Visual artist José de Bruin and designer Grietje Hartman, each with their own perception of art, found each other. The result of their dialogue about present and past, about imagination and memory, is a surprising exhibition that heralds autumn; season of contemplation and twilight.
For several years now, José de Bruin has been visualising the childhood memories she gained in a small village in Germany. Her series of work titled `Tanz mit mir' includes, besides large drawings, objects like cardboard boxes; handmade and glued with images of old photographs and picture postcards, sometimes embroidered and containing necklaces, bearing witness to a memory or special event.
For her work José the Bruin uses, among other things, old souvenirs; accessories like little antlers, chamois goatees, bone buttons and carved bone in combination with knittings…. Inextricably linked to each other although the necklaces can be worn separately. For this exhibition she shows new work from her series `Hirschsprung', based on an old legend from the black forest, in which a majestic deer in agony escapes a group of hunters by beating a deep mountain ravine with a giant jump.
Retrouvé for Grietje Hartman is an opportunity to show a selection of the work she designed and produced in recent years. Main point thereby were materials and objects she collected over decades. These materials have been treated in different ways; wool has been cooked, leather washed, yarns have been bundled and silver and gold were melted. Rigid fabrics and rough wool combined with fragile, transparent silk: dark shades, earthy colours, sometimes varied with a hint of silver or white. Her motivation was the want to give new value to already existing materials that have been seemingly useless for many years.
It’s these creative combinations that led to a striking and interesting collection. Exciting accessories that attract the attention, but without being insistent.
Opening
Sunday November 7, 2010 14.00
by Albert Wulffers, filmmaker, writer and professor at the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam