David Lynch: Someone is in my House - Bonnefantenmuseum

David Lynch: Someone is in my House
30.11.2018 - 28.04.2019
Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht

On 30 November, the Bonnefantenmuseum is hosting the long-awaited extensive retrospective Someone is in my House, by the American artist David Lynch.
Although David Lynch is undoubtedly a pivotal figure in the international film and TV world, his work as a visual artist is not nearly as well-known. This is strange, to say the least, as Lynch has always stressed that he sees himself primarily as a visual artist; a visual artist who came into contact with the medium of film during his studies at the art academy by chance. This encounter formed the basis for his career as film director. Alongside his work as a director, Lynch has always remained active as a visual artist and in recent decades has created a vast oeuvre of paintings, drawings, lithos, photos, lamp sculptures, music and installations. Up to now, this oeuvre has seldom been exhibited in museums. The Bonnefantenmuseum is not only presenting the first museum exhibition of Lynch's visual art in the Netherlands, but also the largest retrospective ever, comprising over 500 works by the artist.

About David Lynch, visual artist
Although the work of Lynch (1946, Missoula, Montana, US) might suggest otherwise, filled as it is with dark violence and sexuality, the artist and filmmaker's childhood was a happy and loving one. Lynch's parents loved to travel, so he led a nomadic life from an early age, which for him was an idyllic and safe environment. Encouraged from an early age to be creative – colouring books were forbidden in favour of using his own imagination – he ended up studying painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia. There, Lynch developed his artistic vocabulary and themes that would recur throughout his future work. It also paved the way to his first mixed media installation with stop-motion film, Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times) (1967), which formed the prelude to his first feature film Eraserhead (1977). The rest is (film) history, and nowadays Lynch's films are modern classics.
Lynch's artistry runs like a thread through his life and his films. Throughout his fifty-year career, he has continued to draw and paint, even when his work as a film director meant there was little time to spend in his studio.
"I miss painting when I'm not painting", says Lynch himself in the recent autobiography Room to Dream."

In collaboration with David Lynch, the Bonnefantenmuseum is presenting an impressive retrospective of Lynch's multifaceted artistry. The exhibition includes paintings, photos, drawings, lithos and watercolours spanning the sixties to the present, unique drawings on matchbooks from the seventies, sketchbooks from the sixties, seventies and eighties, black and white photos from various periods, including the famous Snow Men photo series (1993), cartoons from the series The Angriest Dog in the World (1982-1993), audio works and some short films from 1968-2015. And for the first time since its creation in 1967, the all-decisive academy work Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times) will be shown in a museum exhibition.

More information: www.bonnefanten.nl

The Death of Melanie Bonajo

The Death of Melanie Bonajo 

How to unmodernize yourself and become an elf in 12 steps 

20.04.2018 – 28.10.2018 

The Death of Melanie Bonajo is the first museum retrospective of video installations by the Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo (Heerlen, 1978).

The exhibition which is developed by guest curator Geir Haraldseth, the artist and her close collaborator Théo Demans, gives the visitor an opportunity to reflect not just on eir work, but also on what the work means in our modern, capitalist society. The apocalyptic title of the show may sound dramatic, but in the light of this opportunity of looking back, you need to die in order to be reborn. And in being reborn, you can rethink and recast yourself. Who do you want to be?
A bird? A rock? A feeling? A sound? An elf? Your elf? Yourself?

The Death of Melanie Bonajo is immersive in many ways, as the installations and the path through the exhibition is rich in sensual experiences.

www.bonnefanten.nl

Triple opening at Bonnefantenmuseum

Robin de Puy

January 25th, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht hosted an outstanding opening of three new exhibitions. In addition, I have also visited the Kahlil Joseph exhibition.

Beating around the bush Episode #5: Old Masters never die.
Beating around the bush is an exhibition programme since 2014, in which the Bonnefantenmuseum is presenting its collection in an investigative way. In episodes, both the fixed values and the 'quiet reserve' of the collection are brought into dialogue with new and proposed acquisitions. This episode has solo presentations by Edward Lipski, Johan Tahon and Helen Verhoeven.

Robin de Puy – Randy
A wonderful portrait of the American boy Randy in the form of an installation that comprises both photo and film.
In 2015 portrait photographer Robin de Puy (1986) travelled across America on a motorcycle. During this trip an intimate portrait emerged in text and image of both herself as of the persons portrayed. In Ely, Nevada she found Randy. He rode past – fast – but in the split second she saw him she knew: De Puy had to know who this boy was. She took his portrait, left the town a few days later, and that was it – at least, that's what it seemed at the time. Back in Amsterdam Randy popped into her mind from time to time - it was impossible to know this boy and leave it at that single image. She looked him up again several times in 2016 and 2017. At the Bonnefantenmuseum Robin de Puy is presenting this portrait of Randy in the form of an installation that comprises both photo and film.

Juliaan Andeweg, Bob Eikelboom en Daniel van Straalen - Making Money For My Friends Making Money For My Friends is a group exhibition of work by Juliaan Andeweg, Bob Eikelboom and Daniel van Straalen. It is a voyage of discovery and an introduction to the work of a new, young generation of artists.

Kahlil Joseph: NEW SUNS  (01.12.2017 - 25.03.2018)
New Suns is Kahlil Josephs first solo exhibition in Europe, showing a selection of his most important films in recent years. Together with these films works will be shown from related artists and friends such as Noah Davis, Faith Davis, Karon Davis, Michelle Blade, Henry Taylor, Arthur Jafa and Saudade Toxosi.

The title New Suns is based on an epigram from a never completed book by the Afro-American science-fiction writer Octavia Butler that spoke very deeply to Joseph, capturing the cosmic tension between optimism and pessimism, and the possibility of actually breaking through this deep psychic impasse into something new, quite wonderfully. www.bonnefanten.nl/en

Grayson Perry at Bonnefantenmuseum

Grayson Perry - Hold Your Beliefs Lightly at Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht
26.02.2016 – 05.06.2016
A major solo exhibition by the British artist Grayson Perry will open in the Bonnefantenmuseum on 25 February 2016. Grayson Perry likes to present himself as a thorn in the side of the mainstream art world. His work uses a huge variety of techniques and materials, and includes tapestries, ceramics, cast iron sculptures, films, dresses and even a complete house. After Maastricht, the exhibition will travel on to the ARoS Museum in Aarhus (Denmark), opening there on 25 June.
Grayson Perry (1960) is one of the most famous artists in Britain today. In 2003, he won the prestigious Turner Prize. In his work, aesthetic questions of beauty and craftsmanship are played out keenly in relation to social issues. Recurring themes in the work are religion & mythology, identity & gender, art & art world, class & consumerism, and conflict & war. These themes are central to Perry's work, and form the sounding board for his life.
With this Grayson Perry exhibition, the Bonnefantenmuseum is taking a new step in a direction that stands out in the Dutch museum landscape for the distinctive accents and priorities chosen by the museum. The museum deliberately chooses for proponents of the "secret canon" and for the many interesting but underexposed art histories that are played out on the fringes of the mainstream.

http://www.bonnefanten.nl

FASHIONCLASH Festival Pop-Up Expo at Bonnefantenmuseum

Dries van Noten, AW 2014/14

"Gendercodes in fashion throughout the 20th century" 

Pop-up expo by Modemuseum Hasselt & Bonnefantenmuseum
during FASHIONCLASH Festival
2015 03.06.2015 - 14.06.2015

Fashion is considered to be an important medium for individual self expression, as well as for the genderrelated aspects of this indentity. It's traditionally split into womens- and mensfashion, but because of its expressive character, fashion has become a platform for breaking down conventional social roles. Additionally, the fashionchoices of gender variant people illustrate that biological sex is a relative concept in fashion. Furthermore, the fashion world adapted this crossgender approach as a strategy causing the cross-fertilization of men's and women's clothing to grow more and more apparent throughout the recent years. Since the arrival of genderneutral clothing the ends of the genderspectrum have gotten explicitly entangled. People now have complete freedom of choice to express themselves how and as who they want.
FASHIONCLASH Festival 2015 wants to celebrate self expression. That's why they collaborated with Modemuseum Hasselt and Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht to set up this pop-up exhibition as an element of their gender program. The expo travels through the costume and fashion history of the 20th century to show that gender has always been a precondition for fashion design and that fashion has always played a role in gender fluidity.

http://www.bonnefanten.nl
http://www.modemuseumhasselt.be

Beating around the bush Episode #4 at Bonnefantenmuseum

Lara Schnitger

Beating around the bush Episode #4 

Beating around the bush is an exhibition programme for 2014, in which the Bonnefantenmuseum will be presenting its collection in an investigative way. In four episodes, both the fixed values and the ‘quiet reserve’ of the collection will be brought into dialogue with new and proposed acquisitions.

The exhibtion features artworks of: Ben d'Armagnac, Monika Baer, Paul Chan, Marlene Dumas, Zackary Drucker en Rhys Ernst, Sidi El Karchi, Hadassah Emmerich, Ferdi, Lara Gasparotto, Gilbert & George, Jörg Immendorff, Lee Kit, Jutta Koether, Nam June Paik, Sol LeWitt, Tala Madani, Maha Maamoun, Mario Merz, Navid Nuur, Rik Meijers, Dennis Muñoz Espadiña, Bruce Nauman, Tanja Ritterbex, Karen Sargsyan, Lara Schnitger, Lily van der Stokker, Shinkichi Tajiri, Ed Templeton, Aline Thomassen, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Luc Tuymans, Ger van Elk, Franz West

http://www.bonnefanten.nl/nl/tentoonstellingen/programma_2014/beating_around_the_bush_episode_4

Laura Lima

'The Fifth Flour' exhibition by Laura Lima, a Brazilian artist who won the biggest international award for visual art in the Netherlands (Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary Art (BACA) 2014).
Next to Beating around the bush you can see the
the fifth floor is an exhibition which creates an innovative dialogue with museum practice, specially developed by Laura Lima for the Bonnefantenmuseum. The museum is 'brought to life' by the presence of human participants in the artwork. The exhibition includes a wide range of art pieces. The museum is presented as a location for the production of new works and ideas by means of a tailor shop, where two tailors create 'custom suits' for wooden frames. 

http://www.bonnefanten.nl/

JCE | JEUNE CRÉATION EUROPÉENNE

Marcell Esterházy

JCE | JEUNE CRÉATION EUROPÉENNE is a touring exhibition of 48 young artists from eight European countries. The selection of Dutch works for this exhibition was made by Stijn Huijts artistic director of the Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht.
The Jeune Création Européenne Biennale encourages art practice, by providing an international platform for young talent and promoting artistic exchange within the European community.
The JCE exhibition started last month in Le Beffroi in Montrouge (Paris), which is also the initiator of the project. At the opening, the Dutch artists' duo Frank Blommestijn and Michiel van der Werf won a JCE Award for the film 'Things that may not really be here'.

The Dutch 'leg' of this touring biennale is the Wiebengahal in Maastricht, where the exhibition will be presented under the responsibility of the Bonnefantenmuseum until 5 January. Over the coming two years, the exhibition will also travel to Lithuania, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
The exhibition is open from 28 November until 5 January from 6.00 to 8:00 pm in the Wiebengahal. Free admission.

www.jceforum.eu

Navid Nuur - Lube Love at Bonnefantenmuseum

Visitors to the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht can now get  a free tattoo. People do have to choose from over 25 art works appearing in the exhibition LUBE LOVE.
The exhibition LUBE LOVE, of the Dutch / Iranian artist Navid Nuur was opened Thursday.
Stijn Huijts, director of the museum was the first one to get a tattoo. This is his way of showing love and engagement for art.

LUBE LOVE is a solo exhibition on the borderline between art and text, which Navid Nuur has developed especially for the Bonnefantenmuseum.

Navid Nuur's oeuvre comprises a great diversity of works in which text plays a role, ranging from literal applications to a more conceptual approach to words. This variety forms the basis for the exhibition LUBE LOVE, whose dynamics can best be characterised by the term 'freestyle'. Language and text have always played a special role in the life of this artist, in a very personal relationship, which is connected to issues of identity (Nuur is of Iranian/Dutch origin), to his background in the graffiti and skateboard scene, and to his dyslexia.

Navid Nuur (Teheran, 1976) lives and works in The Hague. Around ten years ago, he made the switch from graphic design and illustration to autonomous visual art. In a relatively short space of time, he has developed from a promising talent into a rising star in the international art world. Solo exhibitions by Navid Nuur have been presented in the Matadero art centre in Madrid, Parasol in London and Centre Pompidou in Paris. He has been awarded the Royal Award for Modern Painting (2011) and the prestigious Discoveries Prize at the first edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong (2013).

LUBE LOVE is open from 27 September to 26 January.
http://www.bonnefanten.nl

With this tattoo shop installation, Nuur creates the possibility of an intimate relationship between artwork and the viewer. 

Stijn Huijts, the first to get a tattoo at Bonnefantenmuseum 

The Big Change. Revolutions in Russian painting 1895-1917

Ilya Maskov

Today was the big opening of a big expo at Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht. Even though openings are not the best times to really take time to see the works I was already very impressed with today's short visit.
2013 is the Netherlands-Russia year, a year in which the Netherlands and Russia emphasize their long bilateral relations. This is for sure on of the highlights.

The Big Change.
Revolutions in Russian painting 1895-1917

In the last twenty years before the 1917 revolution was a period of drastic change in the Tsardom. A bourgeois elite spread a wave of enlightenment throughout the still conservative society. And painting played a vital role in this cultural explosion.
Unfortunately, this fascinating period is not well known in the West. The standard idea of a sleepy art world that was shaken awake by the Impressionists, for examplem must be revised. There were innovative art scenes in St. Petersburg and Moscow long before the time of the 'modern revolution' of artists like Malevich and Kandinsky. In this tumult, there was no single overriding concept, but rather an incredibly lively debate on many different aspects. thanks to the cooperation of leading Russian museums like the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, you can now experience the versatile powers of this period. You may not be familiar with names like Ilya Mashkov, Vasili Denisov or Natalia Goncharova, but that will make it even more exciting to mae acquaintance with their work. By presenting this exhibition of over 80 paintings, many of which have never been seen outside Russia before, the Bonnefanten aims to show a missing link between tradition and innovation. The Big Change forms an essential link in the series of exhibitions presented in the Netherlands as part of Russia Year 2013.

The Dacha Room

The Russian artists Marta Volkova and Slava Shevelenko have created a 'Dacha Landscape' in the final room of the exhibition, in which visitors can find reading, audio and video material offering them more in-depth information about the featured artists and movements. The dacha tradition holds an important place in Russian culture. Dachas are small, often simple houses in the countryside, which their owners like to occupy during the summer months. To many Russians, dacha life symbolizes the opportunity to enjoy the unadorned and honest simplicity of rural life – a self-imposed isolation close to nature and far from the bustle of the city.
The artists have produced a new work especially for the large Dacha. Visitors can discover with the aid of an audio-tour the impact specific paintings have had on their personal lives. Marta Volkova and Slava Shevelenko grew up in St Petersburg, where they both trained as artists. They have lived and worked in the Netherlands since 1991.

Here are just few just few images of the works that are included in this exhibition. 
The experience in the museum is very impressive and highly recommended.
The Big Change. Revolutions in Russian painting 1895 - 1917 is open from 12th March until 11th of August 2013.

http://www.bonnefanten.nl

Martin Visser: collector, designer, free spirit at Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht

Last week Bonnefantenmuseum opened a new exhibition 'Martin Visser: collector, designer, free spirit'.  I was very honored with a guided sneak preview of the exhibition by the museums curator Paula van den Bosch a week before the official opening.
I visited the exhibition again during the annual Tefaf Afterparty that was help at Bonnefantenmuseum 15th of March.
The exhibition shows a very diverse, rich and fascinating life of Martin Visser and guides us through half a century of intense involvement with the avant-garde in the fields of art, furniture design and architecture.

Here is an overview of the exhibition, but it;s best if you go and see it yourself!
The exhibition is open until 17th of June 2012.
http://www.bonnefanten.nl/en

Joseph Beuys at Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht

I have seen this work by Joseph Beuys several times but still enjoying it. You can see 250 multiples, posters, images and pamphlets at Bonnefantenmuseum as part of their permanent collection.

http://www.bonnefanten.nl

Sidi el Karchi/Bas de Wit

Sidi EL Karchi/Bas de Wit
11.04 - 27.06. 2010 at Bonnefantenmuseum/Maastricht

Since Sidi El Karchi and Bas de Wit successfully completed their studies at the art academy a little less than ten years ago, the museum has been following their progress. That was fairly easy to do, as they both studied in Maastricht and still live and work in the vicinity – apart from short visits to New York and Antwerp. Now El Karchi and De Wit's careers have really taken off.
(source Bonnenfantenmuseum)

If you want to know more visit Bonnefantenmuseum website (check this link). But I advise you to visit the museum and see the work, it's worth a visit!!

Maasterclass feat. elektroschrott