Williams Tower Gallery, December 8, 2011 – January 6, 2012. A reception will be held December 8, 2011 from 6 – 8PM.
Complementing the exhibitions, Hans de Bruijn will present a lecture on “Romanticism in Dutch Painting Revisited” at the UH Fine Arts Building on November 17, 2011.
