Gallery for modern and contemporary art
This gallery is not situated in London, Basel, Beijing, Brussels, Amsterdam, or even Maastricht, but in Velp, which is close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Although its nature is local, it has an international flavor. The mission of art gallery O-68 is to give young artists just from art school the opportunity for exhibiting their work. Therefore, Anne Mie has contact with art academies, to start with ArtEZ in Arnhem, and every year a number of exhibitions will be by artists just coming from the academy. Next to the young artists there will be exhibitions of established artists, including international artists.
What should art do? After the soup can, the grey monochrome, the drippings? What is new? Visual art works with images, images that let us imagine. These imaginations should give insight in an aspect of the world we live in, an aspect of human existence.
It is a pleasure for me to announce the first show by Deborah Esses, who has other upcoming shows in Singapore, London and Sydney. For the Velp exhibition Deborah paints people, dancing people, but we see more than moving people; the paintings show emotions, contact between people, love, relationships between individuals. The faces are not sharp drawings, but tell a story. That is ART!
The work of Julia Boersma is the next search of my gallery toward insight in human nature. Who are we here on earth? What are our connections? Julia makes photographs of human bodies and works with them. It is not an alteration of the existing image, but deletions and additions. Although the results are not viable organisms, they represent intriguing aspects of human life, our helplessness, our lack of knowledge, our bodily aloneness. Not only are these images body parts, they are inside out and outside in, strings of brain out of the scalp and plant cells crawling over the belly. When looking at Julia's art works we connect to our own inside, and to our own outside; we have to speak to and connect with both sides. By making connections between inside and outside explicit Julia teaches us who we are, aspects of our vulnerable always changing self. It is a sometimes disturbing message. However, if we look closer, we start to love these helpless creatures. Julia Boersma is at the start of her career. She just finished her bachelor's degree at the ARTEZ art academy in Arnhem. We expect much from her. A talent!
Our exhibition of works of Paul Veshev is entitled: Jerusalem. These are almost abstract works with colors pinkish and soft. They seem to give an idealized view of this amazing city where worshippers of several religions can have their place in one single church.
In May 2012 we have a very special exhibition by Mar:
Images, imagination, insight are terms appropriate for the work of Mar (1966-2002). She made powerful images of women, and via our imagination we get insight in the lives of the women on the canvas in particular and the concept of women, and also men, in general. Elegant women were a source of inspiration for Mar. Love, friendship and connectedness are the recurring themes in her work. She must have been a strong and happy woman with interest in the people around her. Mar has 2 children, who can be proud of their mother.
Mar is not among us any more, but lives in her works; we had expected much from her.
In the summer of next year, in July, students just from the art academy will have an exhibition in gallery O-68.
In September 2012 South African born artist, Gillian Meijer, who currently lives in France, will show her work. On her website she writes: 'I love being an artist. I feel very privileged to be able to get up in the morning and do what I love most. I am passionate about painting. It is the way I choose to express myself. The process of painting is forever interesting and exciting - the first flash of an idea, imaginative or inspirational and the struggle of how to put it on the canvas! I love the solitude of painting. The surface waiting for the first brushstroke, the feeling of the paint moving across the canvas and the apprehension of whether it will work or will not. I find people most fascinating to paint. Especially faces, although my paintings are never portraits. I can explore their characters with colour and changing light. I take advantage of interesting angles, contrasting shapes and colour to create an impression of what I feel. I want my art to touch the lives of others. To inspire feelings in them, to sometimes see glimpses of themselves, or people they know. To feel happiness, or sadness. Emotion is of the ultimate importance'.
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