Going back in time: Daniel Gould’s 3D List, Art in Amsterdam #23

...And the good news keeps coming...Unilever, the consumer product specialist company, has announced an increase of 6.7% in their first quarter sales; and a 31% increase in profit. People are once again spending money...Last week, at one Amsterdam gallery, 3D counted 37 red dots (more about that below).

Way to go folks. One 3D List reader told me that I made her feel guilty with my exhortations to buy, Buy, BUY. Well, I answered, it is not directed at you since you are an artist. Are artists more sensitive to 3D's prodding to BUY? Hmmm. Probably. Only they know how important it is to sell their work. It makes it possible for them to eat. 

INDEX:

Bits & Pieces: 

Review: The Club of Amsterdam, "The Future of Music" 

What You Missed Last Week:


What Is Happening This Week: 


BITS & PIECES: 

"'CONTACT' is an annual month long festival of photography with over 1,000 local, national and international artists at more than 200 venues across the Greater Toronto Area." This is its 14th year. More info at: https://bit.ly/2vfIjlQ 
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Picasso's, "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" (1932), sold for a new world record for a work of art at $106,500,000.00 this week. The auction was conducted by Christie's at their New York location. The price says more about the declining value of the dollar than it does for an increase in the real value of art. 
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Books on paper are still an "in" thing. Last year, sales of books increased in the Netherlands to 642 million euros with 49 million total sales. Electronic books sold just 110,000 units. https://www.dutchnews.nl/ 
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REVIEW:

The Club of Amsterdam sponsored a discussion on "The Future of Music." One of the questions asked: "Is there a future?" The question had less to do with "sounds" and more to do with euros, dollars and yens. That is, in the USofA, the sales for single recordings is now nearly nonexistent; and CD albums sales nose dived last year by 30%. That amounts to serious money. Tom Pearce, who said he had been in the business for 40 years, in every capacity, quoted Steve Shurh who said, "The record industry is dead! However, the music industry is alive and well." To back up this statement he mentioned that last year iTunes accounted for 25% of world wide music sales; and single record downloads was one billion, in 2008, in the US of A alone. What is occurring is a revolutionary movement of how music is now sold and distributed.

Pearce also works with the game industry in providing "soundtracks." He pointed out that one of the most successful games is "Grand Theft Auto" and it is now in its fourth edition. The latest incarnation allows the player to switch on his "radio," in his virtual car, and listen to a play list of 200 songs. If he likes one, he can automatically download it from Amazon without interrupting his game playing. 

Theo Ploeg, a journalist, said that the Internet has brought the musicians and their fans closer together by by-passing the record industry. Interactive music---via the Internet---is using electronics to create sounds and passing these sounds on to others who in turn add on to the "compositions." 

Aaltje van Zweden-van Buuren and Ria Veldhuizen, both musical therapist, with the Papageno Foundation, spoke on the more practical matters of music and its applications in the future. They work with autistic children and use music as a therapy to reach them and draw them into the "real" world. At the same time, by working with groups of those affected with autism, they have found a way to increase these generally asocial young people to communicate and work together. 

The next program is titled: The Future of CERN. 3rd June. https://bit.ly/2nlASUj
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WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK: 

Thursday: 

Yvonne Dröge Wendel's "Relational Thingness" is at "outLINE" (Oetewalerstraat 73). She is "concerned with the relationship between people, objects and context and is looking for challenging ways of relating to things. With an experimental approach she aims to capture what it is that objects actually do." And what we see are around one hundred objects all of the same outside material which is a gray/green color. The sizes range from those the size of large child's marble to one that is about 170 cms., high. Some of them seemed to be joined with together; others vibrate; and one skitters across the floor, of the space, like a nervous mouse trying to escape a hungry cat. Things! They are really "nothings" besides being "things." Finally, there is the conceptual redundancy which is iconic. All the pieces are irregular in shape and size; in the same material; with the same color. On the windows, of the gallery, there are statements like: "AS A THING, They will attract AND REPEL:" and "RE-FORM and RE-CONFIGURE." Go at your own risk! The one that navigates the room, like a mouse, WILL attack. Kid you not. Until 29th May. https://bit.ly/2LzEjXq 
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Saturday:

Remember those 37 red dots mentioned in this week's intro? They are at Galerie Petit (N.Z. Voorburgwal 270). And why not? Every style of art is represented from figuration, abstract, realism, expressionism, conceptual, cartoonish, surrealism, naïve (sort of), to bronze and ceramic work. Something for everyone! A total of 75 artists contributed from one to three pieces and all with dimension of 10x40 cms., or 40x10 cms. A lot of outstanding work to be seen. There is a takeaway 20 page catalog listing all the artists with one example of their work. The prices range from 180 EUR (Haije Gemser, etching) to 6,000 EUR (Peter van Poppel, oil). Until 12th June. https://bit.ly/2uFfPSi 
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Rod Bugg had his first show at De Witte Voet (Kerkstraat 135) in 1981; he has returned several times. In all the shows---or nearly all---he has shown red clay work and drawings. This no exception. Almost all the fired clay work is circular and about 45-50 cms in diameter. He creates nuances on the surface by glazing here and there; sometimes like he is cutting a pie. There is also a rawness in his work that compliments the material. Four drawings are preliminary sketches for some of the work. But two are independent black charcoal drawings done in the style of a Pointillist. (30x25 cms., drawings, charcoal/wash @ 650 EUR; "Circular Shaft" series @ 1,900 EUR; "Round & Around, 9 pcs, each 40 cms dia. @ 6,000 complete.) Until 29th May. https://bit.ly/2NSLxnD 
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Two artists are showing at "Gallery nine" (Keizersgracht 552). Under the title, "My life is my dream, my dream is not my life/1,'" they both present work in b/w. Zhifei Yang (China) b/w work reflects Asian brush work. That is, drawings with simple but bold lines. There is a large 140x74 cms., ink and charcoal work, hanging, with its original preparatory drawing in pen and ink measuring 20x21 cms. Another pen and ink is a conceptual study of pen strokes with ink spots and measures 79x234 cms. The tension is created with two irregular white lines intersecting the imagery on the righthand side. (19x11 cms., p/i @ 200 EUR; 29x20 cms., p/i @ 350 EUR; 79X234 cms., p/i @ 1,400 EUR.)...Ronny Delrue does figurative drawings in a conceptual way. And in some works there is no figurative element only the conceptual. His style is simple and, for the most part, b/w and, from time-to-time, a touch of color. His larger work is more intricate though it maintains the simplicity of the smaller pieces. He also shows two porcelain pieces and both under glass. Each one is phallic in form; one is all black and the other is b/w. (29x21 cms., mixed technique @ 850 EUR; 182x92 cms., mixed technique @ 5,000; 37x14x11 cms., porcelain @ 3,300 EUR.) Until 29th May. https://bit.ly/2uCbyPs 
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Photography is many things. Kahn & Selesnick, at TORCH (Lauriergracht 94) have a unique voices that crosses into different categories of art and art history. Well, what to make of it? What category and/or style to assign it to? As mentioned, it is photography, but that is almost a minor element. There is a consistency to the imagery in that all the pieces are panoramic; and harken back to another time and place. Plus they are symbolic or humorous or mysterious. The show's title does reflect many of these descriptions, "'Eisbergfreistadt, 1923' and other panoramic fictions." What they ALL have in common is that they emphasize the landscape of, I think, Greenland; a barren land of ice and snow. Added to this are figures that look like early explorers. Also, and more dramatic, are those photos showing an early rocket ship, with three passengers; and the first airships (blimps). All are elaborately posed compositions that make you wonder where PhotoShop came into play with the "real" photograph. There is also a montage of small vintage photographs of a variety of subject matter. An intersting exhibition from a variety of perspectives. 49x49 cms., archival ink jet prints framed, Ed. 10 @ 1,100 EUR; 30x187 cms., same as before @ 3,400 EUR; 143x143 cms., same as before @ 9,000 EUR.) Untl 6th June. https://bit.ly/2L7qYSK 
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On entering the Galerie Fons Welters (Bloemstraat 140) we are met by Zoro Feigl's "Pressurizing." 3D's first thought was, "The Lochness monster is alive and well in living in Amsterdam." Feigl has taken an industrial fire hose and arranged it in a design of loops, curves and circles like "Nessy" or a Disneyland roller coaster. But that's not the end of it. He has connected the hose to an air compressor which, on a cycle of every 20 minutes, pumps air through the hose. This process reconfigures the shape of the hose and gives it "life," sort of. The visual result is that the meters of hose rises to the occasion, you might say. Everything is in motion. Cool. No price list.

In the large back gallery are paintings by Pere Llobera under the title, "Tired of being strong." His work goes from the dark world of a Delacroix canvas to colorful one of what could almost be a circus ring. But it is both his style and technique that distinguishes his unique painting style. The imagery is not always obvious; it is sometimes almost hidden, in fact. But his magic is to draw the viewer into the work so as to search out its meaning. How else can you explain the painting reproduced on the invite: It shows a man pulling himself up from the floor while holding on to the door knobs on each side of an open door; there are two pink balloons, on the floor, and two umbrellas leaning against the wall. The piece is a study of perspective as much as it is representational. (22x19 cms., oil @ 2,0900 EUR; 40x70 cms., oil @ 5,500 EURO; 170x200 cms., oil @ 13,000 EUR.) Until 12th June. https://bit.ly/2LZAAPK 
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WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS WEEK: 

Reminder: The (?) indicates that the info could be WRONG; and the "*" means that the times may not be correct. Please check the gallery's web site or phone. 

THURSDAY: 6th May, 2010
THURSDAY: 6th May, 2010 

16:30 Museum Jan van der Togt (Dorpsstraat 50, Amstelveen). Sjoerdtje Hak, landscapes in oil and watercolor. Plus Truus Menger-Oversteegen, sculpture. https://www.jvdtogt.nl/ 

17:00 Galerie Mokum (OZ Voorburgwal 334). Daniel Enkaoue (France), representational paintings and portraits. http://www.galeriemokum.com/

(?)17-19:00 Melkweg Galerie (Marnixstraat 409, Enter @ Jo's Cafe). "The Spirit of District Six," Cloete Breytenbach. Photography 

17:30 "foam" (Keizersgracht 609). Hans van den Bogaard, "Collectie Vrolik." https://bit.ly/2Lavlwl 

20:30 Zaal 100 (De Wittenstraat 100). Maddy Rentenaar, paintings; plus music by The Reinder Ensemble. https://bit.ly/2LKAH52 

FRIDAY: 7th May
FRIDAY: 7th May

17:00 De Brakke Grond/VCC (Nes 45). Stephen van Fleteren, "Flandrien," photos + De Fietsband. This should be fun. The parts of the bike are used as musical instruments. Only in Holland. https://bit.ly/1Th5K2k 

17-19:00 Teto Projects (Haarlemmerstraat 89-2). Six international artists curated by Alex Ferrar. The invite describes Teto this way, "It seeks to provide a complementary space for experimentation, production and presentation of current art practice within a flexible enviroment. No web-site listed. 

17-19:30 The Frozen Fountain (Prinsengracht 645). "Post Milan 2010." "A selection of various Dutch submissions to the design event 'Salone del Mobile' in Milan." https://bit.ly/2mV49ad 

17-19:00 ARTTRA (2e Boomstraat 4). Peter van der Heijden, mixed media work; Inge van Gils, ceramic. http://www.arttra.nl/ 

20:30 STEIM @ Conservatory of Amsterdam (Blue Note Hall). Walter Fabeck conducts an on-line stream concert. FREE. http://steim.org/ 

SATURDAY: 8th May
SATURDAY: 8th May

16:00 Art A Casa (Kerkstraat 411). Marijke Janssen, bronze work; Tamar Rubinstein, collages. https://bit.ly/2JL0Mff 

16:00 Galerie 59 (Van Eeghenstraat 59). Hans Jürgen Simon, works on paper. https://bit.ly/2AmLNsv 

16:00 AdK (Prinsengracht 534). Group show of five artist, "Grijzen en Zwart." https://bit.ly/2LRt0qC 

17-20:00 TEN HAAF PROJECTS (Laurierstraat 248). Georgina Gratrix (S. Africa), "Everything Ecstatic," watercolors. https://bit.ly/2ux13gg 

(?)17-19:00 GRIMM (Keizersgracht 82). Ciarán Murphy. https://grimmgallery.com/ 

18:00 Mediamatic BANK @ Pathé Tuschinski. This is the opening party and features 17 short films on urban bike riders. The entrance fee is 11 EUR, but it is FREE if you RSVP: mediamatic/net/openingbff. (This doesn't look right, but that's all they wrote. Maybe it's the web-site and you can click on from there.) 

20:00 Mediamatic BANK continues the program at their space (Vijzelstraat 68). "An exhibition on urban bike culture...Sportsmen, messengers, collectors, artists and other bike lovers helped gather some admirable collections..." http://www.mediamatic.net/ 

SUNDAY: 9th May
SUNDAY: 9th May

14:00 Jos Art (KNSM-laan 291). Hideaki Yamanok (Japan), abstract; plus Japanese music. https://bit.ly/2KTfwOo 

15-17:00 NP 40 (Middenweg 22). Barbara Damen, "BREEK." An installation that includes video, photography, sculpture, etc. http://www.werkplaatsruim.com/ 

15:00 Het Glazen Huis (Amstelpark). "Het huis door d glazen gooien," four artists: designer, sculptor and painters. No web site on invite. 

16:00 "retort" (Aalsmeerweg 103). Vincent Boschma, installation; "Sonostruct-geluid/software ontwerp," with performance, "Astrale Gesprekken," van Lala et Lala. https://bit.ly/2uoD5Vh 

16:00 WALLS Gallery (Prinsengracht 737). A group show titled, "What Dreams May Come," with 17 artists showing. https://bit.ly/2LRAexM 

17:00 BORZO modern & contemporary art (Keizersgracht 516). Marc Mulders, paintings. https://bit.ly/2maQxaC 

MONDAY: 10th May
MONDAY: 10th May 

(?)19-20:00 Crossfire Project Base (Veemkade 572). A group show of four artists curated by "Synergetic Art 002." 

WEDNESDAY: 12th May
WEDNESDAY: 12th May

17-20:00 Van Zijll Langhout Exposities (Brouwersgracht 161). Daishin Sumimoto (Japan), "Peaceful Chairs." https://bit.ly/2m7l7Sk 
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An easy week to view art in Amsterdam. Not too many openings so it will be possible to see everything. And 3D guarantees you will see something you WANT...or your money back. All you gotta do is GO! Now that isn't so difficult. The weather continues to improve making any and all trips through this breathtakingly beautiful city a mind blower as we use to say way back in the 60s. Amsterdam still does it for 3D. Kid you not! Over and out...

Photo:  It's a dog-eat-dog world...but the Gnome was giving away ART at his "The Garage Sale" last weekend. Pictured are two views of Rob Malasch as "The Younger" (upper right hand corner standing with Warhol) and the current model (holding his Polaroid of Andy), Photograph by: Guillaume Ehrenfeldt taken at Serieuze Zaken Studioos

http://gould3dlist.blogspot.nl/  

 

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