On view from November 5th 2017 until March 4th 2018 at CODA Museum in Apeldoorn (NL)
EXPEDITION NATURE solo show Karin Bos & group show curated by Karin Bos
participating artists are
Karin
Bos . Bas Jan Ader . Jasper de Beijer . Patrick Bergsma . DAT (Tammo
Schuringa, Claudie de Cleen, Corinne Bonsma) . Elspeth Diederix .
Simon Faithfull . Florian Göttke . Scarlett Hooft Graafland . Jean
Bernard Koeman . Jeroen Kooijmans . Lynne Leegte . Paul Nassenstein .
Jochem op ten Noort . Michael Raedecker . Guido van der Werve . Henk
Wildschut . Marjolijn de Wit . Erik Wuthrich
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| Opening wall |
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| Travel Agent, installation by Karin Bos & Erik Wuthrich, 2017 |
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| detail Travel Agent, installation by Karin Bos & Erik Wuthrich |
The installation Travel Agent is the result of two journeys that Karin
Bos and Erik Wuthrich made together. On one of those, they followed the
river Duero/Douro through Spain and Portugal, with the artists drawing
water from the river at its spring and at the place where it flows into
the ocean. Back in the Netherlands, Bos and Wuthrich collaborated on six
blown glass objects, made by them at the National Glass Museum Leerdam.
Three of these were filled with the spring water (the three top ones on
the wall), and three with the water they bottled at the end of the
river (the three lower ones on the wall). The photo in the background
was taken at the Dettifoss waterfall of the Jökulsá river that they
followed while travelling through Iceland.
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| space 1, Fuente project by Jochem op ten Noort & Karin Bos |
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| space1, oil paintings by Karin Bos, sculpture by Erik Wuthrich, two acrylic paintings by Jochem op ten Noort |
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| space1, oil paintings by Karin Bos |
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| space1, oil paintings by Karin Bos |
For Karin Bos, travel is essential to the creation of new work. Inspiration does not only come from images that others have made; she wants to have her own experiences and impressions, to translate these to canvas or paper. A large part of the source material for her work is collected in Spain. There, Bos finds a landscape that inspires her. Not the neat, well-ordered Dutch scenery but bare, desert-like and desolate stretches of land. Untamed, rough landscapes that are not immediately pleasing to the eye and that make her wonder whether she could also tell stories about humankind without actually depicting people in the landscape.
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| Karin Bos, Red Army 2, oil on canvas, 100 x 130 cm, 2016 |
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| space1, oil paintings by Karin Bos |
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| Fuente project by Jochem op ten Noort (left) & Karin Bos (right) |
For his recent series of paintings entitled Blending Sources, Jochem op
ten Noort used the photos that Karin Bos took while travelling through
Spain. In 2014, she followed the river Duero from its spring to where it
floats into the sea. Op ten Noort drew inspiration from the jagged
rocks and steep ravines at the site where the river Duero rises.In the
exhibition, Op ten Noort's works are put side by side with the canvasses
that Karin Bos painted, using the same source material.
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| space 1, Jochem op ten Noort (left) & Karin Bos (right) |
Jochem op ten Noort and Karin Bos do not only share an interest in natural scenery as the subject of their work; they also hold similar views when it comes to collecting source material. Both artists frequently travel the world, looking for landscapes that stimulate them. They both prefer rugged, wild landscapes that are not immediately pleasing to the eye but that have a certain grating quality.
Although there are similarities between the two artists, their method as well as their finished works are completely different. Op ten Noort looks for a link between abstraction and realism in a methodical way. He uses the computer to alter Bos' source material: her photos of natural landscapes. There is a conversion to shades of grey, which turn into colours. If there is an overlap, he calculates a colour blend. Bos' method is more organic in comparison and her painting style much looser.
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| Fuente project by Jochem op ten Noort (left) & Karin Bos (right) |
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| Fuente project by Jochem op ten Noort (left) & Karin Bos (right) |
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| space1, sculpture by Erik Wuthrich |
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| space1, oil paintings by Karin Bos |
The main characters in Bos's work are usually girls or women who are based on acquaintances, friends or members of her family. Even when they are alone, the presence of others can be felt. Power relations between peopke intrigue Bos, and this theme can often be traced in her paintings. When harmony cannot be reached and friction occurs, her interest is sparked.
Nobody is innocent in Bos' work, not even the children. They perform mysterious rituals, collectively turn against the hostile outside world, but also against each other. It follows that violence and abuse are recurring themes. The rough landscape makes the figures vulnerable and the works as a whole even more alienating.
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| space1, oil paintings by Karin Bos |
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| space 2, oil paintings by Karin Bos |
Part of Expedition Nature is focussed on the work that Karin Bos (1966) has created in the past ten years. The natural element in her paintings and works is the leitmotiv in her exploration of the relationship between man and nature or the natural landscape. Bos' paintings show fairytale-like but alienating and disturbing landscapes. With carefully selected colours and light she creates a cinematic and charged image of a world full of stories, where nothing is what it seems and where a cheerful holiday scene could just as well be the site of some horrendous crime. This ambiguity is characteristic of Bos' work.
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| space 2, oil paintings and tempera paintings and watercolour on paper by Karin Bos, sculpture Wild Life by Erik Wuthrich |
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| space 2, oil paintings by Karin Bos, sculpture Wild Life by Erik Wuthrich |
Erik Wuthrich's sculptures refer to solidified movement and time.
Despite being abstract, they do call up associations with flora and
fauna. Sometimes these associations are contradictory, for instance when
a plant spade is crossed with an animal pattern. Besides drawing
inspiration from natural scenery, Wuthrich also sometimes incorporates
the cultural phenomena he finds in his objects.
Wuthrich's sculptures are also often functional. The work Wild Life, for instance, is meant as a sitting sculpture.
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| space 2, oil paintings and tempera painting by Karin Bos, sculpture Wild Life by Erik Wuthrich |
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| space 2, tempera paintings by Karin Bos |
For This Land is my land 1 and 2, Karin Bos experimented with tempera paint. The perspective gives us clue as to what kind of vessel she studied the landscape from. The Dutch landscape, with its many waterways, was viewed from a hot air balloon.
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| space 2, oil paintings and watercolour on paper by Karin Bos, sculpture Wild Life by Erik Wuthrich |
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| space 3, installation Back to Base Camp by Karin Bos |
Back to Basecamp is the title of an installation resulting from Bos' recent trip to Iceland. Various fragments give the spectator an impression of the imposing Icelandic landscape and the puniness of man. The loose parts are connected with lines bearing the GPS coordinates of the travel route, which allows the spectator to join the journey.
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| space 3, detail installation Back to Base Camp by Karin Bos |
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| space 3, detail installation Back to Base Camp by Karin Bos |
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| space 4, Jean Bernard Koeman (left), Jochem op ten Noort (right), in the middle looking at space 3 (Back to base Camp by Karin Bos) |
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| entry space 4: Karin Bos, watercolour on paper, left Jochem op ten Noort, acrylics on canvas |
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| space 4, Jean Bernard Koeman (right), Jochem op ten Noort (left) |
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| space 4, Jean Bernard Koeman, detail |
Travelling is second nature to Jean Bernard Koeman. He has visited many places all over the world and has captured them in photos, as souvenirs of his travels. The publication 'Everything Beautiful is Far Away' contains some of these photos, that were made without artistic ambitions. It is meant as an associative walk through the journeys that Koeman undertook, an attempt to capture how man experiences the landscape.
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| space 4, Jean Bernard Koeman, Everything Beautiful is far away |
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| space 4, sculpture Artificial Life by Erik Wuthrich, back; paintings by Jochem op ten Noort, right; Jean Bernard Koeman |
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| space 4, paintings by Jochem op ten Noort, sculpture Drop Out by Erik Wuthrich, watercolour on paper by Karin Bos |
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| space 4, photographs by Jean Bernard Koeman, painting by Jochem op ten Noort, in the middle looking at space 5; photograph by Lynne Leegte |
Lynne Leegte makes quiet, empty and serene photographs and sculptures which tell about loss in a melancholic and poetic way. Her work reminds us that we are fragile and nature will still be there when man is long gone.
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| space 5, photograph Ivy by Lynne Leegte |
With his work,
Florian
Göttke explores cultural and natural phenomena, and the way they were appropriated and manipulated by man. The Matterhorn, a mountain that used to inspire fear with its impressive 4478 metres, is now a much-climbed tourist attraction. It has almost become a climbing frame in a playground.
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space 5, sculpture by Florian
Göttke, photograph Ivy by Lynne Leegte
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| space 5, sculpture by Florian
Göttke, photograph Ivy by Lynne Leegte, looking at space 4; Back to Base Camp installation by Karin Bos and space 9; photograph Train by Scarlett Hooft Graafland |
For the photo series In search of the miraculous (One night in Los
Angeles), Bas Jan Ader was photographed by Mary Sue Andersen at
different locations in LA from sunset until dawn. The series is part of a
larger project, in which the artist travelled through America and
Europe, searching. The last part was a sailing voyage across the
Atlantic Ocean, which meant the end of his life. His work has the
ability to be very emotional, without becoming sentimental. It
celebrates the beauty of failing, falling, and daring to be fragile.
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| space 5, Bas Jan Ader, In search of the miraculous, collection Kroller Muller Museum |
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| space 5, left wall: Bas Jan Ader, right wall: Simon Faithfull |
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| space 5, Simon Faithfull, Fake Moon |
In his work, Simon Faithfull explores the world and what can be done with it as an object. He often collaborates with scientists, technicians and others to reach and record the boundaries of the world. Fake Moon shows a bright moon over the English landscape. Not the actual moon, a helium balloon with lights, but still highly reminiscent of the heavenly body.
Escape Vehicle no. 6 started as a performance where the spectators witnessed the launching of a weather balloon with a chair attached to it. After the balloon had disappeared from sight, they could still follow it with a live-stream video connection. This video work shows the journey the balloon and the empty chair made. What would it be like where breathing is impossible and the world can no longer be seen?
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| space 5, Simon Faithfull, Escape Vehicle #6, dvd |
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| space 6, Guido van der Werve, video, collection De Hallen |
The video Number 8, Everything will be alright by Guido van der Werve shows the artist walking on ice followed by a large ice breaking boat. It's an iconic image, full of tension.
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| space 7, painting by Michael Raedecker, hanging sculptures by Patrick Bergsma, works on paper by DAT, looking at space 5; Bas Jan Ader, photography |
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| space 7, painting by Michael Raedecker, hanging sculptures by Patrick Bergsma, works on paper by DAT (drawing apart together) |
With his bonzai sculptures Patrick Bergsma creates small fairytale-like worlds in which trees play a leading role. The shapes of roots and trances, earth and rocks, are combined with little creatures.
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| space 7, works on paper by DAT (drawing apart together), an artists collective project by Tammo Schuringa, Claudie de Cleen and Corinne Bonsma |
The artists work together but, as is clear from their name, not in the same place. In this project the art works travel. The three artists send each other unfinished works. The receiver continues working on it, and send it to the next artist, until it is completed or has to be written off as a failure.The idea developed out of the artists' need to get away from their personal styles and to be open for unexpected twists. The artists do not react to each other's source material the way artists Karin Bos and Jochem op ten Noort do in the Fuente project (also in this exhibition) but to an artwork in utero that is only completed as it travels.
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| space 7, canvas by Michael Raedecker (collection Theodoor Gielissen Bank), hanging sculpture Gems by Patrick Bergsma |
Michael Raedecker stretches the boundaries of painting by using thread besides actual paint. With a few lines he creates scenes which reminds of movie stills, tranquil landscapes with no human presence, although it seems as if someone could walk into the scene at any moment.
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| space 7, Michael Raedecker (left collection Museum Voorlinden, right collection Theodoor Gielissen Bank), hanging sculpture Gondel by Patrick Bergsma |
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| space
7, Michael Raedecker (collection Theodoor Gielissen Bank), detail hanging sculpture Gondel by Patrick
Bergsma |
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| space 8, 3-d animation Laagland by Jasper de Beijer, collection Eneco |
For his Dutch landscape in motion, De Beijer used fragments from paintings by Old Masters, like Rembrandt and Ruysdael. De Beijer turned the two-dimensional fragments into a virtual and three-dimensional world that is subject to change in three ways. Time progresses, artistic interpretations change, the landscape transforms, yet stays the same.
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| space 9 looking at space 7, from left to right; paintings and book by Marjolijn de Wit, work on paper by Paul Nassenstein, paintings by Michael Raedecker, sculptures by Patrick Bergsma |
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| space 7 looking at space 9, from left to right; photographs by Scarlett Hooft Graafland, collages and paintings by Marjolijn de Wit, videos by Elspeth Diederix and Jeroen Kooijmans |
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| space 7, Lake by Jeroen Kooijmans, video |
The landscape - woods, lakes, sea - often play a role in Kooijmans' work. It forms the context for staged scenes in which fairytale-like, mythical images are combined with everyday matters. In On the Lake, a group of camouflaged figures wades through the water, battling an abstract enemy. Their mission is not clear. Suddenly a little naked girl passes by, walking on the water, as if it is completely normal.
Full of surprises, poetic and a source of amazement: that is also the world to photographer Elspeth Diederix. If you look closely, there is beauty in the simplest things. For the video Plastic bag, she edited all the photos and videos she made of plastic bags. You do not have to travel far to experience beauty and wonder. There could be an endless source of inspiration just around the corner.
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| space 7, Plastic Bag by Elspeth Diederix, video, collection Museum Jan Cunen |
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| space 7, Elspeth Diederix and Jeroen Kooijmans, looking towards space 9: photographs by Henk Wildschut |
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| space 7, hanging sculpture by Patrick Bergsma, on the wall drawings by DAT, views to other spaces with work by Henk Wildschut, Erik Wuthrich etc |
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| space 7, Gondel by Patrick Bergsma, in the back; video works by Elspeth Diederix and Jeroen Kooijmans, looking towards space 9 with photography by Scarlett Hooft Graafland |
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| space 9, paintings by Marjolijn de Wit, work on paper by Paul Nassenstein |
The relationship between humankind and nature is central to Marjolijn de Wit's work. She creates confusing images in which man seems to bend nature to his will. She combines images she has found with ceramics, like a type of archaeological find. This results in three-dimensional compositions in which fantasy and reality, nature and culture, past and present come together.
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| space 9, works on paper by Paul Nassenstein |
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| space 9, photographs by Scarlett Hooft Graafland, collages and paintings and book by Marjolijn de Wit, works on paper by Paul Nassenstein |
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| space 9, photograph by Scarlett Hooft Graafland |
Scarlett Hooft Graafland travels to the most isolated places in the world where she works together with local artists to perform surreal interventions in the landscapes. The analogically photographed images are all that remains.
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| space 9, photographs by Henk Wildschut from the series Shelters |
Henk Wildschut has been photographing the circumstances of refugees in several places in Europe for years. Not by shooting portraits of the people themselves, but by focussing on the trail they leave behind. The temporary shelters they build, make the 'invisible' illegal aliens visible in the landscape.
Documentation: Veerle Bonder/CODA/Karin Bos
PRESS RELEASE
EXPEDITION NATURE
Not all who wander are lost
CODA Museum Apeldoorn | 05.11.2017 to 04.03.2018
Paradisical landscapes and fairy tale-like nature scenes, or melancholic, absurd, frightening and alienating. EXPEDITION NATURE shows works by over twenty artists who each focus on natural, scenic themes in different ways. At CODA's request, visual artist Karin Bos made a diverse, wide-ranging selection of artists working in various disciplines. Some of them approach the landscape in a documental way, while others react manipulatively or opt for a more scientific approach.
The artists in EXPEDITION NATURE find their inspiration outside the walls of their studios. National or international travels – sometimes even into outer space – foster ideas, images, and stories. As romantics, explorers, researchers, storytellers or inventors, the artists in EXPEDITION NATURE highlight the scenery around them. In some cases, the works themselves travel a long way on the road to completion.
Part of EXPEDITION NATURE focusses on the work that Karin Bos (1966) has made in the last ten years. The scenic aspect of her paintings and works on paper is the leitmotiv in her exploration of the relationship between humans and the landscape or nature. Bos’ paintings depict fairy tale-like but also alienating and disturbing landscapes. With carefully chosen colours and use of light she creates a cinematic and charged view of a world full of stories, where nothing is what it seems and where a cheerful holiday scene could just as well be the site of some horrible crime. This ambiguity is a characteristic feature of Bos' work. The balance of power between men and women, adults and children or between children is a recurring theme.
Travel is essential to the creation of new work for Karin Bos. Inspiration does not come from images created by others; she wants to observe and experience it all first-hand, to then translate it onto canvas or paper. A lot of her source material was collected in Spain. Here, Bos finds a landscape that inspires her. Not the well-ordered and structured natural scenery of the Netherlands but bare, desert-like and desolate stretches of land. Unruly, rugged landscapes that are not immediately pleasing and that cause Bos to wonder if she could also tell stories about humanity without actually depicting people in the landscape.
The artists were selected with a connection to Karin Bos' work in mind. Besides nature and the scenic element, human intervention in nature is also featured in the works of several of the artists. All of the selected works reflect the inquisitive and open mindset of the artists that created them.
EXPEDITION NATURE is about seeking, finding, travelling but also about wandering, drifting, and loss. Go explore and discover the world that the artists in this exhibition have opened up!
Participating artists
Karin Bos . Bas Jan Ader . Jasper de Beijer . Patrick Bergsma . DAT (Tammo Schuringa, Claudie de Cleen, Corinne Bonsma) . Elspeth Diederix . Simon Faithfull . Florian Göttke . Scarlett Hooft Graafland . Jean Bernard Koeman . Jeroen Kooijmans . Lynne Leegte . Paul Nassenstein . Jochem op ten Noort . Michael Raedecker . Guido van der Werve . Henk Wildschut . Marjolijn de Wit . Erik Wuthrich
This exhibition was made possible through the financial support of the Mondriaan Fund
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CODA MUSEUM EXPEDITION NATURE
