Art

3 posts

Announcement Kunst10Daagse in Bergen (NH)

This post is dedicated to my wife Nicole.

I did have to think for a while whether I would still write this blog. But it was Nicole’s explicit wish for the exhibition to go ahead during the Kunst10Daagse. Even though I was the one who made all the announcements, it was our shared dream to enter the art world. She was the silent force behind the scenes and played a very important role in making this dream a reality.

This Saturday, the Kunst10Daagse in Bergen (NH) begins. During this event, I will represent Vincent Lajarige and his sculptures will be exhibited at the restaurant Ladypapa. Furthermore, one sculpture will be displayed in the organisation’s tent next to the Ruïnekerk church. Why, you may ask? Because, according to the organisation, Vincent and his sculptures belong to one of the 15 artists who stand out above the rest. Two of these artists may host a partial exhibition at the Kranenburgh museum in Bergen next year. How are these two artists chosen? One artist is chosen by a jury. The other artist is chosen by the public. Voting will take place in the organisation tent next to the Ruïnekerk. So hereby I would like to call on everyone coming to Bergen to vote for Vincent! It would be really great and a huge honour for Vincent to host a partial exhibition at the museum next year.

Due to circumstances, I will not be present on Saturday 21 October and Sunday 22 October. However, someone will be there to represent me on these days. On Friday 27 October, Saturday 28 October and Sunday 29 October, however, I will be present myself. So if you want to catch up or reminisce, come along.

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Meet the artist

During the Kunst10Daagse in Bergen (20 to 29 October 2023), I will represent Vincent Lajarige with his sculptures. In my previous blog you can read how I met Vincent. I would now like to tell a bit more about him and his work.

Born in 1948 in Rouen (FR), Vincent has been drawing and painting from an early age. However, his career first takes a different path, as he becomes an anaesthetist. Through his work for the Red Cross and Doctors of the World, he encounters the rainforest in the late 1980s. This made such a deep impression on him because he felt a strong connection with nature. From then on, he drew inspiration from this in his art that he creates alongside his job as an anaesthetist. The desire to preserve the rainforests and primary forests leads him to start an association with Francis Hallé in 2009 to make a film about the disappearing rainforests. This film is eventually released in 2013.

The urge to do even more for the rainforests, together with Francis Hallé and Mark Alsterlind, led to the creation of the Forest Art Project foundation in 2012. The aim of the foundation is to draw attention to the threat to rainforests. They organise exhibitions featuring artworks by the artists associated with this foundation.

Every time I speak or see Vincent, I am struck by his enormous modesty. And also his passion for art and rainforests. Last June I met him again and also had the opportunity to visit his studio. What a fantastic space to work in! Actually more like a huge hangar with sculptures everywhere that are still being worked on. Very cool to see.

To show what he works with, he picks up some pieces of wood and lets me feel and smell them. For instance, he grates over the wood and lets me smell scents like musk and mint. There is a huge diversity of wood. Vincent considers it his treasures, talks about it with love. No tree has been cut down for his works of art. Every piece of wood has been found or given. The idea behind using the “old” wood is to give it a new life in the form of a beautiful work of art. Stunning, isn’t it? Besides wood, he also incorporates synthetic resin, glass and light into his sculptures. This is how he creates atmospheres.

Besides the beautiful tree sculptures, Vincent also creates paintings inspired by the rainforest. One of these will also be on display during Kunst10Daagse.

In my next blog, I will take you through the creation of the objects Vincent makes especially for Kunst10Daagse.

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Changing course

Changing course! I am going to follow my heart and devote myself to art. I have therefore started working fewer days a week in IT to make time for this. The seed was planted several years ago. In a tourist town in southern France, I walked into a chapel where beautiful tree sculptures were exhibited. Picking one for home, I spoke to the artist and was impressed by his passion for nature and his drive to protect it. Because it clicked, I met up with him a year later to have diner together. He asked me if I knew of a gallery in the Netherlands that could exhibit his sculptures. I don’t have those contacts, but it kept playing in the back of my mind all this time. Not surprising really, because for years I have been visiting as many museums, exhibitions, galleries, studios and photographing semi-professionally myself. I also find it very fascinating to hear the story behind the artwork.

In autumn 2022, I thought “Why don’t I try it myself?”. When I presented this idea to the artist, he immediately reacted very enthusiastically. I saw the bigger picture in which I represent artists who draw attention to conservation through their art. I want to help draw attention to the threat to nature in this way. Not as an activist, but to make people think, inspire and confront through art.

This means a whole new world has opened up for me. I am expanding my network as I speak to artists, finding exhibition venues, making contract arrangements with the artists and arranging the marketing around exhibitions. I really learn new things every day in this journey.

Does it all run smoothly then? Definitely not! For instance, finding a suitable and affordable exhibition space proved almost impossible. I spent hours searching the internet, requesting quotes and visiting venues. Only to come to the conclusion that professional venues are a step too far for now.

So this has to be done another way. And so I start exhibiting at existing art events. I am proud to announce that my first exhibition will be during the Kunst10Daagse in the North Holland artist village of Bergen from 20 to 29 October 2023. The whole village will then be dedicated to art and you will find sculptures, photographs and paintings not only in galleries, but also in restaurants, shops, churches and other locations. The sculptures I get to exhibit can be seen in the restaurant LadyPapa. I go there often and the atmosphere in the conservatory with its many green plants immediately suited the tree sculptures.

In my next blog, I will be happy to tell you more about the artist.

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