The Valkhof Museum in Nijmegen has reopened. Gijs Frieling and Job Wouters (together known as Freeling Waters) incorporated Bezemer’s work ‘Finisterre’ into their mural ‘Joy’. See the original sculpture and the painting here.
Photo : Gijs Frieling with Frank Bezemer and staff # 37, originally titled as The knowledge lost in information.
Domchurch Utrecht
Staff # 25. For Raymond Hains II. 158cm 62′.
In 1949 Hains and Jacques Villeglé began to use torn posters to create Paintings.They collaboratively produced a series of works, using torn concert posters and advertisements taken from around the city, in a process known as décollage. Their first work was titled Ach Alma Manetro, named after words that emerged from the chaos of the strewn letters.
On January 15, 2020, we read on a shop window the decree of the mayor of Prato, Italy, that Chinese New Year could not be celebrated this year. We were in Italy, but in this shopping street, only Chinese characters could be read. For the first time, I saw people walking down the street wearing face masks. What had initially been news about an event in far away Wuhan now suddenly seemed close to home.
After a series of then still unexplained deaths, the fight against the Covid-19 virus began a few months later. With face masks, a lockdown, and eventually vaccinations.
The individualism that has dominated society for years is now becoming the norm. The gesture of social connection is prohibited; shaking hands has become too dangerous. People must keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other. Two of Balthus’ paintings become reality: Passage du Commerce-Saint-André, 1952-1954 (Fondation Beyeler) and La Rue 1933, (Moma New York)
The sculpture Endless Diversity (staff #101) calls for breaking the pattern of monoculture. (Over forty percent of the surface area in the Netherlands is used for monoculture. Twenty percent of the Netherlands is full of the monocultures for the purpose of cattle feed; grass and corn.)
Staf #101
Staff # 90 141 cm private collection
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During an extended stay in Georgia in 2018, I experienced the valiant fight against voter suppression led by Stacey Abrams. Back in the Netherlands, I dedicate a staff to her.
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Staff # 91 (28 parts; total length 214cm) private collection
