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CABINETS OF CURIOSITY

A VISIT TO AN ART COLLECTOR’S HOME

Art, design and anything creative runs deeply in this couples’ blood and there are no limits to what and how they imagine the world and space around them. Suzette van Dam and James van der Velden, are known for their joint ability to transform an interesting space into something quite spectacular, and while doing so, never fail to include intriguing and sometimes unusual treasures of art and collectibles. Although their newly renovated apartment has already been sold onto the next lucky owner, we were fortunate enough to squeeze in some time with Suzette to see how they transformed what was once a dark garage in East Amsterdam, into a creative living cabinet of curiosity. With art of course, being the main focus.

WHERE DOES THEIR CREATIVE FLAIR COME FROM? 

Suzette studied design and styling at the Fashion Institute in Amsterdam. She always knew she would do something creative and her studies helped her take this first step. From there, it was concepts and brands that stole her heart and which ultimately lead her to opening up her own concept store and pop-up coffee shop. Working with local artists and designers to help give them a ‘foot-up’ is part of Suzette’s curatorial enjoyment. For her, a home or space decorated by art is what can help make it truly warm, personal and adored. And in Suzette’s most recent idea of creating a country house hotel close to Amsterdam, she knows that art and design will ultimately play a huge role in creating a cozy family home feel while still maintaining an experience of luxury and retreat.

SEASONED EYES FOR DESIGN

So what sort of art does this couple collect we wondered; especially with James being a seasoned interior decorator and owner of Bricks Studio. We soon learned from our conversation with Suzette that in their collection, there are no hard and fast rules and that the wild and unlikely combination of design elements in their home is what makes it so inviting. For Suzette, if something really grabs her attention then she will spontaneously buy it and if it doesn’t fit under her arm to take home that day, she will call an uber or make a plan. For James and for bigger more expensive pieces, they will discuss it first before biting the bullet. These pieces are usually the ‘statement’ pieces that can either become big investments and or be the focal point of an interior.

Luckily though, the couple are generally on the same page with interior ideas. Although Suzette did remark at how their garage home had a particular ‘James flair’ of a more chaotic masculine, ‘man-cave’ feel. He likes to use a lot of colours and prints in combination with a modern but industrial feeling. And Suzette tends to organise this chaos with her softer lighter style. We think he may have taken advantage of Suzette being pregnant at the time of their renovation which meant more freedom to play with his ideas. Their next home though, we hear from Suzette, will be lighter softer and calmer but never without their joint cabinets of curiosity.

ART CAN BE A CONVERSATION STARTER

Taking a walk through Suzette’s and James’s apartment is like a wild adventure. Our eyes were on stalks as we walked around every corner, door or structure. From a large contemporary poster framed in black and mounted in place of a toilet door, to dome glass jars filled with eggs and other interesting inanimate objects. In fact, the list goes on to taxidermy, tortoise shells, collectible cars and robotic sculptures. 

Of course the first thing we wanted to know was WHERE DOES ALL THIS STUFF COME FROM? Suzette told us that wherever they go, be it a flea market or art fair, their combined desire to surround themselves with beautiful aesthetics in whatever form that may come, is key to their collection. Some of their art and collectibles are created by James’s mother and sister who work together as contemporary sculptors (Bibimichele), some art is shipped from art fairs across the globe, some pieces are collected from markets and even from EBAY online, and some art (mainly photographs and posters) is created by the couple themselves. Their art and collectibles are carefully and deliberately grouped into mini installations on top of shelves, books and mounted onto walls… all set up for great stories and conversations with visitors. 

GROWING HER COLLECTION 

Suzette’s fine art collection all started with the large canvas collage of ‘GABI’ which she bought ten years ago. It now hangs impressively in the middle of their apartment, around the corner from their more recent purchase of the blurry lady (untitled) from the Amsterdam Affordable art fair. Suzette wanted her so badly that she ordered an uber van to take it home with her and had to carry it up three flights of stairs to get it into her house. She hung it up that same night and it fitted perfectly. Buying art from up and coming artists is important to Suzette and next on her radar or ‘art bucket list’ is a Louise Bourgouis or something from David Hockney. 

With Suzette’s new luxury cottages and hotel concept in the making, art will no doubt be of great consideration in creating the cozy serene feeling that she imagines it to be. She tells us that there will be big statement pieces and a big sculpture outside, preferably from her mother and sister in law. And what excites us the most is that Suzette plans to work with new up and coming artists to create something especially for the hotel. We will watch this space!

Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey 

Photos by: Iris Haverkamp Begemann

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CURATED BY

Research into your favourite art piece could unexpectedly lead you into pulling the trigger 

Every week, we ask an inspiring person to select their favourite art piece from the FRAEMd platform. We call these weekly posts ‘CURATED BY’ and we have loved seeing what people select and why. This week our special inspirator, Seroj de Graaf, selected and then decided to BUY his favourite piece. WOW. This just shows how far a little research can go into growing your own art collection. For Seroj, his research revealed a special connection that he had with the artist. He also describes noticing something magical and surreal in the artwork, finding it hard to understand how and why he became so emotionally engaged with the piece.  

Keep reading to see which artwork Seroj bought and why…

For Future Reflections, 2014 Thijs Ebbe Fokkens mdf, styrofoam, sand, neon 27x27x27cm Edition 3 + 2 AP Courtesy of Joey Ramone          

ABOUT OUR ‘INSPIRATOR’ OF THIS WEEK

Seroj is a renowned Dutch product designer with a focus on lifestyle products and fashion accessories. His company, ‘by SEROJ’, was founded to empower businesses by supporting them to transform their product ideas into successful design products. Seroj is a spatial visual thinker and dedicated product designer with a fine eye for detail and a broad knowledge of materials and techniques. He is also curious and eager in the fields of art, manufacturing, tech and business. With Seroj’s unique combination of interests, we were really intrigued to see which artwork he would select. 

THE THOUGHT BEHIND THE SELECTION

Seroj about the artwork: “Most of the art I feel connected to is sculptural but in particular, I'm drawn to mixed media artworks or works that have a certain sense of plasticity. When starting my search on FRAEMd I directly selected the filter ‘mixed media’. Scrolling through all the pages with artworks, I instantly got drawn into this little white cube feeling excited and ready to dive right into it. Every once in a while I got struck by this deep feeling of something resonating with me and that is when I know something is right. When I went to do more research on the artist, I soon realised that it was his work methodology that really caught my attention as it has a lot of similarities with my own vision and approach to design, mainly a process through trial and error. It is a process where the creator investigates, questions and then defines the work and its qualities by using all his/her personal senses while creating it. Part of this process is diving into the materials and details, shaping them and then taking a step back to re-evaluate. When observing artworks such as this one, I feel like reliving and resolving the process of ‘searching for form’ that the artist was going through. 

I find the work For Future Reflections absolutely fascinating as the process of making the work seems quite visible. It also shows an interesting contrast of what happens in the world within one frame. It depicts not just a sand dune, but also a fascinating world due to the contrast between shadow and light. It is this and the hyper focus on light, that draws you in even closer. It feels like something extraordinary is happening within the frame of the box, whilst being conserved in a sort of terrarium (a glass container for plants). It feels quite surreal.

In our everyday lives, we are confined by our constant need to contextualize and understand everything. However, in this artwork, there is so much happening within the frame that it is difficult to define, contain and make assumptions. In the search for form you will notice that in order to make sense of what works, the artists has a genuine dialogue with the material that he uses. This work also reminds me of a work by Olafur Eliasson. In the Louisiana museum of modern art in Denmark, Eliasson’s solo exhibition called Riverbed, was a site specific project where he transformed the entire exhibition space into a rocky landscape. This raises the interesting question of: where does the canvas end?”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The work of Thijs Ebbe Fokkens (1981) can be read as a story that alludes to scientific and religious endeavors that people undertake to get a grip on the world. His combinations of drawings, photographs, models and installations tell us of obscure moments and mysterious places.

Fokkens’ scenes and situations derive from the desire to capture significance and the search for an ideal vantage point to do so, to get a good look at notions about us, about the self and the tech, about nature, time and other narratives. Fokkens’ trail of thoughts and actions end up creating a space rather than stating a point. His ambiguous and poetic work creates a world full of promise and provides the opportunity to contemplate and wonder.

If you love this work as much as Seroj, there is one last edition left... Purchase or preview the artwork on your own wall here

Learn more about our Inspirator of this week, Seroj.

Show us your favourite by using #fraemdcuratedby to become our next Inspirator.                                                 

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ARTIST PROFILE

THE WORLDS FIRST & ONLY FEMALE OFFSHORE CERTIFIED ARTIST

Tanja grew up in a ‘typical’ small Dutch town in the east of the Netherlands where she would take to the manicured playgrounds with her friends. Part of their play involved fake wood cabins, pretend horse riding on a bike and endless walks past the river Ijssel (with a highway passing through). With a constructed Dutch landscape as her everyday, her experience with the wild was little to none.  It was perhaps this, that lead to Tanja’s interest in stories of landscapes.  

“I think I was naturally drawn to photography because back in the day, my dad had a lot of photographic equipment which meant I got my first camera at the age of 8. It was a green Kodak click camera and I was obsessed with it. Later on, I became interested in black and white photography and so my father showed me how to work in a dark room. Between the two of us, we put all our equipment in our tiny bathroom. It wasn’t until after secondary school, from advice taken from my teacher, that I decided to study art” says Tanja.

Tanja’s work usually starts with something she reads, whether it be a short headline on the web or a novel about a specific place. She is interested in the many layers that make up our landscapes such as history, culture and economics; ranging from the business district of London, to the rural Wyoming and the endless North sea. In Tanja’s recent projects, research into these landscapes has become an important focus.

“When photographic imagery and material play come together, the many layers like history and economy that make up a landscape come to life”

In one of Tanja’s recent projects, she was influenced by a newspaper article that she read about vacancy in the North Sea. She began to ask questions such as what constructions are these, who owns them and what is the scale of them? She began her investigation by reading about the offshore industry, meeting with people working on platforms and an ecologists conducting research on the wildlife. After trying hard to find a way to visit these places, she finally secured a spot on a vessel where she would soon spend two weeks filming and photographing. 

Back onshore... and the editing process begins. Cutting, pasting and making scaleable models is what enables Tanja to create a spatial experience and this is usually where other techniques also come into play. Most of the time,Tanja prints onto materials that are found in certain landscapes, altering the viewers experience of the image. 

For example in ‘Cities of desire’, Tanja has printed onto recycled material from the offshore industry in the North Sea. The rusty scratched steel and the different shades of grey, add texture and meaning to the image. Ideas of the future of the North Sea and its environmental issues are prominent through this technique and experience. 

During Tanja’s research and experimentation, a contextual frame work arises. Also, Italo Calvino’s Invisible cities is a major influence in Tanja’s work about the offshore. In this book Marco Polo talks with Kublai Kan about his travels. Tanja explains that “while speaking of imaginary cities, the conversation becomes like a game of chess. I loved the language of the book and the possibilities of these cities. They encompass both the emotional as the mathematical, and show a sense of fear and longing”. 

Bozeman’s Curse – Untitled VI By Tanja Engelberts Etch on brass € 3.500 Courtesy of Seelevel gallery

See here for more works by Tanja Engelberts

Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey Pictures by: Iris Haverkamp Begemann

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ARTIST PROFILE

AN ARTIST THAT CREATES INTIMATE EXPERIENCES FOR HER AUDIENCE 

Marijn Bax grew up in a small and “narrow-minded” village that she felt oppressive. To her, now, working as an artist and photographer is the biggest freedom that she can possibly imagine. After finishing her degree in social cultural studies, she found herself working as an assistant photographer in various fields of photography (reporting, portraiture, documentaries and fashion) while working on assignment as a freelance photographer herself. It was in 2012 when Marijn began her Masters of photography at the Art Academy AKV St Joost Breda in the Netherlands, graduating in 2014. She has since devoted her time in her studio to create images based on our ideas of ‘truth’ and ‘story telling’. 

“In my installations, I emphasise the role of space and time in shaping our experiences. Now that almost every image can be downloaded in high-res within seconds on the internet, I try to resist all that is instant and omnipresent- emphasising the local, the slow and the specific instead”.

In 2015 the Mondriaan Fund supported Marijn with a grant for emerging artists (Werkbijdragen Jong Talent) and since then, has also been represented by Galerie Caroline O’Breen - (formerly Seelevel Gallery). Last year (2016), she completed two large research based in-situ projects: ENDS MEET in Castrum Peregrini, Amsterdam and REFLECTIONS in Den Bosch as a part of Bosch 500. 

MARIJN HAS A GREAT INTEREST IN HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE BOUNDARIES OF INTERPRETATION 

Marijn is inspired by the stories she finds within the buildings in which she works - be it the spaces themselves or the personal narratives that she retrieves from the archives and her interest in human psychology. In the end, it all lands up merging together in experiences that are often intimate and that always push, question and dissolve boundaries.

ENDS MEET - Where is the frontier of LIKE and LOVE - 3.8.3 Wood, glass, rubber 11,5 H x 17 W cm Courtesy of Galerie Caroline O’Breen

In her work, past and present collide; private and public merge; and fact and fiction become incredibly hard to tell apart. By juggling these lines, Marijn believes that we are able to reflect upon our own patterns and habits of thought. Now that we supposedly live in a ‘post-truth’ era, she asks her audience how, exactly, they would interpret a story when they hear, read, or see it? How do their own past presumptions and preoccupations shape their interpretations and ideas of truth? Wat is ‘truth’, anyway, and is it possible ever to get at it?

A REAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATERIALS USED AND STORIES TOLD

New work for Marijn arises intuitively from the ‘process’ of her research and the space within she works. And according to Marijn, sometimes her work is only created a week before the exhibition opens.

ENDS MEET – Fluid Compositions  Porcelain, aluminum and polaroid 16,8 H x 14,5 W cm Courtesy of Galerie Caroline O’Breen

The materials she uses are always inspired and related to the stories she tells. In one of her works titled ‘ENDS MEET’ for example, she created porcelain frames. Porcelain, fluid from the start, can break and could be reshaped again - but, will never decay. This feature for her, was symbolic in her research on the question: “Where is the frontier of LIKE and LOVE?” (a quote by Gisele van Waterschoot van der Gracht). 

Click here to see more works by Marijn Bax 

Or visit Marijn’s newest exhibition (12 Oct. - 18 Nov.) ‘Touch of Stone’ at galerie Caroline O’ Breen. 

Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey  Pictures by: Iris Haverkamp Begemann

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CURATED BY

Every week an inspiring person shares their favourite artwork…

This week: Floor Haverkamp, the art curator for the fabulous CitizenM Hotels. Apart from exploring contemporary art for the hotel chain, she is also the assistant curator for the KRC art collection. We are very curious to see what this arty lady would choose for her own wall.

Keep reading to see which artwork Floor chose and why…

Unfold, 2015 by Sjoerd Knibbeler C-print € 680 Courtesy of Foam Editions

Floor: Sjoerd’s scientific approach fascinates me. He asks himself complicated questions like: What does a shooting star looks like, can I simulate a tornado and how can I represent wind? Before he starts making photographs, Sjoerd acts like a researcher, visiting universities and consulting specialists in the field of science and - in this case - aviation. ‘Unfold’ from the Paper Planes series is based on airplane designs that have never been put into production or have never made it into the air. “Every time I look at this series, I have to think of all these inventor’s dreams. To me it represents our drive to innovate and discover. Besides, I love the ’trompe l’ oeil’ effect in his work: this photograph really looks like a folded piece of paper”, says Floor. Until the 27th of May a new series by Sjoerd is on view at LhGWR in The Hague. This time he photographs models of objects designed to travel to the Moon. About the artist:  Moving air, wind, a tornado; the work of Sjoerd Knibbeler (1981) concentrates on visualising invisible natural phenomena through photography. Knibbeler creates and simulates inside his studio environment and follows his almost boyish curiosity in carrying out his mostly fragile ephemeral constructions with simple materials like paper and plastic. Knibbeler is a master of creating suggestive images that have an ultimate aesthetical presence and create substantial tension which makes you doubt the realness of his images. However, everything that he photographs is real. Using the illusionistic, or as he puts it, “the magical” qualities of the camera, is what Knibbeler finds most intriguing in the medium. Both through the materials he uses for his constructions and the conditions he tries to visualise, he explores the paradoxical relation between the still, two-dimensional character of photography and his often transparent, moving, voluminous subjects. The photographer won the Grand Prix du jury Photographie at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography, published his first book Paper Planes, was selected as one of the Foam Talents 2015, to name a few highlights.  Purchase or preview the artwork on your own wall here Show us your favourite by using #fraemdcuratedby to become our next Inspirator.

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ARTIST PROFILE

EAT. SLEEP. PAINT. REPEAT

Gijs van Lith grew up in Breugel, a small village near Eindhoven (NL). From an early age, he was always drawing and building things - mostly large drawings of marvel comics like Spiderman and Cable. He and his Dad had a small shed where they each had their own workbench... his first ever shared studio. And today, he can still remember that wonderful smell of tires, wood and iron.

Once Gijs completed high school, he knew he was destined to work with his hands and do something creative. And so he enrolled at St. Lucas in Boxtel, (NL), where he studied paint-technology and also how to build, sustain and design buildings. However it was during his time at the Art Academy (AKV St. Joost, ‘s-Hertogenbosch) where his love for creating art really came into its own. After graduating from the academy in 2008, he was nominated for a few art prizes and was invited to participate in a number of gallery shows. But the cherry on the top for him was that the (then) Queen Beatrix of Holland, became one of his first important collectors. A flying start to his art career indeed. 

“I like the callus on my hands”, says Gijs

Untitled no.6 , 2016 Oil, acrylic & spray paint on linen 95 H x 75 W cm

His main focus is on painting and it’s fundamentals, but his body of work also entails sculptures and installations. His work is all about the creation, the activity, and the actual process of painting. Gijs works systematically and in serial order. In his work, he explores ideas about surface, materiality, spatiality, physicality and time. Often interests in (art-) history, theoretical views, movies and sports surfaces in his work especially in the titles. Questions like:

What is the length of a painting and does a painting end? Where and what are the physical limitations of the painting and the surface, what do these limitations mean and what do they offer to explore further?

Where boredom, chaos, energy and intuition melt together

When Gijs creates art, he has periods of play and alchemist exploration. He finds new and interesting materials and/or colour-combinations. He describes this creative state of mind as a ‘constructive nonchalance’ state, which leads to new small try-outs and tests.

According to Gijs, his studio is not just a place of origin but it is the natural habitat of his work. Here it can be seen in its most honest and ‘unstable’ state - as part of an on-going process. He translates this idea in the context of a gallery through creating large transparent plastic bubbles, which he paints from the inside out. These monumental balloon-sculptures become metaphors for the microcosm of his studio. Here, the broader universe of the artist is somewhat made ‘concrete’ and ‘stable’ in the act of applying paint on a surface.

Gijs also organises and curates exhibitions at Art Spaces and sometimes at Galleries. For him, this a great way to meet other artists and get to really know their work and their thought process. Mo van der Have, (Director Torch Gallery) and Gijs are currently working together on an exciting exhibition which  will open in November.

To view or purchase works by Gijs van Lith, click here 

Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey 

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ARTIST PROFILE

PAINTINGS THAT HAVE IMPRESSED WELL AT ART ROTTERDAM

Wouter van der Laan was born in Huizen in 1993 and moved to Almere where he spent his teenage years. He started drawing and painting at twelve years old after seeing the works of Rembrandt van Rijn and Caravaggio in the Rijksmuseum. With the paintings he made at that time, he entered and won a painting contest for kids, as part of the Rembrandt year, which convinced him to pursue a career as a painter. In 2015, Wouter graduated from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht and immediately continued his studies in Groningen at the Frank Mohr Institute, where he is currently completing his Masters in Painting.

Above: The studio 

 A PLAYFUL PROCESS OF CREATING MEANING

In Wouter’s work, he is increasingly looking to adopt an open approach to his paintings, so that he can start to include different techniques and elements.. These elements range from digital images to scrap and leftovers that move around his studio environment. Through this open approach, he is looking for a playful way of putting ‘things’ together to find interesting combinations. These combinations are often temporary and can, at any moment, be re-organised or re-installed. The provisional and local quality in this, resonates with an interest he has in the formal use of (verbal/written) language as seen in the plays by Samuel Beckett. In these plays his characters constantly attempt to make statements, to find sense in words, but fail in the process of talking: they stutter, forget the meaning of words, lose attention, etc. Yet, they keep on trying. Wouter try’s to employ a similar visual language in his paintings and in the process of how he works in the studio.

ARTWORK THAT IS NEVER REALLY EVER FINISHED

For Wouter, new works always develop from other works. When he feels that a surface is becoming saturated, he moves on to a new one. As seen in his studio space, his works also tend to blend into temporal installations, blurring the line between the singular or collective work of art.

“It has been said, that I paint like a sculptor”

Wouter uses a variety of paints (oil, acrylic, ink, spray paint, etc.) and tools. He also uses printing and transfer methods to use photographs and other printed material in his paintings. Through this process, he creates a feedback loop in which elements reappear in different constellations and on different surfaces. In this way, he tries to set up an organic and fluid practice where older works can be continued and translated in new works so that he is never really finished with a work of art.

Escapism in Film Noir #3, 2015 By Wouter van der Laan Acrylic on panel Courtesy of Galerie Rianne Groen

See here for more works by Wouter van der Laan

Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey

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MAKE OR BREAK YOUR INTERIOR WITH ART

The founder of a fresh & contemporary interior brand tells us more

How often have you walked into an impressive interior space and before anything else, cast your eyes over to the art on the wall (and begin to smile)? Perhaps you could call this warm fuzzy feeling the ‘h-ART’ of a beautiful interior. Too often though, art choice is sadly neglected in a home or interior space- either with a blank wall, the wrong type of art or frame or even installation. When decorating a home or interior space, it is important to learn how art can be used to enhance, not detract, from the overall look and feel. To get a better grip on this, we chatted to founder of FEST Amsterdam, Femke Furnée. Having first studied Art History, she is now focusing on managing and growing her interior (furniture and accessories) business.

Femke Furnée (right) picking her favourites from FOAM Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam

FRAEMd: Femke, we would love to know a bit more about your journey from Art Historian to starting your own interior business?

Femke: Because I studied art history, running my own business/interior brand didn’t seem to be the most logical step… but I have found it has worked well for me so far. Having been an art historian, I have a large ‘library’ of images, styles and art movements in my head. My studies have influenced the way I see things - more refined, I think. When I was a little girl, I was always working with images, being creative and I even used to go door-to-door selling homemade products. So in that sense it  seems to have been an inevitable step.

While furnishing my own home, I soon discovered that there was not a lot of choice for original, well designed and affordable furniture. It was then when I decided it was time to fill the gap. And so I launched FEST in March 2013, and since have seen a rapid growth in the last four years. My motivation for this has always been to fill the gap between Ikea and high end brands.

FRAEMd: With your love for both art and interior styling, what do you think is the real relationship between the two?

Femke: For me, they are both all about aesthetics. I love beautiful things, a nice coat, a beautiful tone, a nicely tiled floor. Art can bring that finishing touch to your interior. I think a home is never completely finished without art. To a certain level I also think that my taste for interior matches my taste for art. I love graphic images that are clean and minimalistic. Art moves you - sometimes it’s not completely clear why you fall in love with a certain work of art. And to me, a great piece of furniture can do the same.

FRAEMd: Together with your team of talented stylists, how do you go about selecting or advising on art for your clients?

Femke: We don’t give advice about specifically selecting art, but we have recently started giving ‘low key’ interior advice to our clients. Asking for advice is nothing to be ashamed about, there’s nothing wrong with asking a fresh pair of eyes (without an exorbitant price tag attached) to look at your home interior. For me, interior design is a way to reflect parts of your personality, so it’s definitely worth giving it some extra attention. We really believe that a great work of art can give a room that final touch- it can uplift it, give contrast or add a different feel.

FRAEMd: Function, aesthetics or sentiment for an art piece?

Femke: That’s very personal. I think that you need to buy something that you really love. There are no hard and fast rules. It is perfectly acceptable to choose a piece of art based on a certain piece of furniture. And it, of course, is even better if you find a piece of art that you completely fall in love with regardless of how and where it will hang in your home. Bottom line is, if you love it, you will find a place to hang it.

FRAEMd: Do you have any examples of how clients have gone about selecting art for their homes?

Femke: A lot of people are a bit scared to buy a piece of art. They’re afraid that their taste will change, or that they will get bored of it in 10 years time. My advice is to NOT be scared to buy art. Buy something you love now. It doesn’t matter if you will not love it anymore in 10 years time, choosing an artwork is not a definite choice.

And don’t be afraid about the costs, you probably spend your salary on a lot of other things without even thinking about it. There are a lot of possibilities to fund your piece of art as you will see with FRAEMd online. In The Netherlands, there are lease options and even subsidy options. This is how I purchased my first piece of art seven years ago. I paid € 18 a month for it and was so happy that I made that choice! So my advice is to just dive right into it, really, buying art is not a big deal. In fact it's a HUGE deal (smiley face). Want to see what art can do for your interior with your own eyes? CHECK OUT THE EXHIBITION ‘ART & INTERIOR’ - organised by FEST Amsterdam and FRAEMd at Van Woustraat 111, Amsterdam for the next couple of months. 

Find out more about FEST Amsterdam here

Exhibition ‘ART & INTERIOR’ at Van Woustraat 111, Amsterdam Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey Pictures by: Elske Nissen Photography

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ARTIST PROFILE

AN ARTIST THAT IS INTRIGUED BY ‘SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR’

Line grew up in the Norway country side, surrounded by nature. Here, she developed a curiosity for her surroundings, and later, for people’s behaviour. This lead her to study and produce captivating layered paintings, that have been sold in Norway and to collectors world wide. 

“The ego is in an unpleasant state... something haunting is about to happen” -Line Gulsett 

Line believes that growing up in nature was a great gift and that this connection to nature was ultimately the nurturing of her creativity and self reflection. Her ‘curiosity of surroundings’ is something that she explored during her studies in sociology and then later in her art.

Line has always been drawing ever since she was a kid. She started her art studies in Denmark, Copenhagen in a classical drawing school at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and then went further to do an old Master/student style of studio training with an artist in Copenhagen. Here she learned the old school way to make her own paint, canvas, and gained an understanding of traditional painting skills.

Later on, Line decided to try something different and enrolled in a course at a pre-academic school, Billedeskolen in Copenhagen. After graduating here, she was then accepted to study at The Royal academy of fine arts in the Hague (KABK).

“Inspiration is a complex matter”

Line: When it comes to inspiration, I don’t have a specific thing- it can be a word, news, or just my own imagination which creates interesting experiences to be taken further. As a painter, you are often bound to your studio and it is here, where you must be a friend to loneliness. But also, here, is where I experience my mind’s ultimate freedom

The theme that is constant Line’s work is social behaviour, often looking at it on a micro level. What interests her is the collective memory of kids or young adults as it is here where they first develop their sociological behaviour and habits and where the recognition of the ego is most present in an ‘unheimlich way’ (the psychological concept of the uncanny as something that is strangely familiar). 

“It starts with making sketches”

For a long time, Line develops ideas in her head and then when she is ready, she often starts with sketches in order to develop these ideas into something visual. Eventually, her works become removed from her initial idea as she attempts to make the process and outcome as open as possible.

So, her work goes from personal to perhaps more general and then back to personal, getting the viewer to look more than once. Line finds that her work is often full of contradictions and she finds these sort of contradictions in painting can be really interesting and powerful. That a painting can go from figuration to abstraction and in some cases, just simple materials, makes for a sense of trembling underneath the painterly surface.

For her drawings, she often uses coloured papers and oil pastels. For the paintings, she uses oil paint on canvas. Recently she has started experimenting with raw pigments on different painted surfaces.

‘Went too Far’, 2016 Oil pastel on black paper 63 x 45 cm  Courtesy of Torch Gallery

Click here to view more works by Line Gulsett

Text by Georgia Fane Hervey Pictures by Iris Haverkamp Begemann

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CURATED BY

Every week an inspiring person shares their favourite artwork…

This week: Laura Rooseboom, co-founder and managing partner of a sustainable venture capitalist company, StartGreen Capital. In the Netherlands, Laura was one of the first investors in sustainable business and she supported many of the early “green’ companies in their growth. Her personal belief is that we can only continue to live on this planet with so many people if we adapt our way of living and that in order to do this, we need innovative companies to lead the way.

Keep reading to see which artwork Laura chose as her favourite…

Untitled (RedBlueYellowTokyo)  By Bart Benschop    Courtesy of Galerie Helder

Laura:  I like the works of Bart Benschop because it is a wonderful mix of abstract and figurative. I like the changing perspective in that if you glimpse at the work, you see some sort of pattern but if you take a closer look you see recognisable images, as if behind a veil.

About the artist: Bart Benschop (1965, Amsterdam) creates his photographs while driving at speed along highways. After thorough inspection of the roadside area, he shoots the film in double or triple exposures, producing a rhythm of transparent frames. These fragments of layered landscapes deliver a cinematographic experience in your mind. They bring about faintly recollected memories of glimpses in the near past. His photographs make you wander in the process of perception.

Purchase or preview the artwork on your own wall here

Learn more about our Inspirator of this week, Laura Rooseboom

Show us your favourite by using #fraemdcuratedby to become our next Inspirator.

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CURATED BY

Every week an inspiring person shares their favourite artwork…

This week: Founder of FEST Amsterdam, Femke Furnée. FEST Amsterdam was founded in 2013 by Femke’s personal need for well designed furniture without the high-end prices. She decided to fulfil this need by designing affordable furniture and home accessories herself. And because Femke also has a background in studying art history, we thought it would be interesting to see which art work she would select as her favourite. 

Keep reading to see which artwork Femke chose and why…

Yonder, 2013 By Marnix Goossens UltraChrome Archival fine art print Print size for book: 33 x 27.5 cm / Image size: 30 x 24 cm Total edition of 90 + 10 AP € 200.00 each Courtesy of Foam Editions

*This special edition consists of a print and a book (choice between one of three prints)

Femke: “Even though these three works are not necessarily the most logical combination, I think that they work really well together. I love the combination of graphic lines and colours in all three images. The combination of black, white, ice blue and green... is a dreamy one, like you’re just gazing into a new world. At first sight, these photos look like images of nature. But when you look closely, you’ll see that all three photos were made indoors, shot in abandoned homes.

About the work: Marnix Goossens work is based on three core themes: nature, portraits and still lifes. Most of his pictures represent natural scenes. Goossens focuses on the beauty of flowers and wildlife that can be found in human habitats. The use of a view camera has resulted in detailed and highly concentrated images (a view camera is a style of camera that dates back to the 1850’s and is still in use today, though with many refinements).

About the artist: Marnix Goossens (born 1967) lives and works in Amsterdam. He studied at the School of Arts in Utrecht, Fine Arts Studios in Arnhem and he was a resident of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. His work has been exhibited in many (inter) national exhibitions, including at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, Institut Néerlandais and Européene Maison de la Photographie in Paris, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich and Aperture Foundation in New York.

Purchase or preview the artwork on your own wall here

A SPECIAL COLLABORATION

Art & interior? Yes, we are going to prove that there is nothing more exhilarating than the combination of these two. In a fresh exhibition in the interior shop of FEST Amsterdam, we will present some works from the following artists:

Malick Sidibé - Foam Editions Marnix Goossens - Foam Editions Daniela Schwabe - Galerie Bart Lin de Mol - Ron Lang Art

WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THE OPENING NIGHT FESTIVITIES? LEARN MORE HERE

Learn more about Femke’s FESTive business here 

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INSIDE THE HOME OF A YOUNG COLLECTOR

AN ART COLLECTION THAT TELLS A PERSONAL STORY

Meet Marloes van Vugt... avid art collector, art historian, ex gallery owner and mother to be. FRAEMd paid Marloes a visit in her little Amsterdam apartment in De Pijp so that (as always) we could get a swig of art inspiration from someone who was truly passionate about following and supporting young artists. It has only been 7 years of collecting art and with no master plan behind her collection, we were impressed to see how beautifully she has managed to enhance her home with cherished art.

First art purchase by Billy und Hells, ‘Lola’, 2010, photo print on dibond/plexiglass, 100 x 70 cm, edition 10

Once Marloes had pulled the trigger on this photograph by Billy und Hells, it was all uphill from there. Seven years later, she would enjoy sitting in her home with her husband and two adored dogs (plus bun in the oven), surrounded by an impressive collection of art that mattered. In looking back though, it must be said that her decision to start her own gallery was what really fuelled the fire for MORE ART. As she met more artists, she learned more about art and as she learned more about art, she couldn’t live without it. Smart move we think!

“My collection is a reflection of different periods in my life, with all its ups and downs. Some works are a bit more sad and dark, others playful and fun”.

Marloes explains to us that collecting art is like her very own personal story and that’s why she loves every single piece so much. Meaningful stories and connections such as these show that apart from making a great investment in the art that you buy, it should ultimately be something that you’re prepared to live with forever. Does she have a favourite piece perhaps?

“I really don’t have favourite pieces; it feels like choosing between my babies. But one of the last pieces I bought - and also the smallest work in my collection, is a work by Andrea Freckmann. When I visited the preview of Art Rotterdam I wasn’t there with the intention of buying art at all. But when I saw this tiny canvas at the booth of Galerie Maurits van de Laar, I knew I wanted to have it. At the time, I was 11 weeks pregnant and the work made me think of this little creature in my belly. When the baby is born this coming August, she will already own her first piece of art”, says Marloes.

Andrea Freckmann, 'Ohne Titel', 2016, oil on linen, 13 x 18 cm

KEEPING IT YOUNG AND FRESH

Marloes believes that apart from art by emerging talent often being fresh, renewing and well valued; by collecting it you are also contributing to a young artist’s career, which she feels is truly important. With great sentiment, Marloes explains that “they are the future of our cultural society and they need our support”. And if you have half the charm that Marloes has, you could also land up getting to know these young artists personally and follow their careers closely. For Marloes, that is the great benefit of ‘going young and fresh’.

For some people though, it is tricky to understand the value of art and and if the cost of the artwork truly reflects the level of skill, material, artist’s career etc. The advantage for Marloes of course, is that with running her own gallery for these past 7 years, she has learned a significant amount about pricing art. However, she explains that “the main principles are always material, technique, size, edition or not, career of the artist and off course if you are willing to spend that amount for it”. Sometimes it's simple, you just gotta have it.

Okay, this is too exciting. Show us some more art please!

Above left: Wouter van der Laan, ‘Imposter’, 2015, acrylic on panel, 61 x 90 cm Above right: Line Gulsett, ‘Downfall’, 2016, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Above left: Louis Reith, ‘Untitled', 2013, collage and ink drawing on book page, 23 x 15 cm Above right: Lonneke van der Palen, ‘Mountain Girl’, 2011, photo print, 20 x 15 cm, edition 30/100 Sarah Mei Herman, ‘Jonathan, Swimming Pool’, 2013, photo print, 15 x 20 cm, edition 30/100

“At the moment I have a lot of small and medium sized work in my collection, due to the typical small Amsterdam apartment we live in. But my goals are certainly to acquire bigger pieces. I imagine big paintings with layers and layers of thick paint. I really love that!” says Marloes excitably. But despite the fact that Marloes needs to choose art that will fit in the space they live in, she never thinks about it ‘fitting in’ with her interior. She buys what she likes in the moment and that is what is most important. With a bit of gallery knowledge though, she does make use of proper lighting when a piece is installed in her home and recently changed the colour of her living room wall in order to enhance the artworks. Together with that she works with Mertens Frames to have her pieces framed at the highest quality.

Top left: Sophie van der Perre, ‘Anyway the wind blows’, 2012, photo print, 29 x 41,5 cm, edition 1/10 Top right: Sander Dekker, ‘I spy with my little eye’, 2013, photo print on dibond/plexiglass + frame, 33 x 50 cm, AP 1

Recently Marloes has headed in a new direction; changing her role from gallerist to now, art consultant. With her impressive experience and knowledge in the most recent art and design world developments, this migration could not have come at a better time.

Click here to learn more about Marloes’ new venture 

Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey 

Photos by: Eva Roefs

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CURATED BY

Every week an inspiring person shares their favourite artwork…

This week: Sophie Lever, interior stylist for the young and trendy Volkshotel in Amsterdam. Next to advising the hotel on its interior from the start she also helps other businesses and individuals with the design of their home or office. We are curious to see what this interior guru would choose for her own wall.

Keep reading to see which artwork Sophie chose as her favourite…

Happy Safe Place II, 2016 by Jeroen Erosie     Mixed media on canvas  Courtesy of Mini Gallery 

Sophie: I would love to have this on my wall. It is both graphic and abstract, with a form or feeling of typography but without actual text or letters. It reminds me of graffiti and I think it would do well in a very specific interior to enhance it even more. For example I can imagine it in my own interior installed behind our green chairs. I also feel that there is a certain link between this art work and that of my own interior style. It's mature, but with a childlike playfulness to it - a bit of organised chaos like I find myself being in my work and daily life. I also find the work to be happy and optimistic and if I were to look at this artwork before leaving the house, I know I would have a great day as the energy of it says, "let's bring it on!"

About the artist:  Jeroen Erosie is a graduate from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and currently lives and works in Eindhoven. He started his art career as an editorial illustrator with a background in hand lettering, calligraphy and street art. Over the years he gradually developed a more abstract visual language as a prolific artist while still maintaining his trademark craftsmanship.

Purchase or preview the artwork on your own wall here

Show us your favourite by using #fraemdcuratedby to become our next Inspirator.

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ARTIST PROFILE

WIESKE RECENTLY HAD A SOLO EXHIBITION AT ART ROTTERDAM, 2017

GROWING UP 

The area where Wieske was born was characterised by the many vegetable and flower glass houses, where as a teenager, she spent hours working for a penny. She appreciated the silence of the early mornings, the practical no-nonsense mentality while watching flowers grow in different ways. While doing physical labour, nurturing and touching the flowers, she soon became aware of her thoughts and creativity as an individual. For her, this was a place where her mind could –without interruption and judgement- explore. 

“The physical act of painting and drawing is the most direct way to capture the fluidity and forcefulness of the human spirit. This equals the language of nature” - Wieske Wester

STUDIES

As long as Wieske can remember, she loved to draw and was always determined to develop her technique. Although she never visited any museums and she was theoretically and historically unaware about art, she applied to the Royal Academy in The Hague when she was 18. Here, she obtained her BA in painting and was then accepted for a two-year working residency at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. Recently, Wieske has also finished a post- graduate program at the HISK in Gent (BE) and has now started to collaborate with Dürst Britt & Mayhew gallery in The Hague.

HOW WIESKE BEST CREATES

Wieske feels best to work away from the noise and the crowd, surrounded by nature, close to animals and water. It helps her to temper her own ambition, to focus on what is real, what is now and what is essential. 

Above image: In Wieske’s studio 

She searches for the essence behind the façade, or the world that lies under the skin. It is mainly the energy from which things grow, live and move that catch her interest. Continuity, evolution and the human role and meaning are also important motifs. For the starting point of Wieske’s paintings, she often looks at the silent strength in objects such as beans, carrots and cabbages. They are objects without a mask and they speak to her because of their lack of visual violence and spectacle. Her drawings reveal images that deal with the human ‘raison d'être’ and meaning of identity. In a direct way, she puts these images on paper, without any detour, like a visual provocation.

For Wieske, it is about the energy and excitement for material and motif - that is essential for the starting point of her creations. and a leading factor on the moment of creating. Wieske feels the need for freedom in her work to make ‘mistakes’ and to allow herself to be vulnerable. She is fascinated with the association and relationship between visual triggers, herself and her surroundings. She searches for things that move her in any way- be it disturbing, appealing, attractive, misleading etc. As she puts it, 

“our ideas and clichés on (for example) strength and weakness, masculinity and femininity seem to be shallow and overrated, but yet very influential. In a banal/playful, sometimes painful way, I question and dismantle these norms of appearance and interpretation”.

‘Experience vs Flashy 6/6′ by Wieske Wester courtesy of Dürst Britt & Mayhew

See more of Wieske’s work here

Wieske works relatively fast and messy. She is usually covered in paint, charcoal or ink (and so is the wall, floor and table around her). Her paintings exist of thick layers of oil paint and for her drawings, she uses materials such as charcoal, graphite, watercolour and crayons. Sometimes she even uses her coffee as ink.

Text: Georgia Fane Hervey  

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CURATED BY

Every week an inspiring person shares their favourite artwork…

This week:  Tim van de Rijdt, Art Director for Efteling (Dutch legendary theme park and resort). We can only just imagine how wild his creative juices must flow being in charge of a theme park’s creative direction. And so we thought, why not also ask him to tell us about an art piece that he loves?

Keep reading to see which artwork Tim chose as his favourite…

‘Nanne en Maarten’, 2003 By Noor Damen Photography, c-print on dibond Courtesy of Zerp Gallery 

Tim: What is great about looking at photographs like this, is that they possess a certain kind of indifference or randomness. This photograph by Noor Damen is an absolute work of art and I could look at it over and over again, never getting tired of it. There is so much in it that I find interesting apart from the overall composition and small details like mouths and hands. I get a sense that I am looking at two very special people despite their anonymity. I wish I had the same ability to see and capture such moments. 

About the artist’s work: In Noor Damen’s work, the mundane is elevated into something extraordinary where the beauty of the ordinary, everyday moments is shown. Where photography often captures the outside of the subject, Damen attempts to capture the inner emotions of her subjects, in a way to make sense of her own thoughts. Damen gives her characters the space to be themselves and portrays them exactly as they are: lounging, hanging out and playing. All subjects are related to the artist, yet she knows how to make them fixed without any form of drama or sentiment. What remains is an image that evokes universally recognisable emotions. 

Purchase or preview the artwork on your own wall here

Show us your favourite by using #fraemdcuratedby to become our next Inspirator.

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ARTIST PROFILE

From the Arnhem Museum to the Dutch Embassy in Tokyo ... this artist’s artwork has travelled far

“In my imagination, anything is possible” - Louise te Poele

Louise te Poele grew up in De Achterhoek in The Netherlands, on her parent’s farm. She tells us that besides from the beautiful scenery, there was so much to do. She felt like Lord and Master in a virtually empty universe. As a young girl, Louise once said to her mother, “Mom, I discovered something, there is no difference between the Bible and Pinkeltje (children’s book), they are both just stories”. Her mother laughed and said she was right and from that very day, she started creating her own picture stories. Her fantasy at that time was overflowing, resulting in creating things like a monkey on a transparent string, floating in a bottle as if it were hovering.

Young Louise often got piles of art books from the library and sat there browsing through them night after night. After graduating from ArtEZ, she immediately got asked to become ‘an artist in residence’ at Schloss Ringberg in Germany and since, works independently in her own studio. 

MATERIALS, THEMES AND PROCESS

Absolutely anything can inspire Louise’s photographs and 3D work. Important themes are usually personal stories, the seventeenth century or contemporary issues about waste and the environment. 

She uses materials such as litter, a flapping piece of plastic, bent straws, a stuffed animal, a decoration here or there. Everything is selected with the utmost care and chosen so that it can become impermanent, blewn away or dead. But before that happens; with the right lighting, composition and shutter speed, Louise allows the viewer to see the best side of her ‘temporary universe’.

There are two different ways in which Louise creates her work. She lets herself be led by her intuition in her still life’s or she has no plan at all and by feeling, creates something spontaneously. In her 3D installations, while starting with a plan in mind, she still leaves the creative process very open in order to allow for moments of magic to happen.

‘Yellow’, 2016 150x100 cm Ultra chrome print on dibond  Edition 1/5 + 2AP Courtesy of Torch Gallery

Click here to view more works by Louise te Poele

Text by: Georgia Fane Hervey 

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CURATED BY

Every week an inspiring person shares their favourite artwork…

This week: Emily de Valk, founder and inspirator for AimArtArt. With a Master of Photographic Studies at Leiden University, she co-founded this company in order to inspire and share the value of art with other people. AimAtArt assists businesses and individuals to train the right side of the brain, giving people the ability to think and solve problems like artists would. Emily says that art always makes her look again and again until she sees things differently. It stimulates her creativity, broadens her horizons and creates space to think clearly. 

Keep reading to see which artwork Emily chose as her favourite…

‘Orange and Blue’ #5, 2013 by Lorenzo Vitturi courtesy of Foam Editions

Emily: "Lorenzo Vitturi forces the viewer to look at their environment in a different way. This photo is part of a series where the artist visually represents ‘his’ London near the district of Dalston. Using a variety of found objects from the Dalston multicultural market, he gives a totally new perspective on his experience of the neighbourhood. The photograph encourages me to also look at my own neighbourhood and environment in a different way, thinking about which colours and objects would best represent it”.

About the artist:  Lorenzo Vitturi (b. 1980, Italy) is a photographer living and working between London, Milan and Venice. After graduating in photography and graphic design at the European Design Institute in Rome he received a scholarship at Fabrica, Italy. He started out as a cinema set-painter in the movie industry in Rome and has brought this experience into his photographic projects, which revolve around site-specific installations using space, light and matter.

Purchase or preview the artwork on your own wall here

To find out more about what Emily does at AimAtArt, click here 

Show us your favourite by using #fraemdcuratedby to become our next Inspirator.