Woody Van Amen / Hidde Van Schie
05 Feb - 19 Apr 2015
WOODY VAN AMEN / HIDDE VAN SCHIE
New Romantic Spirit
5 February – 19 April 2015
Woody van Amen and Hidde van Schie present new and existing work in an exhibition in which art's power to touch people is central. Paintings of birds inconsolably crying, enthusiastic flashing light sculptures, magical 'taxat' symbols, and serene neon paintings pay homage to an art that wants to give a new, romantic impetus to the relationship between the artwork and the viewer. Beyond irony and cynicism, the two artists create a space for emotions, for sentiment, as a self-reflective striving or desire for something that transcends banal reality.
For 50 years, Woody van Amen's (1936) remarkable and multifaceted oeuvre has included painting, sculpture, installations, and film. In the mid-sixties, Amen participated in the exhibition 'Nieuwe Realisten' at the Haags Gemeentemuseum and subsequently broke through as a leading figure of an international art movement in the Netherlands. Just back from New York and working in a style that amassed appealing icons from consumerism and popular visual culture, he was suddenly the representative of Dutch Pop Art. In the seventies, he began extensively travelling in Asia and Indonesia. The manner in which he has, since then, brought together his interest in low culture – from advertising to film to comics – with notions of identity and spirituality is ground breaking.
Hidde van Schie (1978) makes music, writes, creates collages and installations, but is known primarily as a painter. He is a versatile musician; on his recent album The Mirror & The Razorblade / Dusty Diamond Eyes he sings and plays the guitar and organ. No difference emerges in Van Schie's work between 'high' and 'low' art: both matter, 'when it hits you,' as he says. His compositions of jungles and birds are painted with a supple ease and virtuoso hand, often referring to famous motifs in art. In his sculptures and collages, he assembles all kinds of materials: magazine photos, texts or parts of musical instruments such as drums, guitars, and speakers. Van Schie graduated with honours in 2001 from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication designed by 75B. With texts by Noor Mertens, curator Modern & Contemporary Art and City Collection of Musuem Boijmans van Beuningen. Published by Nai010.
New Romantic Spirit
5 February – 19 April 2015
Woody van Amen and Hidde van Schie present new and existing work in an exhibition in which art's power to touch people is central. Paintings of birds inconsolably crying, enthusiastic flashing light sculptures, magical 'taxat' symbols, and serene neon paintings pay homage to an art that wants to give a new, romantic impetus to the relationship between the artwork and the viewer. Beyond irony and cynicism, the two artists create a space for emotions, for sentiment, as a self-reflective striving or desire for something that transcends banal reality.
For 50 years, Woody van Amen's (1936) remarkable and multifaceted oeuvre has included painting, sculpture, installations, and film. In the mid-sixties, Amen participated in the exhibition 'Nieuwe Realisten' at the Haags Gemeentemuseum and subsequently broke through as a leading figure of an international art movement in the Netherlands. Just back from New York and working in a style that amassed appealing icons from consumerism and popular visual culture, he was suddenly the representative of Dutch Pop Art. In the seventies, he began extensively travelling in Asia and Indonesia. The manner in which he has, since then, brought together his interest in low culture – from advertising to film to comics – with notions of identity and spirituality is ground breaking.
Hidde van Schie (1978) makes music, writes, creates collages and installations, but is known primarily as a painter. He is a versatile musician; on his recent album The Mirror & The Razorblade / Dusty Diamond Eyes he sings and plays the guitar and organ. No difference emerges in Van Schie's work between 'high' and 'low' art: both matter, 'when it hits you,' as he says. His compositions of jungles and birds are painted with a supple ease and virtuoso hand, often referring to famous motifs in art. In his sculptures and collages, he assembles all kinds of materials: magazine photos, texts or parts of musical instruments such as drums, guitars, and speakers. Van Schie graduated with honours in 2001 from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication designed by 75B. With texts by Noor Mertens, curator Modern & Contemporary Art and City Collection of Musuem Boijmans van Beuningen. Published by Nai010.