portrait

CARNAVAL; DANSE PANDÉMIQUE

Carnaval; danse pandémique is personal reflection of the Corona pandemic times that seem to be in the past, but are still influencing our day to day lives. The work refers to the celebration of Carnaval and to the Danse Macabre during the pest plagues in the Middle Ages.

The work can be a starting point for meaningful conversations leading to more insight, understanding, empathy and processing.

The art installation Carnaval; danse pandémique consists of 2 movies (made in collaboration with William Pennings) that are presented in a household setting (a living room) and a small dancefloor.

It portrays the daily lives of 11 Dutch ‘household bubbles’ during the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The work is made in 2020-2023 following the corona rules that applied at the time. It was shown for the first time at HOK Gallery, Den Haag (17-2 till 4-3 ’23)

Here you can view the 11 portraits:
Kunstenaar – https://vimeo.com/805563429 Gezin – https://vimeo.com/805561913 Predikant – https://vimeo.com/805560141
70-plussers – https://vimeo.com/805560796 Leerkracht – https://vimeo.com/805563854 Musici – https://vimeo.com/805564564
Therapeut – https://vimeo.com/805581027 Yoga docent – https://vimeo.com/805583425 Jong gezin – https://vimeo.com/805587140
Dieren activist – https://vimeo.com/805590680 Bomenbouwer – https://vimeo.com/808996522

Breathing

In 2020 I made a series of masks in which I investigate my personal emotions, reactions and thoughts about the Civis-19 pandemic. Since most of them are made during lock-down I have mainly used materials I had lying around my studio and home.

M & M’s

An A6 booklet of risoprints and riso-drawings. There are 10 booklets with 80 M & M’s, 5 with 64 and 2 with 40 M & M’s. Each booklet has different variations of the 80 different images; all risoprinted and many of them drawn on. There are also loose A6 M & M riso-drawings.

Scratch Battle

idi@Arnhem, Scratch Battle, 2011.

Bebe, the flying mermaid.

For this ‘scratch battle’ I scratched out the poster-image of Bebe, the flying mermaid.

Organised by the Independent Drawing (IDI) Initiative at the invitation of de Gemeenschap Beeldend Kunstenaars (GBK) at Willemsplein 3 in Arnhem.

Scratched out white paint on windows

Piscis volatilis

Picis Volatilis, 1994.

Yes, flying fish exist, but: they are dying out fast because they live of fantasy and people are losing the ability to fantasise. So I have to collect and categorise the last ones before they die out.

2 parts:

One with sand, water, sound and metal tins with lino-printed flying fishes

One as a room with the collected flying fish and paraphernalia

Teddy bears

Teddy bears, 2008 & .

The teddy bear: thè ultimate stuffed animal from our childhood days. An object without a will upon wich we project all our love and hate, dreams and fears. For a while. Then we grow up and dump Teddy: used up and no longer wanted. How would the bears look when all that they have absorbed in that time would be visible?

Teddybears, big and small, made from second hand blankets. Variations on the traditional pattern of the original Teddy bear. I made the small ones for the exhibition ‘Terugblik in kindertijd’ at Ververs and the big ones for the performance of the ‘Foolish People’ called ‘Terra Extremitas’ at the docks in Amsterdam.

Erolife 1994-1996

From 1994-1997 I participated in the Erolife fair with a couple of projects with an erotic connotation to see if a different audience could be reached.

Vingerbad / Finger(s)bath 1994

In 1994 I had a stand at the Erolife fair together with Jan Bouma. He presented his statue ‘The King’ and I showed the ‘Vingerbad’.

De Jas / the Coat 1995

In 1995 Jan Bouma and I had another stand at the Erolife fair. This time Jan presented his statue ‘the Soldier’ and I ‘the Coat’. The Coat was not only presented as a statue but was worn by a performer who walked all over the grounds of the fair showing ‘his goods’ to all who were willing and un-willing.

The Coat has also been performed at two other erotic fairs in Belgium.

Jongeheerzepen / Willie soaps 1996-‘97

In 1996 the Jongeheerzepen project was presented for the first time at Erolife’96 taking place at the Jaarbeurs, Utrecht.

In 1997 the Jongeheerzepen had a presentation in Galerie Liter, Boekhorststraat, Den Haag.

Jongeheerzepen at Erolife’96

December 1996, Jaarbeurs, Utrecht

The Jongeheerzepen had a large stand that showed the soaps and formed the base for a continuously running performance during the 4 day of the fair.

The Jongeheer-promotion team consisted of:

Dr. Rebecca Rosenboom, Professor Swartjes, his (or her) assistant & the three promo girls.

The promo girls asked the Erolife visitors to fill in an inquiry form. The results of this enquiry were showed a large ‘score-board’ that Dr. Rosenboom kept updated. She meant to find out what the most popular soap was. Unfortunately for her was that the promo girls were very biased and tried their utmost best to persuade people to vote for their favourite. Professor Swartjes (who re-invented the soaps) thought the therapeutic side of the soaps utter nonsense, but, the soap itself was naturally the very best of the best.

In 1997 Jongeheerzepen had a small selling stand without the performance.

Jongeheerzepen at Galerie Liter

May1997, at Galerie liter, Boekhorststraat, Den haag

The Jongeheer promo team also opened the exhibition at Galerie Liter.

After the opening the large shop window of the gallery functioned as a giant viewing box. From the street one could see inside the Jongeheer stand with the promo team in the form of life sized painted cardboard dolls.

The sex-shop on the other side of the street advertised the Jongeheer soaps in its window and you could go and watch the Jongeheer commercials in one of their porn movie booths.

You can watch the 3 commercials here:

Circle of friends, 2003

Circle of friends – 2003.

The project CIRCLE OF FRIENDS started at the end of 2001 in memory of my beloved Craig Davies. The project came to a closure in 2003 with an exhibition at
“The Heritage Centre“ in Oswestry (Wales). In the project I try to map the network of my and Craig’s friends. It is an interactive project in wich the reactions of the participating friends are part of the work. CIRCLE OF FRIENDS exists of linocut portraits that I made together with the reactions of the portrayed in varied techniques.

You can have a look at the website of the project here.

Linocuts A4

Lino prints on paper

Various techniques

100 pieces

A book with the lino prints