My class was over on June 30th, but I had extended my stay in Amsterdam until the Fourth of July to see more of the city as well as spend time with my new friends there. I soon checked out of the hotel and into a local hostel.
The night before I was invited to go on a road trip with Astrid Honold, Fendry Ekel, Folkert de Jong and Delphine Courtillot to an art opening in Belgium. The opening would take place on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 11:00 am, and they planned on taking the three hour drive out to Belgium early that morning. I decided to join them; excited and eager to see a new country, a new museum, spend time with some of my favorite artists and newest friends on a car ride which would bring up the most interesting and fun conversations.
I got a good nights rest and met Astrid, Fendry, Folkert, and Delphine bright and early at 7:45 the next morning. Our road trip had begun! We were all a bit weary eyed and yawny, but we hit that road nonetheless. The four of them gave me a little bit of background in regards to the Museum we were visiting. It was an opening at the Museum Dhondt Dhaenens in Deurle, Belgium, which would open a show of one of the most important Belgian private collections, the collection of Roger and Hilda Matthys-Colle, focusing on influental movements from the 60's through the 90's. The Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, will soon be bringing the Chronic Show (the show that was here in Chicago) into their doors on October 7, 2007 featuring new work by Folkert de Jong, Fendry Ekel and Dylan Graham.
We had some peculiar conversations ranging from Art to Conspiracy Theories. The ride was filled with fun, we had our GPS lady-friend speaking to us and guiding us along the way...haha...in hopes that we would not get lost. When we finally arrived to the small town of Deurle, the Museum was a bit hard to find, our GPS said it was one way while we all believed it was the other! Surrounded by absolute greenery, the museum stood in the center of a small town with beautiful fluorishing trees all around, it was no wonder we had such a hard time locating it. Once we arrived, they introduced me to Joost Declercq, director, as well as Tanguy Eeckhout, the managing curator of the Museum, both men were very charming and had lots to say about the exhibition that was currently on display. I took a look at the collection only to find several treasures of which included a painting from Warhol's "Electric Chair" series, a small lamp and chair wrapped in plastic from the beginning of Christo's "wrapped objects", one of Mike Kelley's first stuffed animals entitled "Turtle Girl", quite a number of Sol Le Witt sculptures, and many more pieces that are important to the legacy of such artists of that caliber.
After looking through the Museum we headed over to a nearby gallery to see the work of an artist who also attended the Rijks Academy several years back. We then lingered in the front lawn of the museum and enjoyed the bright sun that shone through the sky.
Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, BelgiumAfter an afternoon of viewing art, a private luncheon was held under a beautifully white tented area just to the side of the museum. The five of us enjoyed a delicious meal and continued with our chatter amongst various art collectors, family members of Roger and Hilda Matthys-Colle, museum directors, and children galore! As the five of us sat down to lunch I shared my stories from the class trip to Documenta and Munster Sculpture Project, we talked at length about art fairs in general. I had tons of questions and they had questions themselves, I was curious to see what life was like in the Netherlands, constantly comparing things to what I had experienced, while they were curious about the school I was attending, my plans for the future, and life as it was growing up on an island like Hawaii. It seemed as if we were a group of many seas...from Germany to Holland to Paris, down to Indonesia and across the ocean to Hawaii, we all had such diverse lives to share stories about. Laughter filled our end of the table as we constantly let our humor unfold in the conversations we shared.
Lunch at the Museum Dhondt Dhaenens- From left to right is Astrid, Fendry, Folkert, Delphine, and myself.After our visit to the Museum Dhondt Dhaenens we headed back towards Amsterdam. Exhausted and full on food and refreshing wine, Astrid, Delphine and myself fell asleep as the guys soon surprised us. When we awoke we were at the Middelheim Museum in which an exhibition of the work of artist, Paul McCarthy was being shown. As we stepped out of the car, we could see a glimmer of pink in the sky and we would soon find out what it was. The exhibition was entitled PAUL MCCARTHY - AIR BORN - AIR BORNE - AIR PRESSURE and featured five new works of his monumental inflatable sculptures dispersed throughout the statue park.
Piggies, 2007 artwork by Paul McCarthy on display at the Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium.
Folkert approaching artwork by Paul McCarthy on display at the Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium. Shit Pile, 2007 On the way home from the museum my friends invited me to the beach with them the next day. I had not seen an ocean in over a year and I was excited to join them that next evening.
So we met up at around sunset and took a ride to the coast of Holland. It felt so nice to finally see an ocean especially seeing it from a different worldly perspective. The day had been quite rainy and the wind must have been blowing at least 75 mph! We enjoyed ourselves nonetheless, and conversed over sweet summer Mojitos.
View of the ocean off the coast of Holland.The next day Fendry invited me to take a ride with him to Den Haag in which Den Haag Museum is located. He wanted to look at the paintings of German painter, Daniel Richter, who was said to have had work in a show there. As we walked in the doors of the Museum we were greeted by a sculpture done by Folkert, of a figure staring into the sky wrapped gracefully within a blanket. The collection itself was very interesting, I was most impressed by the vast collection of Mondrian's that they had on display. I got to see
Victory Boogie Woogie which is the last, unfinished work, by the Dutch Painter, Piet Mondrian.
Den Haag Museum, Netherlands
Victory Boogie Woogie, 1942-44, Piet Mondrian, Museum Den Haag, NetherlandsOn our way out of Den Haag Museum Fendry and I stopped by the next-door building which was housing an exhibition of Japanese artist, Yoshitomo Nara. This was also a favorite of what I had seen that day.
Installation by Yoshitomo Nara at Den Haag Museum, Netherlands
Painting by Yoshitomo Nara installed at Den Haag Museum, NetherlandsI enjoyed an array of wild and exotic tastes at a local Indonesian Restaurant in Den Haag with Fendry for lunch. We then headed back to Amsterdam for our final farewells as I met up with Delphine and Folkert at their studios. I was blown away by the amount of art that all three of these artists had produced and of what exceptional quality it was.
I flew out to Chicago the very next morning as a sort-of Independence Day gift to all my friends. My stay in Europe was delightful and everything I had experienced made my time an absolute joy.
One last drive to Amsterdam.
