15/10/2010
11/10/2010
PRESS RELEASE: FAR FROM TURMOIL
13th – 17th October 2010
Mol’s Place presents Far From Turmoil, an exhibition of work by three Dutch Brabant artists; Johan Lennarts, Pieter Laurens Mol and JCJ Vanderheyden, curated by Maurice van Valen. Individually, these artists have exhibited widely in The Netherlands including at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven which also holds a substantial number of their works in its collection.
As opposed to Calvinist Holland, Brabant is an historically poor, Catholic region in the south of the Netherlands with terrains distinct from the typical Dutch landscape of polders, windmills and dikes. Instead, widely scattered small plots of agricultural land, sandy grounds and woods dominate the horizon. In the past, Brabant has inspired socially engaged painters like Vincent van Gogh to depict the life of peasants in arduous conditions. It was only after the Second World War that Brabant began to thrive economically and culturally.
The title of the exhibition comes from an inscription on a nineteenth century etching depicting a bucolic English landscape. Escaping the industrial turmoil of the cities in favour for the reverie of the countryside was a Victorian pastime which parallels these Brabant artists' fundamental lure to nature. Contrasting the legacy of traditional Dutch landscape painting depicting idyllic and stylised topography, the selection of work in Far From Turmoil is characterised by abstract and philosophical sensibilities, vibrant colours and subtle humour.
Johan Lennarts (Eindhoven, 1932 -1991) had early associations with the CoBrA group in Amsterdam, and went on to develop a distinctive and painterly language oscillating between figuration and abstraction. Lennarts represents Brabant in a formalist and direct manner where dense 'growth constructs' and haystacks dominate the canvas, and perspectives and pathways tip into the picture plane. The extensive use of green hues in Lennarts’ paintings became his trademark signature. Works rarely seen in public before have been selected for the exhibition.
Pieter Laurens Mol (Breda, 1946) is an artist who has an enduring interest in seasonal changes and habitual activities of farming. This exhibition includes photography, sculpture, drawing and painting by Mol dating from as early as 1966 to a recent work made this year. His work has a poetic and alchemic quality in its amusing play with materials and titles. Plattelandsverdrag (Pact of the Peasants), (1972) comprises ten oak panels each painted a different colour extracted from a Brabant landscape; there is the blue of the sky, the golden green of the grasses and grains, and the black and white of tar and lime stable walls. In the guise of an abstract minimalist painting, the work takes on a panoramic and poetic nature by representing the raw make-up and visual components for a rural landscape.
JCJ Vanderheyden (‘s-Hertogenbosch, 1928) is well-known for his abstract paintings, such as the minimal horizons, devoid of details and local references. The work contemplates spatiality while the forms register as checkerboards, portals, frames and screens. The compositional clarity of the paintings articulates and redefines the immediate surrounding space. The exhibited works point towards Vanderheyden’s interest in the landscape as a collective and philosophical experience.
Note to editors:
Mol’s Place, 23 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NN
Opening Hours: 12 – 6pm (or by appointment), 13th – 17th October 2010
Tube: Holborn / Covent Garden
Mol’s Place is an occasional exhibition space and home of Jan Mol a Dutch, London-based art collector
Far From Turmoil is curated by Maurice van Valen (Eindhoven, 1971), a Dutch lawyer and art collector, and assisted by Katy Orkisz and Melissa Blanchflower.
For further information, images or appointments please contact molsplace@hotmail.com or 07826 378297
The exhibition will coincide with the Frieze Art Fair 2010 in London’s Regents Park.
Maurice van Valen would like to thank Jan Mol for his generosity in supporting the exhibition, Pieter Laurens Mol and JCJ Vanderheyden for their enthusiasm and commitment to the project and the Johan Lennarts Foundation, Lena Nies and Art Transit in their valuable assistance with organising loans.
Mol’s Place presents Far From Turmoil, an exhibition of work by three Dutch Brabant artists; Johan Lennarts, Pieter Laurens Mol and JCJ Vanderheyden, curated by Maurice van Valen. Individually, these artists have exhibited widely in The Netherlands including at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven which also holds a substantial number of their works in its collection.
As opposed to Calvinist Holland, Brabant is an historically poor, Catholic region in the south of the Netherlands with terrains distinct from the typical Dutch landscape of polders, windmills and dikes. Instead, widely scattered small plots of agricultural land, sandy grounds and woods dominate the horizon. In the past, Brabant has inspired socially engaged painters like Vincent van Gogh to depict the life of peasants in arduous conditions. It was only after the Second World War that Brabant began to thrive economically and culturally.
The title of the exhibition comes from an inscription on a nineteenth century etching depicting a bucolic English landscape. Escaping the industrial turmoil of the cities in favour for the reverie of the countryside was a Victorian pastime which parallels these Brabant artists' fundamental lure to nature. Contrasting the legacy of traditional Dutch landscape painting depicting idyllic and stylised topography, the selection of work in Far From Turmoil is characterised by abstract and philosophical sensibilities, vibrant colours and subtle humour.
Johan Lennarts (Eindhoven, 1932 -1991) had early associations with the CoBrA group in Amsterdam, and went on to develop a distinctive and painterly language oscillating between figuration and abstraction. Lennarts represents Brabant in a formalist and direct manner where dense 'growth constructs' and haystacks dominate the canvas, and perspectives and pathways tip into the picture plane. The extensive use of green hues in Lennarts’ paintings became his trademark signature. Works rarely seen in public before have been selected for the exhibition.
Pieter Laurens Mol (Breda, 1946) is an artist who has an enduring interest in seasonal changes and habitual activities of farming. This exhibition includes photography, sculpture, drawing and painting by Mol dating from as early as 1966 to a recent work made this year. His work has a poetic and alchemic quality in its amusing play with materials and titles. Plattelandsverdrag (Pact of the Peasants), (1972) comprises ten oak panels each painted a different colour extracted from a Brabant landscape; there is the blue of the sky, the golden green of the grasses and grains, and the black and white of tar and lime stable walls. In the guise of an abstract minimalist painting, the work takes on a panoramic and poetic nature by representing the raw make-up and visual components for a rural landscape.
JCJ Vanderheyden (‘s-Hertogenbosch, 1928) is well-known for his abstract paintings, such as the minimal horizons, devoid of details and local references. The work contemplates spatiality while the forms register as checkerboards, portals, frames and screens. The compositional clarity of the paintings articulates and redefines the immediate surrounding space. The exhibited works point towards Vanderheyden’s interest in the landscape as a collective and philosophical experience.
Note to editors:
Mol’s Place, 23 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NN
Opening Hours: 12 – 6pm (or by appointment), 13th – 17th October 2010
Tube: Holborn / Covent Garden
Mol’s Place is an occasional exhibition space and home of Jan Mol a Dutch, London-based art collector
Far From Turmoil is curated by Maurice van Valen (Eindhoven, 1971), a Dutch lawyer and art collector, and assisted by Katy Orkisz and Melissa Blanchflower.
For further information, images or appointments please contact molsplace@hotmail.com or 07826 378297
The exhibition will coincide with the Frieze Art Fair 2010 in London’s Regents Park.
Maurice van Valen would like to thank Jan Mol for his generosity in supporting the exhibition, Pieter Laurens Mol and JCJ Vanderheyden for their enthusiasm and commitment to the project and the Johan Lennarts Foundation, Lena Nies and Art Transit in their valuable assistance with organising loans.
05/10/2010
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