text piet augustijn

Opening exhibition Les Barbares d'Esprit 02-07-2017 in Atelierboerderij of Ad Arma, Moordhuizen 12, 6626 KH Alphen aan de Maas (NL)

Google:

The word barbarian means uncivilized, underdeveloped person and comes from the Greek barbaros: a sound imitation of the sound that a stranger, a barbarian, seemed to make in Greek ears as that 'barbarian' in his own, so non-Greek, language spoke: 'bar-bar-bar-bar'.

In contemporary language use barbarian is meant without taste or feeling or without an awareness of art value.

For example, someone with little knowledge in the field of culture and who does not show any feeling or interest in it, is also called a culture barbarian. State Secretary Halbe Zijlstra was such a person: a few years ago, a large part of the culture budget cut back and did nothing against it.

The word barbarian therefore has a negative connotation at first, think of the art barbarians of the caliphate: IS militants in the Middle East who destroyed countless old and precious art objects with bulldozers and hammers.

The whole world condemned these acts and UNESCO spoke of a downright cultural genocide.

And not only because it is about exceptional art, but also because the sculptures are the last witnesses of the most evolving civilizations that history has known.

Destroyers.

That negative connotation can also become a badge.

When we look at 'barbarians' in the visual arts, we quickly think of Karel Appel (savage painter movements, 'I mess around ...'), Jackson Pollock (drippaintings), Yves Klein (rolling through the paint, complete with performances) and Hermann Nitsch (das Orgien Mysterien Theater).

And a little more recently: Herman Brood - with the barbaric act as the ultimate barbarian leap from the roof of the Hilton.

Physical barbarians, because they painted with their whole body, unrestrained, unorthodox, pioneering, innovative, not attracting criticism.

And came to great heights.

Barbarians in painting, but barbarians of a high artistic content; actually not barbarians at all, but rather enthusiasts and people of the experiment: Builders and creative minds.

And then we have arrived at the spirit: barbaresd'sprit, barbarians of the mind, thinkers.

No physical barbarism, no physical pain, but working from the wonder, the experiment, the daring, the cooperation.

Without limitations.

Barbarism within limits, because no matter how mentally you think, the act must be done on the boundary of the canvas, the panel, the etching plate. That is the one time the physical act of the small gesture: the scratching in the etching plate, drilling holes in a zinc plate, the other time the bigger and rough gesture when it comes to painting on a stretched canvas or on large sheets of paper, on wood, on everything that is available.

The barbares d'esprit are Ad Arma, Bert van Santen, Mark Verdoes and Quraiseh.

The themes in Ad Arma's work (etchings, paintings, sculptures, glass objects) are human vulnerability, time and timelessness and oblivion, with the great fascination of growth processes and the continuous changes in everything.

In the work the influences and experiences of his many travels can be seen.

The work of Bert van Santen includes several disciplines: from paintings to artist books.

In addition to oil paint, he uses materials such as lead, copper, sand, ash, photos, oil and acrylic emulsions and dried natural materials.

He adds stone types, shells, prepared insects, bird feathers and others to compositions with arte povera-like features.

His themes are from mythology, philosophy and anthropology.

Quraiseh is interested in changes that occur on surfaces of rust-damaged objects: is it really a damage or is there a transitional phase of hitherto unknown beauty?

He is inspired by his daily interactions with nature and her colors in landscapes, public spaces and his own emotions.

He finds it most exciting to emphasize these rust spots and thus bring out the beautiful red-brown.

The erosion concept is therefore the most important theme in his work.

Mark Verdoes is inspired by the ephemeral.

In his visual poetry he shows temporary and at the same time timeless beauty, resulting in a form of contemporary still lifes.

His themes come from all times and everywhere, but his experimental technique is absolutely contemporary, in which nature is leading.

He paints with photography and photographs painted structures.

He plays with words and imagines desires.

The result is an idiosyncratic mix of painting, photo, computer and printing techniques.

Playing with reality he feels free to make changes in the colors, contrasts and content of images.

In the work that has been created this week, everyone's personal visual language has been subordinated to the collective.

Although letters or words can be attributed to Mark Verdoes, insects to Bert van Santen, corrosion and erosion to Quraiseh and the etching prints to Ad Arma, the works shown have been realized together, from similarities in mentality and working method, often intuitively, without preconceived starting point, but reacting to each other and to each other's work (action-reaction).

Material use and opinions are close together, as is their love for experiment, research, travel, immersing themselves in other cultures and intense interest in each other.

They reflect with their work on past, present and future, rather ahead than looking back.

'With the use of life, we live the art', is a statement that goes very well for these self-proclaimed barbarians.

Edition K

In this working week the foundation was laid for the relaunch of the artist's publication K.

In 1988 Bert van Santen started with this publication in which visual art and texts were brought together.

K1 contained an etching by Ad Arma and a text by Gerrit Noordzij and K2 Landschap people work by Willem den Ouden and Johan Goedhart.

4 publications appeared.

This year K5 (Fleurs du Mal with work by Bert van Santen) and K6 (Barbares d'Esprit) appear.

K contains original work, including unica, in a limited edition of 50 copies. Gorcumse Courant, 6 July 1988, almost 30 years ago:

K is the first letter of Art, in China calligraphy is an art, KA is an elusive concept from Egyptian mythology.

It means something like survival, a part of the spiritual life.

K will survive again, the barbares d'esprit have brought him to life.

Piet Augustijn, July 2017