Nothing new under the Sun

Penelope Umbrico at Gallery West in The Hague, September 2010
Sun sets photographs borrowed from Flickr.

Joris Jansen are the rainbow photos coming from internet? From the Graduation Show at the Royal Academy in The Hague 2009.

Trini

Trini. Canvas. Belgium

Commemoration of what?

The date finally arrived. It is 200 years ago of the insurgent call from a 'criollo' priest in a very small town in then New Spain (today Mexico) to rebel against the Spanish Crown. And the rest is history, we could say. But it is not. It took more a decade of inner fights and countless dead, including priest Hidalgo's dead, until the criollos -or children of Spaniards born in the new land- with help of the Indians declared the Independence from Spain. Still a few more years before the international community recognized this fact.

This Independence didn't mean a better life for the mayority of inhabitants of the new land. 200 years, many other wars, guerrillas, revolutions, rebellions and political systems and the situation of big part of population is not much better than then, except mainly for those descendants from the criollos.
Isn't now a good moment to make a real change and to be fair to the whole population?

In the mean time these are a photos taken on the commemoration day at the huge Richard Meijer's Atrium of the City Hall of The Hague.

(Not) Guilty, The Message

The Record, 2010


A selection of the paintings of the series (Not) Guilty, all made in Mexico City and The Hague by ©Marisa Polin 2010.
Music: Betterdays by ©Moonpilot 2010 The Hague.

Bettina Carl

Bettina Carl. Vegas Gallery. Germany

Art manners with a laugh

The Pablo Helguera Manual of Contemporary Art Style/ Manual de Estilo del Arte Contemporáneo is a relatively old book, published 2005, but still very much up to date. It was the perfect book after reading Don Thomson's book: "The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art". With this last one I was at the border of crying and with Pablo Helguera's there are few moments without a laugh. But still the laugh comes from the cynism and irony that the art world is made of now days. It is often painful but mostly true.
The comparison of the art world to a chess game makes it very easy to understand for those that are not that near to the AW (art world) as he calls it.
In English and Spanish.
Pablo Helguera

Esther Jansen

Esther Jansen. The Netherlands

Maria Romero

Maria Romero. Mexico

Portrait of the portrait painters

This is a photo, taken already some months ago, when most of the participants of the exhibition Portraits Now (Portrettisten Nu) got together to meet.
Portrait of the Dutch portrait painters:
Left: Dick Stapel, in between many of the artists: Bianca Berends, Marike Bok, Piet van den Boog, Erik Bosma, Dora Carpentier, Daan van Doorn, Sam Drukker, Jacque Gregoire, Ellen de Groot, Jurriaan van Hall, Annelies Hoek, Erik de Jong, Matt Kissingh, Dorine Kuiper, Judith Lansink, Urban Larsson, Frank Leenhouts, Marjolein Menke, Ab de Nijs Bik, Eva Ooms, Stijn Rietman, Joop Rubens, Roderik van Schaardenburg, Ans Schumacher, Janneke Viegers, Robert Vorstman and completely to the right Marisa Polin.

To see more on this: Dutch portraits now

A painting of the painting?

Amir Tirandaz. 'A la' Luc Tuymans?

De Nieuwe Academie DNA 2008-2010
until 4 October 2010
Gemak, The Hague

An exhibition of students that recently finished the post academic deparment of the Free Academy (Vrije Academie) in The Hague.

Artists: Klaas Bijl, Mil Ceulemans, Laura van Eeden, Diederick van Hees, Terrence Lettiche, Robbert Pauwels, Obbe Tiddens, Amir Tirandaz, Tjeerd Vrielink, Lenny Waasdorp, Lars Weller, Vera Witleer.

Curator: Fred Wagemans.

Obbe Tiddens. Maybe time to make a painting of the painting with this surrounding?

Lenny Waasdorp, big "Polaroids". A fort? It makes me question what is this? and why?

Mil Ceulemans

Mil Ceulemans. I think I've heard of this painter before, and I am glad I saw the real paintings.

I couldn't find the name of the artist. There was some construction at the back of the gallery and this work and the building site kind melted together. In a good sense.

Porcelain cat walk.

Quiet (Still)
Exhibition of the Anne-Marie van Sprang's small sculptures at Museum Beelden aan Zee.
It is in all ways a fragile show, and it only attracts each visitor more to do the prohibited: to touch the 15 cm tall, thin and super white human porcelain figures.
I wonder, why is the exhibition described as "installation"?

Eye contact.

The artist Anne-Marie van Sprang.

The opening seemed to me longer than normal, especially when you don't have a chair or you have little time to visit it as it was my case. There were many more visitors than space.

Even with a chair it seemed a long wait for this gentleman.



The cat walk.
Sculpture Club.

Pedro Meyer

Pedro Meyer. Mexico
Copyright © 2009 Pedro Meyer
1985 Mexico City, 25 years after the earthquake.

Fathers and Sons

Exhibition Fathers and Sons (Vaders en Zonen)
Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague.
Until 10th of October 2010.

Many of the artists were present. The special visit to the exhibition was organized by the Museum's Sculpture Club.

The older generation of Dutch artists that make sculpture (born between 1910 and 1930) invited artists from the middle generations (between 1930 and 1950) and these last ones chose artist from the youngest generation (born 1950-1970) They chose those where their own influence was visible or there was a visual or theoretical affinity.
First generation: Ben Guntenaar (1922-2009), Carel Kneulman (1915-2008) en Carel Visser (1928).
They chose for: Paul Kubic (1940),Henk Visch (1950) , Berend Bodenkamp (1942), Gerard Höweler (1940) en Joep van Lieshout (1963). V
And these last ones chose for: Mathieu Knippenberg (1950), Paul de Reus (1963) , Hieke Luik (1958), Gerard van Rooij (1954) en Zoro Feigl (1983).

Meret Oppenheim

Meret Oppenheim. Switzerland-Germany

The last suppers

All about food.
An impressive and moving exhibition of Raul Ortega Ayala at Stroom The Hague.
The presentation of The Last Supper (Het laatste avondmaal) The Hague version and other works.

Hungry? or Satisfied?

A fatty Babel's Tower.


After one week.

mmh?

Re doing the buffet at the World Trade Center. Ready.

After one week.

Art?

I wonder if the food was so good at the original restaurant. I think (nearly) every body was at the same time thinking of 9/11 as they were enjoying the food.


The work I was most impressed with at the exhibition was the menus of last meals from famous people like JFK in a very sober, traditional surrounding.

(Not) The Last Supper, after one week.

The Last Supper after two weeks.


The video 2x

The (last table) and the video underneath.


The artist Raul Ayala, in pink, with his family.

Photo's by LNA Da Santis and Marisa Polin