CV & My story told /web clip

Group exhibitions
1983 Drawing from my final work exam Bfa – Centraal Beheer Apeldoorn
1998 Created and performed slide show – Pieterskerk Utrecht
2001 Sculpture/marble ‘bird’ – beeldentuin Bonsink, Wondenstraat Almelo
2010 Oil painting ‘Mea Vulva’ Vulva – Witte Kerkje Prinseneiland Amsterdam
2010 Oil painting ‘five women’ – Krikhaarprijs Stadhuis Almelo
2010 Sculpture ‘marble and wool’ theme wool – Bibliotheek Almelo
2011 Oil paintings (4) ‘serial women’ – NABK Apeldoorn
2011 Oil paintings serial with pendants ‘dreamtravelers’ – Steenfabriek Losser
2011 Multi media ‘projection’ – Krikhaarprijs Raadszaal Almelo
2011 Multi media print – Bibliotheek Almelo; 20 jaar atelierroute

Solo exhibitions
2001 MAINart
2002 MAINart
2010 MAINart
2011 MAINart

To visit atelier MAINart, please make an appointment: 0642049149

Commissions
1968 HECO NV. 2e Laurierdwarststraat 49 Amsterdam; a wall painting
1981 Gerard de Lange 1e Middellandstraat 102 Rotterdam; portrait (sister)
1982 Martin de Groot; portrait (his child)
1989 Jan Stulp; portrait (conductor)
1990 Hotske Marra; portrait (soprano)
1990 John Rutter and Gabriël Faure; double portrait (composers)
1990 Marianne Koopman; portrait (soprano)
1990 Tom Sol; portrait (baritone)
1992 Tulip fields Hillegom; water color for ‘my’ lawyer
1993 Antependiae for the SOW-gemeente Amsterdam Bijlmermeer
1997 Illustration double portrait for promotion flyer ensemble Merlot
1998 Slide show ‘Argia’ composer Fons Brouwer (Malle Symenkwartet)
2005 Portrait of Stein van Iersel
2012 Painting after Wood for the forth coming baby of my daughter

Special compositions

• • Composition
  • Hedonism
  • Les Baigneuses et Baigneurs

Work in progress
Eudaemonia (a pendant of Hedonism), oil on canvas, 200 x 80 cm

Work in collection
·MAINart Almelo
-EXTO on line
-Saachi on line

Personal meetings and private visits on their location
1956 Ab Royer – Van Ostadestraat Amsterdam
1958 Marie Andriessen – Wagenweg Haarlem
1965 Han Wezelaar – Prinseneiland Amsterdam
1966 Kees Maks – Prinseneiland Amsterdam
1968 Piet Esser – Zomerdijkstraat Amsterdam
1983 Norman Roemer – Amsteldijk Nes aan de Amstel
1992 Marius van Beek – Parallelweg Oosterbeek
1996 Ad Merx – Jonkerstraat Weurt
1997 Henk Huig – Herengracht Amsterdam
2001 Ger Bonsink – Wondenstraat Almelo

Publications

1983 De Jonge Italianen in: archive Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam

2007 De Jonge Italianen in: E-zine cultuurwetenschappen.org  nr.1 / kunst  (this online publication is out of use)

2020 Translation in English from my original Dutch extract:

The Young Italians

Shortly after World War II, American art was the main focus of attention. In view of the much larger history of the ‘old world’ it was inevitable that a trend towards European Arts would follow, also in America.

In a review of an exhibition at The New York Museum in New York, entitled “Bad” Painting, Marcia Tucker[1], drew attention to one of the first exhibitions of several “young Italians”. She used the term Trans-Avantgarde (beyond the avant-garde) and Achille Bonito Oliva then released a book entitled The Italian Trans-Avantgarde.

Developments of contemporary art in Italy

Almost in sync with their contemporaries, Der Neue Wilden attracted the attention of The Young Italians. The artwork of The Young Italians attracted attention since 1978. Their forerunners, the so-called Arte Povera artists, were artists such as Mario Merz, born in Italy in 1925 and Jannis Kounellis, born in Greece in 1936.

The subsequent generation did not generally manifest as a group. Occasionally, some called themselves kindred spirits of another. They exhibited together in small representations, but only out of commercial interest. The essence remained focused on the individual and that is how they considered themselves.

A surprising development had occurred with regards to the use of materials. The techniques of classical painting, temporarily darkened, were used again. Especially oil painting- and even the fresco technique by Francesco Clemente.

Not everything could be captured under the heading of ‘individualism’ despite the expressions of the artists themselves, is evident. For example, from the collaboration between Sandro Chia and Enzo Cucchi who, together, created a large painting under the title Lavoro due (coöperation). The visual language used via signs also established a link.

The breakthrough

 The Eighties can be considered as the breakthrough of a new direction in visual arts; not least the visual arts of The Young Italians, known as Transavanguardia or Arte Cifra.

At the Biennale in Venice, in 1978, where new impulses were clearly given and simultaneously at the “Youth Biennale” in Paris, The Young Italians were put forward during that period. They were introduced in Amsterdam by gallery owner Riekje Swart and in Rotterdam in gallery “’t Venster”. Museum director Frans Haks of the Groningen Museum presented a large presentation of drawings in 1981, which was not entirely convincing.[2]

As indicated earlier, The Young Italians felt more at home in painting, which was later shown in a large exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. A number of leading artists took part, such as: Chia, Cucchi, Clemente, De Maria, Ontani, Paladino and Tatafiore.

Freedom arose because the boundaries of art was broken because of a movement like Arte Povera – with interfaces with conceptual art – from which The Young Italians distanced themselves. A bulletin of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam aptly stated: “no concept or minimal art anymore, this utopia has ended.” The working method of The Young Italians seemed to be a process of shaping extraterrestrial experiences.

The method

 Directness was paramount. The Young Italians used ordinary drawings and painting techniques and hardly made use of modern techniques such as photography, film, video et cetera. Everything acted at the intensity of the moment and was created effectively. The signs used had symbolic values, referring to the unconscious ‘I’, which did not lead to a so-called own identity. Political or social intentions were often lacking. The “pure self” created great possibilities for freedom of expression and that was their ambition. The Young Italians did not use a certain style and did not strive for a perfect design. Sometimes their paintings were embellished into objects for instance with the work of Paladino. In general, there was a cryptic imagery.

In the beginning the “older” artists: Chia, Chucchi and Clemente formed a category of The Young Italians. The Younger guard artists: Bianchi, Cecobelli, Dessi and Cello, were another category, and they did not use exhibitionist expression.

Some exponents and their iconography and semantics

Ernesto Tatafiore, born in Marigliano in 1942, was obsessed by Robespierre the dubious hero of the French revolution of 1789. He studied ‘everything’ that was known about him. In hundreds of drawings he shows many details of Robespierre, usually provided with short designations. Often they are nothing more than good scribbles, almost graphic, which are brought together in a long comic strip. In the person of Robespierre, problems of morality and power were discussed in a very absolute sense. A number of drawings read “La vertu ou la morte” (virtue or death). There is also a mysterious relationship between Robespierre and a large, paper-cut plane (bright yellow in color) that Tatafiore shows in an exhibition. At that time Tatafiore made art historical work with a symbolic charge, mythological in content.

Luïci Ontani, born in Montovolo in 1943, Bologna, is best known for his performances that he gave in many international cities. He also performed in Amsterdam in the gallery “De Appel” in 1975, in the “Koepelzaal” in 1977, and in the Stedelijk Museum in 1980. For Ontani, his own body was the means by which he expresses himself in a highly personal way. He also drew and made photo works. In Basel he exhibited Jugendstil-like drawings and in Essen color photos of himself, in the skin of a different personality; in perfect disguise and identification with the figure depicted. Ontani can be regarded as predominantly symbolic.

Sandro Chia, born in Florance in 1946, has a lively imagination. He consciously refers to artists as: Léger, Chagall, Malewitch and De Chirico. Depending on the theme, a painting can exhibit its own ‘maniera’ (emotional value). He uses imagery, allegory and symbols in his paintings; the meaning of which is often cryptic or ambiguous. He is a painter “pur sang” and says: “Painting is my heroine.” Chia is the one who stands out strongly in the figurative depiction of his subjects.

Mimo Paladino, born in Paduli, Benevento in 1948, uses drawing-like shapes that seem to have a private meaning. Bright colors, blue and red, are common in his work, as in a triptych, acquired by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, executed in bright blue. On the surface, satin-like masks made of plaster are applied with long, pointed feelers pointing downwards. Paladino gives the impression, by creating conflicting emotions, to strive for the effect of vitality.

Enzo Cucchi, born in Morra d’ Alba, Ancona in 1950, is the most passionate painter among the Italians listed. He works with bright primary colors in his lonely seas and coastal landscapes. He contrasts lakes, mountains, lighthouses and tall chimneys with tiny figures, dogs and especially elongated houses. His paintings are reminiscent of nightmares situated in the Marches around Acona, where he is staying. Personal memories, experiences and legends of this region are intertwined in this work. Cucchi’s work evokes associations with spontaneous children’s drawings, however, frightening.

Francesco Clemente, born in Napels in 1952, works alternately in Rome and Madras, India. His six-month annual stay in India made a conscious choice: “I want to be Hindu!”. His work shows kinship with his oriental attitude to life. He makes very precise watercolor drawings of clearly recognizable objects or animals, spread over the paper. It is only in the second instance that this appears to be related. He considers himself a symbolist and has a preference for imagery and allegory. Wide ranges of self-portraits in oil, emotionally painted are created, reflecting different moods. He also uses the old fresco technique. In a large triptych, he depicts personal confrontation with himself (collection Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam). Clemente has no technical and stylistic pretensions and paints carefree.

Nicola de Maria, born in Foglianise in 1954, is a medical practitioner and lives in a universe that he shapes from concentration and meditation; musical and poetical. As a ‘seer’ he depicts his own world of air and celestial bodies that sometimes resemble animals. His drawings in particular provide a beautiful picture of this. He can understand a room as intensity, as represented in Basel and Essen, painted intensely blue as a comprehensive night sky where gold-colored crescents are visible. There is a strong resemblance to a work by Paladino’s Rosso Silentio (filled with stars) a sign that the pretension of individuality did not quite hold up. Generally speaking, De Maria is engaged in large-scale use of the entire space.

I also do not want to leave unnamed Domenico Bianchi, Guiseppe Gallo, Bruna Ceccobelli, and Gianni Dessi. In view of the large diversity, everyone will have to be considered on his merits, in which the Young Italians deviate from the Neue Wilden. Both in terms of form and content one cannot speak of style retention as in the fifties and sixties.

A different society has emerged; separate from all avant-garde, focused on the inner self of the individual. There are no revolutionary changes in the first place, it is not about big words or ideals. The Young Italians’subjective approach evolves a case of experience and reflection. The casual way of working, without the technique of certain inhibitions, makes it possible to find much more direct and intuitive access to idiosyncrasies. Spontaneity prevails and that, coupled with the cryptic, is the best of expressiveness of The Young Italians.

Consulted literature for my thesis in 1983  

1. Achille Bonito Oliva, The Italian Trans-Avantgarde: (2e editie september, Milaan 1981).
2. M. Faust, ‘Arte Cifra’ Neue Subjectivität? ‘Trans-Avantgarde?’ In: Kunstforum 39 Italienische Kunst Heute 3 (1980) pp. 161-171.
3. Ch. Ammann, ‘Was die siebziger Jahre von den sechzichern unterscheidet: Der Weg in die achtziger Jahre’. In: Kunstforum 39 Italienische Kunst heute 3 (1980) pp. 172-184.
4. Jean Christophe Ammann, Margrit Suter red. Jonge Italianen: Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Nicola De Maria, Luigi Ontani, Mimmo Paladino, Ernesto Tatafiore, tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam (1980).

[1] Marcia Tucker (1940-2006) was a freelance art critic, writer and founder of the New York Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

[2] Die enthauptete Hand. Chia, Clemente, Cucchi, Paladino – 100 zeichnungen aus Italien,

Catalogus, Boner Kunst Verein, Stätische Galerie Wolfsburg, Groninger Museum (1980).