Reflections
beyond the Surface

At first glance the exuberant reds, oranges and blacks in Robert Zandvliet’s (1970, the Netherlands) painting seem to represent nothing but fickle abstract shapes. Looking closer, though, a familiar image rises to the surface. Untitled (1999) is his take on Vincent van Gogh’s famous last painting Tree Roots (1890) – a dazzling entanglement of roots and soil. By analyzing and reinterpreting the work of this Dutch master – who, like Zandvliet, made his own paints – he gains insight into what shapes his own ways of seeing, creating a new masterpiece. It is comparable to the pioneering work of scientific researchers, where reinterpreting, deconstructing and building on the work of others is the key to arriving at new horizons. 

Though it is, of course, an expression based on the written word, ‘reading between the lines’ is somehow fitting for the work of ceramicist Eva Crebolder (1968, The Netherlands). Tenderness can be felt in everything she makes. Shapes are softly repeated, and as they combine, we notice the spaces between their subtly rolling surfaces, capturing the chaos implicitly present in every structure.

In the composition Crebolder has put together for this exhibition her porcelain ware – with its gentle geometry and slow curves – is recast as architectural and monumental, entering into a dialog with the surrounding buildings. Functional tiles and containers create a city landscape, patterns of streets and roundabouts and the outline of its towers against a distant sky, allowing the viewer to shift between various scales, both real and imagined. 

Materiaalonderzoek vormt de kern van Thomas Trum’s (1989, Nederland) kunstpraktijk. Hij ziet verf als zijn muze en gebruikt zijn studio als laboratorium om de meest uiteenlopende verftechnieken uit te testen op papier, canvas en muur. Enorme viltstiften, wegmarkeringsmachines en kwasten gemonteerd aan boormachines worden stuk voor stuk ingezet om tot nieuwe ontdekkingen te komen. Trum pioniert door te vertrouwen op trial-and-error: juist door de uitkomst van zijn experimenten niet te kennen, ontstaan er composities vol energie en snelheid. Speciaal voor deze tentoonstelling transformeerde Trum de ruimte, gebruikmakend van AkzoNobel verf. Deze nieuwste werken zijn opgebouwd uit 4 lijnen en volledig vlakvullend.

While educated as a painter, Paul Beumer (1982, the Netherlands) prefers to make his compositions without the use of a brush or canvas. In this abstract series of works, a special interest in the relationship between Western and Asian approaches to landscape painting and nature has directed Beumer toward ‘painting’ with bleached and stitched bark cloth. This textile, made from the inner bark of trees, was commonly used in Asia and Africa before the invention of weaving. By combining Asian textile techniques with pictorial elements reminiscent of Western Modernist painters, Beumer creates entirely new contemporary surfaces.

While educated as a painter, Paul Beumer (1982, the Netherlands) prefers to make his compositions without the use of a brush or canvas. In this abstract series of works, a special interest in the relationship between Western and Asian approaches to landscape painting and nature has directed Beumer toward ‘painting’ with bleached and stitched bark cloth. This textile, made from the inner bark of trees, was commonly used in Asia and Africa before the invention of weaving. By combining Asian textile techniques with pictorial elements reminiscent of Western Modernist painters, Beumer creates entirely new contemporary surfaces.

Untitled (2019) explores the equivalence of man and nature. Worm-like creatures, body parts and plants playfully intermingle. For this sculpture, Derk Thijs (1977, the Netherlands) used wood from a felled tree – collected from the dunes close to his studio – which turned out to be full of life. Worms and beetles crawled out from underneath its surface. Inspired by the notion that in our day and age nature is reclaiming the stage, the worms and plants in Thijs’ work become their own curious protagonists.

When looking at Martijn Schuppers’ (1967, the Netherlands) oeuvre, one’s eyes are easily fooled. Are these mysterious surfaces photographs or paintings? Images of the moon, close-ups of sponges or a windswept beach? What we see is in fact a painterly surface, achieved by dissolving transparent layers of oil paints and alkyd with turpentine. Schuppers skillfully pioneers conceptions of what a painterly surface should or could look like, resulting in canvases filled with extraordinary shapes exhibiting a strange sense of depth – a dynamic, illusionary design.

When looking at Martijn Schuppers’ (1967, the Netherlands) oeuvre, one’s eyes are easily fooled. Are these mysterious surfaces photographs or paintings? Images of the moon, close-ups of sponges or a windswept beach? What we see is in fact a painterly surface, achieved by dissolving transparent layers of oil paints and alkyd with turpentine. Schuppers skillfully pioneers conceptions of what a painterly surface should or could look like, resulting in canvases filled with extraordinary shapes exhibiting a strange sense of depth – a dynamic, illusionary design.

When looking at Martijn Schuppers’ (1967, the Netherlands) oeuvre, one’s eyes are easily fooled. Are these mysterious surfaces photographs or paintings? Images of the moon, close-ups of sponges or a windswept beach? What we see is in fact a painterly surface, achieved by dissolving transparent layers of oil paints and alkyd with turpentine. Schuppers skillfully pioneers conceptions of what a painterly surface should or could look like, resulting in canvases filled with extraordinary shapes exhibiting a strange sense of depth – a dynamic, illusionary design.

When looking at Martijn Schuppers’ (1967, the Netherlands) oeuvre, one’s eyes are easily fooled. Are these mysterious surfaces photographs or paintings? Images of the moon, close-ups of sponges or a windswept beach? What we see is in fact a painterly surface, achieved by dissolving transparent layers of oil paints and alkyd with turpentine. Schuppers skillfully pioneers conceptions of what a painterly surface should or could look like, resulting in canvases filled with extraordinary shapes exhibiting a strange sense of depth – a dynamic, illusionary design.

When looking at Martijn Schuppers’ (1967, the Netherlands) oeuvre, one’s eyes are easily fooled. Are these mysterious surfaces photographs or paintings? Images of the moon, close-ups of sponges or a windswept beach? What we see is in fact a painterly surface, achieved by dissolving transparent layers of oil paints and alkyd with turpentine. Schuppers skillfully pioneers conceptions of what a painterly surface should or could look like, resulting in canvases filled with extraordinary shapes exhibiting a strange sense of depth – a dynamic, illusionary design.

When looking at Martijn Schuppers’ (1967, the Netherlands) oeuvre, one’s eyes are easily fooled. Are these mysterious surfaces photographs or paintings? Images of the moon, close-ups of sponges or a windswept beach? What we see is in fact a painterly surface, achieved by dissolving transparent layers of oil paints and alkyd with turpentine. Schuppers skillfully pioneers conceptions of what a painterly surface should or could look like, resulting in canvases filled with extraordinary shapes exhibiting a strange sense of depth – a dynamic, illusionary design.

When looking at Martijn Schuppers’ (1967, the Netherlands) oeuvre, one’s eyes are easily fooled. Are these mysterious surfaces photographs or paintings? Images of the moon, close-ups of sponges or a windswept beach? What we see is in fact a painterly surface, achieved by dissolving transparent layers of oil paints and alkyd with turpentine. Schuppers skillfully pioneers conceptions of what a painterly surface should or could look like, resulting in canvases filled with extraordinary shapes exhibiting a strange sense of depth – a dynamic, illusionary design.

By mixing sand, lacquer and wires through his acrylic base, Tjebbe Beekman (1972, the Netherlands) enriches his painting surfaces with sculptural qualities. Beekman has mastered the art of animating his medium, creating dynamic visual journeys like The adulterous liaison between reason and feeling (2019). His complex paintings with their multifarious layers, references and materials, do not reveal their meaning at once; they contain familiar elements that prompt the viewer to further examine and develop a stream of thought about topical issues in our culture and society. 

The Non-radar series is Koen Doodeman’s (1987, the Netherlands) pioneering take on abstract painting, leaving out the paint entirely and replacing it with the material on which it is generally applied. What we are looking at is a vibrant composition of colored canvas patches stitched on white canvas, creating an illusory surface. By endlessly repeating and re-organizing certain shapes, grids or rhythms, Doodeman tries to dissolve the associations we have with these shapes and replaces them with something entirely new.

Translucent planes of white, grey, yellow and pink meld into each other creating a magical play of color and light. Paula Cooper, 197 Tenth Ave, NYC (2017) by Jan Wattjes (1981, the Netherlands) is part of a series of paintings – The White Cube Concept – in which Wattjes reduces the interior of renowned art galleries to their essence: color and light. The white cube, as Wattjes puts it, is ‘the empty space of a gallery between shows where nothing is to be seen except white walls.’ Wattjes compares it to the virgin surface of a blank canvas from which painting begins.

Having once been a painter of landscapes, nowadays Esther Tielemans’ (1976, the Netherlands) work has itself become the landscape. Bursting with color, they hang from walls, lie on the ground or are suspended in mid-air. The glossy epoxy surface of A reflection of the image within (horizontal & vertical) (2017) mirrors both its surroundings and the viewer. Instead of merely radiating color, Tielemans’ surface becomes a reservoir for both the artists’ painterly atmosphere and the changing context in which it is displayed. 

Vera Gulikers’ (1991, the Netherlands) work stands out for its tempting pastel color fields and its specific use of materials. Combining centuries old egg-tempera paint with contemporary applications like puff-ink and flock, she challenges our conception of what paintings should look and feel like. With a studio practice that provokes unplanned and unforced results, the real excitement for Gulikers is stumbling upon something that doesn’t resemble anything else, inducing the sensation of treading new ground – a new surface.

Stella 1 (2017/2018) rewards the attentive eye. What could easily be mistaken for a blank canvas when seen from a distance, turns out to be a silent composition of porcelain tiles. Dieuwke Spaans (1973, the Netherlands), who cast these tiles from molds of astronomy and science books, refers to the tactile surface that is created as a ‘solidified galaxy’. The clear and white bone china porcelain in which blue pins seem to have fossilized, symbolizes a negative parallel space that could be linked to our own universe.

These gently rounded, playful shapes in shades of white and pale pink look almost cuddly. Sculpture (2011/2013) by Hans Hovy (1953, the Netherlands) is made out of two soft, translucent types of stone: soapstone and alabaster. He has carved, drilled, filed and sanded these stones with enormous precision, transforming their rough surfaces into something as soft and sensual as human skin. The tiny city of letters that rises from its white base reads like a puzzle picture.

This photograph was taken in Kings County Hospital Center, a psychiatric hospital in Brooklyn, New York. The stark room and corridor are devoid of all life and exude a sense of isolation and alienation – feelings that are heightened by Christiaan Bastiaans’ (1951, the Netherlands) unusual use of metallic paper for printing the photographs on. The created surface seems to evaporate as the eye tries to take hold of it. In doing so, Bastiaans raises awareness about those most vulnerable in a society calibrated toward power and success: the people who struggle to find their path in life, the alienated and the displaced.  

Veron Urdarianu (1951, Romania) is a master of suggestion. He’ll often use existing images, placing them in a new context. Simple motifs are filled with insinuated significance. His use of perspective and sallow color gradients extricates the image from the here and now, as if they’ve ‘fallen out of time’. In Water House (2018) a desolate architectural structure sees itself mirrored in a water-like substance. Executed in iridescent paint, the painterly surface radiates an ever-changing sheen of tones, doubling down on the reflective pictorial effect.

Veron Urdarianu (1951, Romania) is a master of suggestion. He’ll often use existing images, placing them in a new context. Simple motifs are filled with insinuated significance. His use of perspective and sallow color gradients extricates the image from the here and now, as if they’ve ‘fallen out of time’. 

In Momentum (2019) we see a figure, set out in loosely applied brushstrokes, about to jump off a diving board. The viewer is bound to fall under the spell of a timeless dance of indecision, emphasized by an ever-changing atmospheric decor that characterizes the artists’ work. Jacco Olivier (1972, the Netherlands) fuses painting and filmmaking by repeatedly reworking paintings and systematically photographing each development. The various stages are combined into projected animations depicting elegantly simple moments of daily life, that yet contain an uneasy tension, something unexpected and beyond our control.

Jacco Olivier’s (1972, the Netherlands) career is marked by his pioneering approach to painting. In its early stages, Olivier decided to transform his paintings into multi-layered animations. Terra Incognita (2019) is part of a recent series in which Olivier returns to painting and enacts a journey to an unknown land: to the sounds of water, wind, creaking ropes, then birds and insects and over hills and meadows until he arrives at the spectacular statues once discovered by explorer Jacob Roggeveen.

In this epoxy panel Arash Fakhim (1987, Iran) is breaking new ground by composing and compressing several layers of plastic bags, forming picturesque compositions that overturn our conception of the artistic surface. He is a multimedia artist raised in the Netherlands, currently living and working in Amsterdam. A recurring theme in the practice of Arash Fakhim is the desire to clash with the rules imposed on the medium of painting. With a tendency to deviate from the flat surface, and using atypical materials and methods, he searches for ways to arrive at what can be seen as ‘painting’.  

Bob Eikelboom (1991, the Netherlands) is a young talent known for his ‘magnet paintings’ in which he plays with the limitations of the flat painterly surface by including magnetized collage elements. The realization that the magnets can in fact be repositioned – creating new compositions and entirely new paintings – gives rise namely to questions regarding the originality of the artwork itself. By inviting the viewer to ‘sit in the master’s chair’, Eikelboom has found radical ways to bring new surfaces to life. 

Bob Eikelboom (1991, the Netherlands) is a young talent known for his ‘magnet paintings’ in which he plays with the limitations of the flat painterly surface by including magnetized collage elements. The realization that the magnets can in fact be repositioned – creating new compositions and entirely new paintings – gives rise namely to questions regarding the originality of the artwork itself. By inviting the viewer to ‘sit in the master’s chair’, Eikelboom has found radical ways to bring new surfaces to life. 

The figurative paintings by Ina van Zyl (1971, South Africa) set up a sensory experience with their intense use of colors. The heat of South Africa seeps through the subjects of her early work; varnished toenails in sandals, sweet fruits such as apples and plums. Nowadays the emphasis is more on the deep, dark and intense colors of South African nature. By applying a complex multitude of oil colors on top of one another, van Zyl creates a painterly surface with hypnotizing atmospheric depth. Themes that appear in her work are claustrophobia, shame, sexuality and human contact or the lack thereof.

The figurative paintings by Ina van Zyl (1971, South Africa) set up a sensory experience with their intense use of colors. The heat of South Africa seeps through the subjects of her early work; varnished toenails in sandals, sweet fruits such as apples and plums. Nowadays the emphasis is more on the deep, dark and intense colors of South African nature. By applying a complex multitude of oil colors on top of one another, van Zyl creates a painterly surface with hypnotizing atmospheric depth. Themes that appear in her work are claustrophobia, shame, sexuality and human contact or the lack thereof.

Louise Giovanelli (1993, United Kingdom) has been drawing attention as a rising young painter for her delicate, luminous works. For Giovanelli, painting allows for a visual slowing-down, and beholding her works is akin to a meditative process. In Wager (2020), Giovanelli renders the two shimmering gold blouses cropped tightly together in the frame in such a way that the viewer can’t see who’s wearing them, or if they are perhaps merely hanging side by side, unworn. Their fabric is reminiscent of gold-sparkling suits worn by gameshow hosts and drapery from TV theatre. By applying single pigment colors, Giovanelli manages to create real painted light.

Louise Giovanelli (1993, United Kingdom) has been drawing attention as a rising young painter for her delicate, luminous works. For Giovanelli, painting allows for a visual slowing-down, and beholding her works is akin to a meditative process. By applying single pigment colors, Giovanelli manages to create real painted light.

Caroline Walker’s (1982, United Kingdom) paintings focus on women within psychologically charged public spaces such as hotels and beauty parlors. Using staged photographs as her source material, Walker’s intimate scenes build upon the language of city life with the pronounced quality of a voyeuristic gaze. Her quietly charged, often luxurious spaces, frame half-told narratives that complicate traditional ideas of the woman as subject. The works explore femininity in our modern, image-conscious age.

Evelyn Taocheng Wang’s (1981, China) work mixes autobiographical experiences with fictional narratives, often referring to stories from Chinese literature and philosophy, Western writers or stories from her friends and acquaintances. Sexuality, identity, gender and cultural stigmas are a common theme in Wang's oeuvre. This intimate pink cosmos on rice paper, sewn into a jacket, shows handwritten text and drawings by Wang. She took inspiration from a Chinese masterpiece called ‘The Dream of the Red Chamber’ by Cao Xueqin, in which reflections occur on identity and the clothes in which we choose to present ourselves.

In his work, Meschac Gaba (1961, Benin) takes on the role of ambassador, documenting and reflecting upon a contemporary Africa that oftentimes remains hidden from view. In Take Care of Yourself (1999) we see a bust decorated with a curious necklace. A closer look reveals compacted Dutch banknotes that have been put through the Dutch Central Bank’s shredders. Money found its way into Gaba’s work after he found cut-up banknotes on the streets in Benin, right after the devaluation. Gaba is the first artist addressing neocolonial capitalist structures by using devaluated money in his sculptures and installations.

Though it is, of course, an expression based on the written word, ‘reading between the lines’ is somehow fitting for the work of ceramicist Eva Crebolder (1968, The Netherlands). Tenderness can be felt in everything she makes. Shapes are softly repeated, and as they combine, we notice the spaces between their subtly rolling surfaces, capturing the chaos implicitly present in every structure. The Gold Folded Rim (2021) represents the rhythm of city roofs and the gesture of folding, both an architectural landscape and an ornamental element.

Maria Roosen's (1957, the Netherlands) Droomhuis (2002) is made up of a number of global forms on which the rough outlines of windows and doors have been applied. The sculpture’s surface is encased in gold leaf, transforming these archetypal forms into something precious and pure, bearing the idea of the ideal house: the abode of bliss. Roosen's work, which rose to prominence largely due to her sensual glass sculptures, is sometimes described as a plea for the imagination in our world dominated by facts and practical use. 

Gijs Frieling (1966, the Netherlands) is renowned for his vibrantly, decorative and immersive murals inspired by folklore and religious motifs and imagery. Commissioned especially for this exhibition, Frieling’s work entitled ‘Common Background Refurbished’ (2021) is a vision of sublime and pristine beauty.

Night has fallen. This apocalyptic mural is an allegorical representation with the protection of the arts at its center: AkzoNobel's ark. Frieling brings together several iconic works from the collection to create a bridge between content and form. The different techniques, artworks and artists come together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Art Foundation: ANAF XXV.

Tabor Robak’s (1986, United States) work employs computer generated imaging to create videos of invented worlds. Working in programs including Unity, After Effects, Photoshop and Cinema 4D, the artist explores a secondary, digital reality, rendered in what he refers to as a “Photoshop tutorial aesthetic” or a “desktop screensaver aesthetic.” His meticulously produced and filmed environments are cobbled together from sources both sampled and hand-modeled. The works are appropriative, both in their subject matter and aesthetic, using elements purchased and then edited for his purposes. They adopt the visual vocabulary of contemporary video games in order to isolate and comment upon digital space as an abstract fact, while simultaneously pushing up against the increasingly tenuous separation between perceptions of the digital and the real.