Going back in time: Daniel Gould’s 3D List, Art in Amsterdam #45

Sorry, this is not a return to the original "3D List." No one has replied offering a work space with Internet connection---free or otherwise. However, I have received complaints from readers and support. The support has been in several forms. I have visited an organization that deals with discrimination problems. The forms have been filled and they have notified the OBA. 

Here is an interesting sidelight...Someone suggested I contact the Amsterdam'Ombudsman. They provided me with an address. I went by the first time on a Wednesday. There was a sign on the door that said: "Tuesday, 10-12:00." Okay. My first thought was, "Two hours a week? There will be a long line of people before me." I am more than pleased to report that I was WRONG; only four were in the reception room when I arrived at 10:30. It is nice to know that not many people have complaints towards the city' government.

I filled out a one page form. Two questions were pertinent: What city department are you complaining about? and What is the beef? Easy, OBA and discrimination! I handed the paper to the receptionist. Five minutes later he came over to me and said, "We can't help you. The OBA is no longer a part of the city administration. It has been privatized." There's that term again. He then gave me an address where I could send my complaint to: info@oba.nl. Looking at it, I said to him, "This looks like a conflict of interest situation." He answered, "Yes!" 

Here we go again with privatization. The social infrastructure that had made a country, with the highest density of population, in the Western world, into a social homogeneous and egalitarian paradise is slowly disintegrating into a paranoid it's-mine-and-not-yours nightmare. As an 80 year old medical doctor said to me recently, "Goddamn, this isn't my Holland anymore!" 
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That last statement should be followed by something Marshall McLuhan observed about a crowded society: "When people get close together, they get more and more savage, impatient with each other." Up until now, the Netherlands, has avoided the expected....He also said, "Art is anything you can get away with!" Both quotations are from a recent book "Marshall McLuhan" by D. Coopland
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Until I can return to my normal work schedule, the rubric "What Is Happening This Week" will not appear. Ironically, it is this section that requires the most time though there is little original text from me. I must do the research and the composing is tedious not to mention boooooooring to do. 

INDEX: 

Bits & Pieces:

What You Missed During January:

BITS & PIECES: 

But just so you will be able to recall all the interesting things you had an opportunity to learn from reading Bits & Pieces, here is an item I found in the LA Times. The new estimate on the number of stars, in the universe, has been increased by a factor of three. But, first, to give you an appreciation as to how many stars there were thought to be I will relate this description of the estimate. I once read an article that I later remembered saying that there were more stars than grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. Then, I saw a BBC TV documentary where the moderator said that there were 1,000,000 stars for every grain of sand. The new estimate is that there are 300 sextillion (that's 100 billion squared, multiplied by 30). It looks something like this:310,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, if I got it right. Of course, with that many stars, how many planets must there be? And with so many planets there must be a lotta living goin' on in this vast universe we call home. 
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...And Napoleon said c. 1800: "When China awakes, it will shake the world!" And 200 years later the quake is measuring a "9" on the Richter Scale. 
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Comic strip wisdom...From Non Sequitur, 11th January. 1st Character: "Texting...Facebook...Twitter...Fantasy Leagues...All this so-called social networking is just a soulless waste of time...People use to enjoy being alone in their thoughts...now it seems like that's everyone's biggest fear!" Second Character: "Maybe we should just start an anti-social network." 1st Character: "Other than being an oxymoron, that's brilliant!" Amen. 
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The newest chocolate on the market is Nacional and comes from South America. For details check: http://www.moonstruckchocolate.com/. It sells for $11 for 100 grs.
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"If your pictures aren't good enough your not close enough." Famous last words of Robert Capa (1913-1954), the photo-journalist, who was killed, in action, by a sniper, in Viet Nam.
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The latest word from Amsterdam's street poet, Laser 3.14 is: "Why the hell are you reading this?" @ Kerkstraat 367. 3D's reply, "Why the hell did you write it?" Maybe it's the weather.
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...And speaking of the weather...Sure, it has been cold for the last week or so, but Chicago has nearly 50 cms., of snow---at this writing---and it is still falling (2nd Feb). 3D was there in 1967 when 60 cms., fell in 24 hours. My then wife was expecting a baby any day. The expected event took place five days later. I did get her to the hospital and the doctor got there on skis. Like I say, I like Dutch weather!

WHAT YOU MISSED DURING THE LAST MONTH: 

At "VERVERS modern and contemporary art gallery" (Hazenstraat 54) is the work of the Polish artist Dominik Borkowski. Think of combining the styles of Keith Haring and A. Penck. Then limit yourself to working in b/w and shades of gray. The result is both conceptual and cartoonish. Sometimes funny, sometimes grotesque, or a touch erotic or just an abstraction. (13x15 cms., oil @ 200 euro; 130x120 cms., oil on canvas @ 2,000 euro).) Six red dots at opening. Until 19th February. https://bit.ly/2mkqkqc 
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Here is something different. Tessa Verder, showing at "g_i_s_t galerie" (Bloemgracht 82), does landscapes that mix reality with the make believe. That is, elements of the composition is indeed a photo, but some subject matter has been added with a paint brush then it is all photographed again. Trees tend to be the focal point and, generally, with a background of mountains. (45x77 cms., Ed. 15 photograph @ 1,650 euro; 120x132 cms., Ed. 3 @ 7,500 euro.) 

Showing with her is Viktor Baltus who paints conceptual representational abstraction with subdued color. Simple and appealing. (16x14.5 cms., oil on panel @ 450 euro; 41x38 cms., object and oil ! 1,850 euro.) Until 12th February. http://www.gistgalerie.nl/ 
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Black and white is really in! Eva Rader, at Galerie Gabriel Rolt, works only in b/w for the most part. Well, sometimes there is a touch of color but more often than not it is nearly subliminal. The style is best described as expressionistic cartoons. Crude is the imagery, but at the same time engrossing. (40x30 cms., @ 1,950 euro; 150x200 cms., @ 8,500 euro.) Until 12th February. https://bit.ly/2nFBTck 
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Well, graphic/video technology is expanding so fast that it seems like 3D is seeing something completely new every week. Jacco Oliver, at RON MANDOS (Prinsengracht 282), is a painter who animates his canvases and does it with 3D. This technique is a new style or one that I have not seen before. One short piece of just over a minute long is so engrossing that you find it difficult to walk away. His painting style ranges from figurative expressionism to pure expressionism. "Revolution," a 24 minute video loop, is an epic journey through the universe without a boring moment. Give this show a WOW!. (Animation on DVD, Ed. 5, 2:22 minutes @ 13,500 euro; Animation on DVD, Ed. 5, 24 minutes long @ 35,000 euro.) Until 12th February. https://bit.ly/1NONWvU 
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Ron Galella, the godfather of American' paparazzis, is back at Galerie W. van Leeuwen (Hazenstraat 27), with a show titled "jackie: my obsession." Indeed, and it got him into trouble with the legal authorities when Jackie accused his of stalking her. He was ordered by the court to never approach her closer than 100 meters; maybe it was even a greater distance. This exhibition revisits those days when she still commanded media attention both as an assassinated president's widow and as a rich man's concubine. We see John-John and Caroline as teenagers; and Ari Onasis, the shipping mogul, is in several photos. There is even a photo of Jackie smoking at a restaurant. The only such photo 3D has seen with her doing so. No price list available. Until 12th February. http://www.woutervanleeuwen.com/ 
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Are these portrait photographs? Galerie Rademakers (Prinsengracht 570) is showing the work of Carli Hermes in "Candy Shop." And indeed some of the pictures have an array of colors that look like a display of penny candy. Again, portraits? They are all ladies but the range in style is from representational/figurative to conceptual figurative with pleasing results. Some have a surrealistic feel. Nice! There is also a very nice catalog available and priced at only 10 euro. (100x134 cms., Ed. 7 @ 6,500 euro.) https://bit.ly/2JvtSz2 
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Elza Jo, with "The Age," is what's at Cokkie Snoei (Hazenstraat 11) exhibiting photography? Objects? Mixed-Media? Collages? well, ALL those techniques...and then some. The work borders on kitsch, but don't let that deter your appreciation of her imaginative imagery and humor. Most of the subjects are female, but there is a pussy cat or two. A wall of a collage/installation of photographs, embellished with paint and/or colored penny candy, is eye catching. (42x32 cms., mixed-media, Ed. 5 @ 1,100 euro; 53x75 cms., Ed. 5 @ 2,850 euro; collage/installation, 224 pieces @ 5,000 euro.) Until 13th February. http://www.cokkiesnoei.com/ 
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TORCH is exhibiting the photos of Wouter Deruytter under the title: "Billboards, NY." And that is what you see. They are b/w photos of the New York' urban scene and focus on the super large coverings of buildings under renovation. There is a fashion theme in the sense that most of these billboards feature threads by Calvin Klein Jeans, Liz Claiborne, H&M, etc. (40x50 cms., Ed 12 @ 1,200 euro; 87x87 cms., Ed. 6 @ 3,900 euro; 150x150 cms., Ed 3 @ 10,900 euro.) Until 19th February. https://bit.ly/2L7qYSK 
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At "Galerie bart" (Bloemgracht 2) are photos of people---very Dutch people---that are as vibrant as a portrait painted in oil. In fact, at first look, that's what you think you are looking at. Louise te Poele portraits are for the most part unposed and spontaneous and all against a jarring black background. There is also a book available titled "Framers" @ 49.50; a special signed edition (50) with an original print---30x48 cms---@ 395 euro. (50x35 cms, print on aluminum, Ed. 10 @ 350 euro; 100x150 cms., Ed 10 @ 1,750 euro.) Until 12th February. https://bit.ly/2m4yS4n 
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There is a group show of 11+ artists at Serieuze Zaken Studioos (Lauriergracht 96). The theme appears to be figurative. But what makes it interesting is that all styles imaginable from representational to expressionistic to Surreal are hanging. There is an exception, a series of kitsch objects which are very colorful and full of humor. Nine red dots at opening. Until __?__. https://bit.ly/2mrkyDb 
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Pascale-Sophie Kaparis hangs work all in red at Maison Descartes (Vijzelgracht 2a). She either draws or paints in red ink or oil and always against a white background. The forms resemble---and are meant to resemble---the body's internal organs. There are several shades of red giving each "organ" the illusion of depth making them dimensional. A couple are titled "Self Portrait," but, again, of "her" internal organs and one has a clearly defined vagina. (65x50 cms., Drawing, ink + tipp-ex; 208x350 cms., oil. No price list.) Until 25th January. https://bit.ly/2NKw9J1 
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At the Lijnbaansgracht Group (Lijnbaansgracht 314-318) both VOUS ETES ICI and LUMEN TRAVO is hanging what could be described as the "Best of 2010." The only thing missing is the wall painting that was at V.E.I. It is history! Damn! 

At Akinci is Dafnl Barbageorgopoulou who is a constructionist sculptor working with wood, fabric, photography and playing cards. Playing cards? Well, yeah, sorta. They are oversize (A4) and made from plastic and scattered about the floor. Her piece de resistance is an installation made from several sections of veneer wood; each has been cut into geometric abstract shapes and forms. It is about eight meters long and three meters wide. At one end, is a large tapestry measuring 455 cms., high and 300 cms., wide. It looks like it should be part of the wood piece, but, according to the price list, it isn't. Together, they would be truly monumental. (Tapestry @ 7,000 euro; wood floor piece @ 16,000 euro.) 

Anne Wenzel has a large ceramic walling hanging and floor piece that resembles a funeral wreathe that has wilted with time. (75x34x114 cms., ceramic and metal @ 16,000 euro). Until 19th February. https://akinci.nl/ 
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Nicole Ladrak does mixed media differently...Very differently! She is showing at Art A Casa (Kerkstraat 411) with paintings plus added fabric, collage and, more often than not, it is all covered with a fine mesh net. The imagery ranges from female portraits to still lives. The colors are vibrant. (12x12 cms., @ 75 euro; 25x25 cms., oil @ 150 euro; 90x90 cms., oil @ 950 euro.) Until 16th February. https://bit.ly/2JL0Mff 
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At Galerie Witteveen (Keizersgtracht 538) is the work of Krin Rinsema. She does "portraits," sorta. Well, how else can you describe a full body female staring out from the canvas surface, but has NO face? And, to make it all the more mysterious, there are several canvases where we see a female from the rear. And it is all in b/w with a non-decrepit background. She does do young girls in color, but even her color work looks like b/w. Huh? You gotta see it! Also on view are a series of b/w etchings and, again, all with a female subject. Nice work! (15x10 cms., ets. Ed. 7 @ 297.50 euro; 30x20 cms., oil @ 750 euro; 145x145 cms., oil @ 3,280 euro.) 

At the back of the gallery is a large metal sculpture piece with silver plate. It is a depiction of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. However they appear as skeletons. A monkey, a few bird-like dinosaurs are also present along with a two meter long snake making its way up the tree trunk. It could also be described as a figurative linear abstraction. John Breed is the artist. Good piece! (350x200x120 cms., metal/silver plate @ 50,000 euro).
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Tineke Porck shows at "Galerie nine" (Keizersgracht 552) with minimalistic paintings bordering on the monochromatic. She works in white, gray and black. Sometimes all are included in one composition. She also "structures" the paint with some pieces looking like the freshly plowed farrows of a farmer's field. A series of eight dip-tychs are diminutive with each section measuring 10x10 cms. (10x20 cms., dip-tych, oil and mixed media on wood @ 450 euro; 120x100 oil on canvas @ 2,700 euro.) Until 12th February. https://bit.ly/2O2dGJ6 
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Galerie LWW (1e Bloemdwarsstraat 5c) shows several sides to Marliek Schoen. She does drawings and paintings of male and female nudes in black and white and the style reflects the academic school of the 19th century. She also does sculpture work and with various materials. The head carved from oak is an exceptional piece. Other sculpture pieces are fired clay with a black gloss surface. (55x40 cms., charcoal + Conte @ 425 euro; 100x90 cms., oil & acrylic @ 1,150 euro; 35x40x25 cms., fired clay head @ 1,495 euro; 26x20x20 cms., Oak head @ 1,495 euro.) Until 19th February. https://bit.ly/2LSAL2G 
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A New Zealand new jewelry maker is at Galerie Rob Koudijs (Elandsgracht 12) with an updated version of 19th century cameo brooches. Not only has she updated the concept, but also the type of material used to achieve it. She is using plastic sheets of acrylic and creates variations in the material intrinsic structure. She does something else novel as well. Several pieces incorporate her initials. Not only does this give each work a "brand" identity, but the typography becomes part of the design itself. Cool! So, what you get is a "traditional" form of jewelry with a contemporary twist. Good work! (Earrings @ 240 euro; Brooch @ 850 euro; Necklace @ 2,400 euro.) Until 26th February. https://bit.ly/2LtDmQm 
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"The air was magic when we played" is the title for Sven Kroner's exhibition at Galerie Fons Welters (Bloemstraat 140). You will see panoramic landscapes reflecting the best elements of 17th to 19th century style landscape paintings. His use of light is inspired. It is sometimes dramatic like a lightning bolt and at other times very subtle. This is work that will appeal to both the traditionalist and those into the avant garde approach to landscape painting. (170x250 cms., acrylic on canvas @ 21,000 euro.)

In the Playstation section of the gallery is the work of Theun Govers who takes multiplex wood boards and carves its surface into a representational scene---rooms---but are in reality linear abstractions. Part of their attraction is that Govers maintains the integrity of the actual wood's brown tones in various shades and hues and only, sometimes, with a subtle nuance of color. (122x64 cms., acrylic and transparent polish on birch multiplex @ 1,400 euro; acrylic and transparent polish on poplar multiplex @ 2,400 euro.) Until 19th February. https://bit.ly/2NOPpoX 
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Galerie 23 (KNSM-laan 307) is presenting the first showing outside of Africa of the work of Fally Sene Sow (Senegal). The technique is an unusual mix of Senegal traditional and mixed media. Sow adds to all this an endearing naive quality in his complex compositions of a market place in Dakar. In each case, it is the view from his atelier's window so we are looking down on the scene. He paints, adds photos and other material that ranges from cardboard with its ribs showing to package foil and material that looks like freshly cut grass. Colorful to be sure, but again the work's strenght is in its composition: Busy and complex. (47x36 cms., mixed media @ 1,050 euro; 47x36 cms., mixed media @ 1,250 euro.) Until 24th February. https://bit.ly/2JoCck7 
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Simon Raab, A Special Review: 

Recently, I reviewed an exhibition for an European/North American artist. This is what I had to say: "At Art Affairs is Simon Raab with something completely different. In fact, in a sense, he has introduced a new technique. First he finds an old gilded frame; second, he takes a large sheet of stainless steel and shapes it with a result that looks like you are viewing a mountain terrain from 10,000 meters high. He then shapes the edges of the stainless steel sheet around the edges of the frame. Finally, he paints on the entire surface. The painting style is expressionistic and while there is a kitschy flavor it has a pleasing visual effect. Nor is there any redundancy as you go from work to work. Each piece is unique. And because of the nature of the steel, there is a glow to the colors. Nice!"

Short and to the point.

It is not often that I am motivated to go back and see an exhibition a second time, but it happens. I found myself in the neighborhood, of the gallery, and decided to take advantage of the situation. Once there, I browsed through a catalog titled "PARLEAU," published by Galerie Peter Zimmermann (ISBN: 978-3-9808352-8-2) illustrating his work from 2006 to the present. I also took time to read other viewers observations. I'm glad I did. Now I have an even greater appreciation for both the work and the artist.

Simon Raab didn't begin his professional life as an artist. In fact, he began that phase of his "creative" evolution in 2006, at the age of 54. That's generally a point when an artist has either made it or realizes they never will. His first "creative life" began after completing a doctorate in mechanical engineering in 1981. He has been assigned 70 patents which includes work "for the creation of digital 3D models and laser devices." Think perspective and light. The latter could be described as the "protagonist" for the imagery and, the former, the "subject" matter. And he expresses these elements in a variety of ways: 1. geometric abstraction; 2. expressionism; and 3. figurative expressionism. Then, to make it all the more interesting, he sculptures the working surface; and all together it makes for a tasty artistic stew.

The resulting work is somewhere in-between being painting and sculpture. He has coined the term "parleau" to describe it: "Amalgamating the French word "par" (through) and "l'eau" (the water), the term suggests the seductive quality of light passing through liquid." But let us go back to the technique that he has developed which will shed light---if you wish---on the validity of the word parleau.

The steel or aluminium sheets are a polychromatic bas relief causing the colors---which are layered with a glazed acrylic coating between them---to change continuously as your eyes move across the surface. The light is reflected in infinite directions because "he bends and dents, wrinkles, crinkles and variously distresses the painted metal support;" or as another person described the process, "He folds and forms, bends and dents, presses and crimps - now wholly the sculptor - the coloured surface into a richly faceted relief." And in the same way these lyrical descriptions ring melodiously in our ears; so do the resulting visual imagery excite and tantalize our eyes.

So far I have discussed his scientific background as it has influenced his technique and the resulting visual aspects because of that technique. But, that says little about the imagery which is more complex. More complex because his influences are historical, literary, musical, philosophical and, well, a lexicon of terms is required for your full appreciation to understand where he is coming from. Add to that Raab's personal history---such as the fact that his parental grandparents both died in Auschwitz; and that his "second father," an uncle, was a renown sculptor---and you have more ingredients into the artistic stew that has shaped both the man and the artist. 

The imagery that has resulted includes "Oblique Mondrian in 3D - Box of acreage" (2007) which---like the title indicates---emulates Mondrian in three dimensions. I especially like when he creates conceptual expressionistic portraits like "Regen Projectus - Eyes and lips of a dealer," and "Bob Dylan - Bob Zimmerman." Then there are the more straight forward portraits like the three different modes that he uses to portray Elizabeth II, he says, "I respect her as a woman and mother, and I respect her devout dedication to the role she was handed in 1952...She was a beautiful new Queen." The three modes begin with that new and beautiful Queen; continues to the second phase, "Royal Skullduggery," depicting her as a skull; and ends with "The Sun does set" showing an aged woman with sad eyes.

There is truly something for everyone in his imagery. Personally, I favor the expressionistic work, though "Arthur Miller" (a homage to Andy Warhol), Vonnegut, Cohen and Baudelaire could hang on my wall as well.

Perhaps it is both proper and informative to conclude this piece in Raab's own words: "I am obsessed by confusion with reality. I no longer see anything or any situation with any confidence. I cannot help but wonder if what I see is real, who is who and what is what. It is not revisionist history; it is revisionist present. In my art, I am expressing my humility...I continue to see reality expressed either in mathematical or philosophical terms. Chaos surrounds us and confusion is predictable...I am attracted to neither the abstract nor the figurative, but rather to the transition and confusion between the two. I find comfort in the figurative form and I am compelled to abstract it by deforming the surface." 

Amen! I say to that. 
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...And there you have it! 3D has no other comments to make...Still waiting to hear from the organization trying to get me back into the OBA...Later... 

Photo: Well, 3D thought that it was advisable to illustrate Doru Dumitrrescu's "sky-scraper" with a "twist." Shakened, but not stirred. Photograph by: Elana Krautchenko (aka IsidoraD) 

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