Our train ride and commute from Germany to the Netherlands was pretty exhausting so when many of us finally arrived at our hotel rooms we quickly settled down and had a bite to eat and a lot of rest as well. The next day was a free day for us to roam around the city and do as we pleased.
Upon arriving in Amsterdam many of us anticipated viewing some of the greatest artworks within the city. From Rembrandt to Van Gogh, what we saw was absolutely amazing. The first museum we made sure to visit was the Rijksmuseum located just down the street from our hotel. As we approached the building we couldn't help but notice how large the structure was. Sadly, 75% of the museum was closed but they still had their "best hits" out on display, such as Rembrandt's painting entitled Night Watch as well as several paintings by Vermeer.
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands
Night Watch, Rembrandt Harmensz van. Rijn
The next museum visit was the Van Gogh Museum which houses the world's largest collection of Paintings, Drawings and even letters between Van Gogh and his brother Theo. The museum itself was first opened in 1973 and the building is known for its interesting architecture done by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld.
Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands
An inside view of the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sunflowers, Vincent Van Gogh
Earlier this year in the month of February a show entitled CHRONIC: Handmade Nightmares in Red, Yellow and Blue was curated at the Monique Meloche Gallery by Astrid Honold. The show included three artists from the Netherlands-- Dylan Graham, Fendry Ekel, and Folkert de Jong. I had the pleasure of meeting Art Consultant, Manager, and Publisher Astrid Honold that evening as well as the artists involved in the show. The show was a success and was one of the most energetic and lively openings I had been to in a long time. That evening Esteban Schimpf and I got to know Astrid, Folkert, and Fendry fairly well. A great conversation revolving around subjects of foam, painting, cold weather, Chicago, Amsterdam and surprisingly deep-frying was happily taking place that night between the five of us including a few group snap shots here and there! As the evening came to a close Astrid, Fendry and Folkert said "If you two are ever in the Netherlands, do not hesitate to let us know...we should keep in touch."
CHRONIC: Handmade Nightmares in Red, Yellow and Blue, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Fast forward four months later---I find myself venturing in the city of Amsterdam!
I kept in touch with Astrid through email and planned to meet her and the guys in Amsterdam after the class was through. Kindly enough, when I finally arrived in Amsterdam I asked Astrid if Folkert or Fendry would be willing to do a casual artist talk for our class, generously enough we got to hear from all three individuals, Astrid, Fendry and Folkert spoke to our group of 25 at the Astrid Honold OFFICE space located in the East side of Amsterdam.
The conversation was very inspirational. The artists not only shared who they were as individuals and their art practice as individuals but most importantly they spoke of what they have achieved as a group together. They spoke passionately about their modes of practice and organization, and kindly answered any question we had to ask. While saying our thank you's and goodbye's many of us felt a rush of stimulus and motivation in regards to the stories and thoughts shared by Astrid, Fendry and Folkert. We were all thrilled to have heard from them, especially after having seen so much art for the past two weeks, it was nice to have had the opportunity to hear from artists themselves.
A bit about Astrid Honold OFFICE...
"Since 2004 the activities of Astrid Honold OFFICE have expanded to include studio - and project management for a select group of talented young artists working in the Netherlands who are beginning to make an international breakthrough. OFFICE also takes care of producing and publishing monographs and exhibition catalogues...In 2000 Astrid Honold founded the Space For Artists Foundation together with artist colleagues Folkert de Jong and Fendry Ekel with whom her OFFICE continues to work intensively." --text taken from www.astridhonoldoffice.com
Fendry Ekel, Trent Smith and Folkert de Jong during artist talk inside the Astrid Honold OFFICE.
Justin Berry, Astrid Honold, Michelle Grabner, Clay Flynn, Jaime Groetsema, Young-Joon Kwak, Adrean Vargas, and Yogi Proctor taking part in the discussion. Hanging above is the painting entitled Smoke, 2006 by artist Fendry Ekel.
Will Megson stands beside the sculpture entitled We Deal You Lose 1 by artist Folkert de Jong
We had one day left as a class in Amsterdam and that last next morning we were delighted to hear yet another lecture from a Dutch artist by the name of Jan Van Der Ploeg. Jan runs an alternative space for art entitled PS. Taken directly from the website, "PS aims to provide a platform for the work of upcoming international artists in an environment that exists between the conventions of an artist-run space and a commercial gallery." It was interesting to hear from two alternative forms of art spaces being run in the Netherlands that were not the traditional "gallery" spaces that we are used to.
Lecture with artist Jan Van Der Ploeg at PS.
Paintings by artist Jan Van Der Ploeg
After hearing Jan speak, we headed over to De Appel, which is an institute for contemporary art which provides space to artists for projects, installations and research. One of the works displayed upon our visit was an installation by Jonathan Messe, every wall covered with paint, gunk, funk, and cellophane!!! What we saw was the aftermath of a wild opening night.
Installation by Jonathan Messe installed at De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Another installation view of Jonathan Messe at De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Another artist featured at De Appel was Maartje Koorstanje, one piece that stood out to me was a cave made of brown butcher paper and cardboard.
Luo Liu, Clay Flynn, and Dennis Iren investigate the work of Maartje Koorstanje.
Our last visit was to the Stedlijk Museum of Contemporary Art currently in a temporary space in the "old post office" building. The walk to the museum was beautiful as we passed by a large canal and witnessed a building constructed by Renzo Piano entitled NEMO.
NEMO by Renzo Piano, Amsterdam, Netherlands
View outside the Stedlijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
A view from within the temporary space of the Stedlijk Museum
The end was nearing and our trip was almost over, but there was still one last group dinner in which we enjoyed at Restaurant 11, a restaurant located on the 11th floor of the Stedlijk Museum building right behind Central Station, 11 contains a large bar, a restaurant and a club! It's a bit of a multifunctional cultural environment, with DJ's during the weekends, performances and video-art projections on large screens above the windows. We enjoyed a four course dinner and the several conversations we all shared. Yogi led the group in a discussion about Damien Hirst's "Skull" while Justin Berry was the emcee for the evening. The trip was great and it was a wonderful way to end.
A birds-eye view of 11
Instructor Shane Campbell along with students Kaylee Wyant, Nancy Kim, Thea Nichols , Eli Walker, Jerome Acks, Rachel Robertson, and Young Joon Kwak dine just fine at 11.
Justin Berry, Young Joon Kwak, Nancy Kim, Jerome Acks, Rachel Robertson, and Adrian Vargas enjoyed their meals.
A view overlooking the city, including NEMO.
A rather glorious ending.
