Christie van der Haak, Elmar Trenkwalder; Galerie Maurits van de Laar, The Hague

Both artists in Maurits van de Laar’s gallery’s present exhibition, Elmar Trenkwalder (1959) and Christie van der Haak (1950), take ornamentation out of its generally presumed decorative context.

In Trenkwalder’s works ornaments become corporeal, especially in his more sculptural ceramics, whose uniformity in colour and material invites the viewer to look and scrutinise more closely.

It might have been a kind of a challenge to integrate Trenkwalder’s objects more with Van der Haak’s installation.

Now, although some of them are shown in the same space as Van der Haak’s, they still retain their full sovereignty, which is just as well.

Van der Haak’s installation contains wallpaper, paintings, ceramics, epoxy resin panels  and upholstered chairs.

Focusing may seem to be a bit puzzling but that is also part of the fun and charm as Van der Haak makes you look in different ways.

There is no difference in hierarchy between any object or its surroundings.

Some objects come out clearly, others seem to have a camouflage colour.

As always Van der Haak wonderfully combines a festive mood with the intimacy of the gaze.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

©Villa Next Door 2017

Content of all photographs courtesy to Elmar Trenkwalder, Christie van der Haak and Galerie Maurits van de Laar, Den Haag

 

Bertus Pieters

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Everything We Could Not Keep, works by Eva Spierenburg and Elsbeth Ciesluk; Galerie Maurits van de Laar, The Hague

Eva Spierenburg

The title of the show has a bit of a melancholic undertone, but that is where the absurdism of both artists, Eva Spierenburg (1987) and Elsbeth Ciesluk (1986), leads to.

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Both artists in this very well conceived show at Maurits van de Laar gallery seem to be in search of things somewhere in between being materially not there, and lost from mind the moment you think of it.

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Spierenburg does so with paintings, drawings, videos and sculptural works and Ciesluk mainly with text works.

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Spierenburg’s works have a wide range of aspects, but usually the human body is central to it.

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Eva Spierenburg

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Ciesluk’s works are in between poetry and visual art.

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

One of her works was made on the wall of the gallery.

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Elsbeth Ciesluk

I was very late in visiting this show, the finissage will be next Sunday, so do hurry to see this fine exhibition.

Elsbeth Ciesluk

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

©Villa Next Door 2017

Content of all photographs courtesy to the artists and to Galerie Maurits van de Laar, Den Haag

 

Bertus Pieters

Robbie Cornelissen, The New Room; Galerie Maurits van de Laar, The Hague

Robbie Cornelissen (1954) is probably one of the greatest Dutch draughtsmen.

His work is presently on show at Maurits van de Laar gallery.

You could say his practice is a constant dialogue between drawing and space.

Making big drawings has generally been a sort of artistic hype for quite some time, but Cornelissen’s work is quite a different story.

To the viewer it is also a constant challenge in taking a position in front of his drawings.

There are stop-motion videos on show too, in which you can see how Cornelissen is drawing, abstracting, adjusting, erasing, telling a story of space and non-space.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2017

Content of all pictures courtesy to Robbie Cornelissen and Galerie Maurits van de Laar, Den Haag

 

Bertus Pieters

Erik Pape, Ronald Versloot, paintings; Maurits van de Laar gallery, The Hague

At the moment Maurits van de Laar gallery has a double exhibition with works by Erik Pape (1942) and Ronald Versloot (1964).

Place Stalingrad (Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad) in Paris is still part of Pape’s studio.

In this exhibition he shows some details that caught his eye, making the square a cosmos of different aspects of life.

Versloot shows a lot of pictures about sailing.

You might ponder who are the real masters, the people in the boats or the impressive, but also a bit ghost-like sails.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2017

Content of all pictures courtesy to Erik Pape, Ronald Versloot and Galerie Maurits van de Laar, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Nour-Eddine Jarram, Push The Button; Galerie Maurits van de Laar, The Hague

I visited Maurtis van de Laar’s gallery to write a review about Nour-Eddine Jarram’s solo show Push The Button for Villa La Repubblica. Click here to read the review (in Dutch).

As i have written extensively about the exhibition on VLR i leave you here with a few details of the works on show.

Best of course is to visit the show as it is always better to see the real thing.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2017

Content of all pictures courtesy to Nour-Eddine Jarram and Galerie Maurits van de Laar

 

Bertus Pieters

Track and Trace II; Galerie Maurits van de Laar, The Hague

Urs Pfannenmüller

Erik Pape

Andrea Freckmann

Maurits van de Laar’s gallery has its 25th anniversary.

Marcel van Eeden

Martin Fenne

Heidi Linck

Robine Clignett

At the moment it shows its second edition of its jubilee exhibition and it is a real full house.

Elsbeth Ciesluk

Ingrid van der Hoeven

Ronald Versloot

Robbie Cornelissen

Herewith i give you a few examples of the more than 70 works of art by more than 30 artists presently on show in the gallery.

Stan Klamer

Elmar Trenkwalder

Nour Eddine Jarram

Jan Brokof

The finissage will be on Sunday.

Sebastiaan Schlicher

Marjolein van der Meij

Martin Assig

Diederik Gerlach

Of course i wish Maurits and his artists many fruitful years to come!

Tobias Gerber

Nare Eloyan

Zeger Reyers

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

Content of all pictures courtesy to the artists and Galerie Maurits van de Laar

Bertus Pieters

Passage; Maurits van de Laar gallery, The Hague

I visited Maurits van de Laar’s gallery to write a review for Villa La Repubblica about the present show, featuring works by Dieter Mammel, Hans de Wit and Nour-Eddine Jarram. Click here to read the full review and see some extra footage (in Dutch; review combined with shows in Pulchri and Nest).

Hans de Wit’s works on paper show an interesting mixture of wonder and aw.

Referring to the title of the show, one could think of the passage from the conscious to the unconscious or even from life to death, a process of drowning in a vast sea, or culture taken over by nature.

Nour-Eddine Jarram shows quite a number of water colours, dealing with the so-called clash of cultures, forced migration and protection against suffering.

He more or less translates existing photographs in a somewhat Rembrandtesque style mixed with Jarram’s almost calligraphic way of drawing human expressions.

Dieter Mammel shows two big ink drawings on canvas with boats full of migrating people in between the high waves, incorporating boats and waves in the structure of the canvas.

He also made a video of a project with refugee-children, interviewing them while they were making drawings.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

Contents of the pictures courtesy the artists and Galerie Maurits van de Laar.

 

Bertus Pieters

Ria Pacquée & Henri Jacobs, Complete Collapse; Galerie Maurits van de Laar, The Hague

In Complete Collapse at Maurits van de Laar’s gallery Ria Pacquée (1954) shows photographs and videos and

Henri Jacobs (1957) shows drawings.

Pacquée’s work with coins Complete collapse – referring to the fall of Lehmann Brothers in 2008 – is the basis of the show.

She also shows circles in daily life in different places in the world and

you can see circles in her videos.

In one of them she is running in circles around street rubbish in Antwerp.

Jacobs shows some of his so-called Journal Drawings, works based on subjects that keep him busy in his mind the moment he starts a drawing, usually subjects with a strong geometrical input.

Circles, the most perfect shapes in daily life, often occur in his works.

During the exhibition Jacobs is working on a monumental drawing, so there is a good opportunity to meet the artist.

Works of both artists are mixed, such that a wonderful combination of the outer and inner worlds make a complete world.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

Contents of all pictures courtesy the artists and Galerie Maurits van de Laar

Bertus Pieters