Christiana’s sceptre (staff # 52) is on display at Contour gallery in Rotterdam until 18 July 2025
It was on show at photo London, Somerset House, Strand May 15- May 18 2025. Contour Gallery Booth D15
In 2014, I read an interview with Christiana Figueres, the president of the upcoming 2015 Paris Climate Conference. She spoke about the enormous responsibility she carried, despite having almost no real power.
Bridge that gap
To help symbolically bridge that gap, I spontaneously decided to visit the UN office and offer her (or her assistant) a scepter. However, I was stopped by UN security and couldn’t deliver it.
The scepter on the X-ray scanner
It was fascinating, though, to see the scepter on the X-ray scanner. Six years later, I met a woman who truly had both power and responsibility — and I took this photo.
Paris (FR) Palais de Tokyo, Octobre 16 2024, (With Guillaume Désanges, président du palais de Tokyo)
Connecting with the cosmos
Twenty-eight blocks stacked into a “staff,” which gives the work the suggestion of a utensil, refer to diversity, connection and perception.The complexities of independent observation, the beauty and necessity of all kinds of diversity, the joy of connecting with the cosmos, nature and fellow humans!
A pleasant autonomy
Diversity is my starting point in 2011. The work ‘barre ronde de bois’ by André Cadere gave me the idea of stacking colored blocks into a staff.I appear in public with a staff to both present my work and commemorate André Cadere (1934-1978). He would have turned ninety this year.His performances breathe a pleasant autonomy and are a response to his diagnosis of exclusionism in the art market.
The art of seeing
The 28 blocks are not glued together but temporarily connected to a staff. Each staff has a difficult-to-unravel organization and is more or less related to the surveyor’s red and white pole. The surveyor who maps earth’s surface without judgment: The art of seeing in pure form!
Beavers are collaborating
A lot has remained the same since I made my first staff in 2011. First of all: the ecstasy of making; the sawing and assembling, the sanding, painting and overpainting the elementsuntil a chord emerges.While at first I was proud of not getting the wood from a construction store but cutting it myself in the forest, now I am happy because beavers are collaborating with me by throwing long pieces of tree into the river for delivery to my studio.
March 23 2024, Otterlo (NL), Kröller-Müller Museum, With Hans Eijkelboom, the artist and staf #103
Every artist
Every artist stands on the shoulders of many predecessors. Through their artworks, I came to see the world better. In this almost endless line, there is one artist who is easily recognizable in my work. André Cadere was active between 1970 and his death in 1978. At that time you could have come across him at an opening with his mobile sculpture, his “barre ronde de bois”. Andre Cadere wanted to draw attention to the exclusivity of the art world by infiltrating these institutions with his own art.
Breaking into institutions
Initially, I only wanted to ‘steal’ the form of his sculptures. It soon became apparent that it was also necessary to continue his work by breaking into institutions, just like Andre Cadere did. Because institutions are perhaps even more hermetic now than they were in the seventies. The mobile sculpture in my hand I call staff. The wood of this staff (#103) was felled by beavers and delivered to my studio by the Rhine River. Staff #103 is in a private collection.
Staff # 96 and the artist @
Kapoenstraat Maastricht during the Covid-19 pandemic.
September 25 2020
Free after Balthus’ paintings: Passage du Commerce-Saint-André, 1952-1954 (Fondation Beyeler) & La Rue 1933, (Moma New York)
Staff #96 and the artist @ Kapoenstraat Maastricht during the Covid-19 pandemic. September 25, 2020 (Staff # 96 345 cm)
The decree of the mayor
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.
Covid-19 virus
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.
Paintings become reality
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)
Inspired by the medieval polychromatic wooden sculptures of mother and child, Frank Bezemer explores contemporary relationships between mother and child: Ellen in a suit of Sarah Kerbosch, with staf # 98, and Veerle in a suit ‘Noeskwam’ of Alicia Minnaard with staf #5.
A sculpture by Frank Bezemer consists of separate parts that are connected to form a staff, antenna or a scepter. The antenna is ideal for receiving signals from the cosmos. The staff is the perfect tool to directly connect with mother earth.
Ans Verdijk goes into the wild with staf # 94 (The wood for this staff was felled by beavers. Then delivered by rivers to the artist’s studio.)Staff # 94 158cm private collection
Inspired by the medieval polychromatic wooden sculptures of mother and child, Frank Bezemer explores contemporary relationships between mother and child. ( Anneke with staf # 97, also known as maatstaf II, and Taeke with staf #14 )
Fai del bene e sii felice. La massima del filosofo olandese Baruch Spinoza è messa in pratica ogni giorno da Maria. Molto tempo fa i suoi antenati hanno abitato nella grotta alle sue spalle. Nel giardino crescono albicocchi e anche giovani ulivi. 7 febbraio 2020
Welkom op mijn studio op zaterdag 13 en zondag 14 april 2024
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Speciaal voor buurtbewoners is er de tentoonstelling P a s s a g e s georganiseerd met werk van mijn collega’s en mij.
U kunt op zaterdag 13 en zondag 14 april 2024 tussen 11.00u en 17.00u komen kijken naar de binnenkant van het gebouw en de kunstwerken die er gemaakt zijn. En desgewenst in gesprek gaan met de kunstenaar.
(meer informatie over de foto getiteld: Study! onderaan in cursief.)
Entree € 5,- Dobbelmannweg 5 6531KT Nijmegen.
Especially for local residents the exhibition P a s s a g e s has been organised with works by my colleagues and me. You can come on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 April 2024 between 11am and 5pm to see the inside of the building and the artworks created there. And engage in conversation with the artist if you wish.
Entrance fee € 5 ,-
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About the photo titled Study! read more below
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The photo shows the door to my studio. From the left to the right: Two toddlers in memory of the former kindergarten, Emeritus Professor of Educational Studies at Radboud University Theo Bergen reenacting the statue on the frontside of the studio-building, and a delicate balancing staff # 31.
The building in which my studio is located has a statue of Johanna de Lestonnac on the front facade. She has a book in her hands, to emphasize the importance of education. Johanna de Lestonnac was a woman who began educating girls in Bordeaux in the 16th century.
The building was part of a large Roman Catholic complex, with a church, a rectory, a cemetery, a convent and a variety of schools. The building was originally built as a boarding school for girls. Then in 1931 it was transformed into a kindergarten. And in 1989, the building was converted into studios for artists.
From left to right: performers of contemporary music Jacob Vanneste and Lisa Kokwenda Schweiger with staff # 44. Accompanied by composers Boris Bezemer and Stefaan Quix. Bekegem (Belgium)
March 23 2024, Otterlo (NL), Kröller-Müller Museum, With Hans Eijkelboom, the artist and staf #103 
