Exhibition 25,26 August > Invitation

The Amsterdam International Art Fair

"The picture-perfect city of Amsterdam is playing host to talent from all around the world when it stages the third Amsterdam International Art Fair from 25th to 26th August 2017. Amsterdam Int'l Art Fair is the international art fair in the Dutch city that brings over 150 exhibitors from around the globe for Amsterdam to enjoy! Attracting art galleries, cultural institutions, art critics and collectors. Offering over 3,000 art pieces on display for exhibition and sale, this is a prime opportunity to immerse oneself into a rich collection of global art either as investor, dealer or purchaser. A rich and wonderful mix of talented artists presented by international galleries from over 30 countries that will be filling the prime located Beurs van Berlage – Amsterdam with an incredible display of art."

I will be exhibiting my art works in the central part of the exhibition and 

it would be great to welcome you there. 

The art work 'Protective mantles' from the Hidden Sacrifice series

The art works displayed are from the Hidden Sacrifice series. 

More to read about Hidden Sacrifice

Program:

Fri 25th Aug 2017  |   VIP Private View and Vernissage € 10 EUR: 18.00pm - 21.00pm
Sat 26th Aug 2017   |   Free entry 11.00am - 17.00pm prebook (Awards Ceremony at 16.00pm)

Directions:

Address: Beurs van Berlage - Damrak 243, 1012 ZJ Amsterdam, Netherlands
The event will be during the opening weekend of the new cultural season in Amsterdam: the Uitmarkt. So please anticipate busy traffic in the city center.

Public transport:
Easiest is to take public transport to Amsterdam Central Station and walk 100 m down Damrak where you will find the impressive Beurs van Berlage.

Car:
Set navigator to Beursplein and park your car in De Bijenkorf QPark garage. Easiest way to access, given all one-way roads:
From the Valkenburgerstraat turn right (coming from the north) or Weesperstraat turn left (coming from the south) towards Waterlooplein. Cross the bridge and turn right directly after, onto the 'Amstel'. At the end turn right onto Damrak. The Bijenkorf will be after the Dam square on your right.

Hidden Sacrifice concept

The Hidden Sacrifice concept is like many of Maurice van Tilburg-Glimne's concepts part of his personal learning; his meaningful journey. The conceptual reflections are useful to deal with challenges in his role as a senior manager in the financial services industry. This concept is about his exploration of the relationship between humans and animals. Starting from a wonderment about the way animals and animal products are a normalised part of everyday consumption, he investigates drivers and patterns influencing human behaviour. Themes linked to Heidegger about structuring our lives and at the same time removing our reflective capabilities, the hunter-gatherer origins as well as the 'cognitive dissonance' all influencing the way we deal with animal suffering. The objects are materialised thoughts of the artist in discussion with himself, using literature and research as means of reflection.
Invitation to the 25/26 August 2017 exhibition at the Amsterdam International Art Fair‎

The object 'Protective Mantles' from the Hidden Sacrifice series

For this concept the artist retrieved original stories in the Bible and the Quran about Abraham being commanded by God to sacrifice his son (Isaac in the Bible, Ismael in the Quran). Eventually he is stopped and 'allowed' to sacrifice an animal instead. In combination with other religious stories about sacrifices and animals this highlights the spiritual sensitivity linked to sacrifice or killing of animal life.

Protective mantles - zoom on figure with silver coin aura and parchment wings

Van Tilburg-Glimne uses parchment as key material for his art works. Parchment has been the 'paper' used for some centuries by monks and book copiers. Before actually starting the creation he prepares the parchment in accordance with ancient rituals as described in religious literature, whereby the animal is sprinkled and 'burnt'. He also adds writings on the inner side of the skin using texts and decorations relevant for building of personal insights related to the theme. Once all preparation is done Van Tilburg-Glimne paints, cuts and burns the parchment until it has the right shape and form.

Objects like keys and a wallet as part of the art work 'Followers'

Van Tilburg-Glimne obtains parchment from an American traditional producer that solely creates parchment. Parchment is a sensitive material and not suitable for just any type of decoration. It mainly consists of collagen, implying it needs to 'breathe' and as a result he uses traditional inks instead of oils or other substances that would deform or isolate the parchment. An important element for the artist is also the link with crafting of leather that brings him back to his grandfather that expanded his Swiss family business by building a new leather factory in the south of The Netherlands.
In addition to parchment the artist includes other objects that are relevant for his personal reflection and journey, like antique 18th century VOC coins. Every object tells its own story.

Form

Nowadays distance between artist and audience is large, and development of art goes faster than the related knowledge of the art-lover. The question is if and how to bridge that increasing distance, especially when art aims to convey a certain message. Van Tilburg-Glimne wishes to entice the viewer through his 'magic' objects, making them engage in an exploration to understand the meaning of the object. The stories of the objects are kept a secret to allow sufficient space for the viewer's imagination.
Hidden Sacrifice objects are displayed in and with old glass bells, originally used for display and protection of religious artifacts. The glass bells also refer to the planet's atmosphere and protect the parchment.

Presenting 3D art objects through a GIF animation

Recently had my new 3D art works photographed by Ariane James as I posted earlier.
She created multiple pictures that I transformed into a GIF image.
Below you find an example.

Masking Strength - parchment & mixed media

It really brings out the 3D quality of the object. Which is important as a 2D picture just does not have the same effect. It is actually hard to really understand what is being displayed on a 2D picture if you have never seen these objects.


The making of...
The photographer created a studio environment surrounded by completely black decoration on all sides. As everything reflects on the glass everything around the object needs to be black. And this can not be done perfectly (if all is black then there is no light to see the object), yet it is by definition never perfect as even the camera itself reflects in the glass bell. So, after making the pictures for each object they have been aligned and undesired reflections have been removed through Photoshop.
After this I used a basic App to transform the images into one GIF-movie. Not sure the App I used is perfect I will be looking for other Apps that make a more smooth experience and more refinement in the time intervals between the images. Any advice/recommendation of others is welcome :)


The result...
As an artist I am very happy with all the efforts and specifically the result.
Although this is 'sort of' the best way to present it does not capture all elements that can be seen when looking at the object. You miss elements like the original 18th century VOC coins that decorate the clay basis of the object, the special black seal with the stamp of this art work series and the 'antique-ness' of the glass bell originally used for displaying religious objects.


Next step... is to prepare other aspects of the exhibition:
- create brochure
- integrate in website
- arrange display materials for these objects during the exhibition
- organize transport and installation

New 'Sacrifice' art works for August exhibition

I have decided to the Global Art Amsterdam exhibition 25 and 26 August 2017 in Amsterdam, at the Beurs van Berlage. I have participated before to such an exhibition and it is exciting. Loads of people visiting and many art works displayed.
I decided to explore new versions of my previous parchment project 'Sacrifice'. I had made some time ago specific commissions for art collectors Jan and Jannie Maas. They had obtained some 20 parchment art work commissions from other artists, and had asked me to make one too. I decided to make a theme around 'our connection with animals'. How do we related to animals, how have our habits shifted and our behaviour influenced by rituals and ego.
The new series, currently some 6 objects, were finally ready. It is way in time for the exhibition, but still quite some work to be done. One thing is to have them photographed. I had made some pictures initially with my camera, but creating pictures of glass bells is something extra complex. But Ariane James did it!

Messenger stick with parchment document rapped around it. The inside shows reflective texts where the outside is decorated with a more modern expressive decoration. The foot of the object contains a silver coin.

This glass bell contains a madonna figure with a silver coin halo, rising from a silver birth cup and decorated with parchment wings.

Now, next challenge will be to make nice GIFs from  the pictures she has taken from different angles.
But I am already happy with these pics as they are really okay for the exhibition brochure... Yet, more to come when preparing for the exhibition!

Three sequential images made as part of a larger series to enable creation of a 3D movie or GIF ar a later stage. This has required quite some photoshop work to ensure they are exactly aligned and any unintended distortions are removed.