Ilya and Emilia Kabakov curated the exhibition Lissitzky - Kabakov, Utopia and Reality. They combine their own works together with El Lissitzky’s. From drawings to models, through sculptures and installations you could see how much hope they all had. Even after the disenchantments   of revolutions they were still creating sentimental images. The big difference I found between them: Lissitzky was a dreamer who planned projects flowing in the air, the Kabakovs are dreamers who plan projects looking for ground.

Wandering through the exhibition of Mike Kelley made me feel like walking on a playground, designed for adults.  By creating imaginary places, innocent scenes and loaded scenes the artist visualizes children’s fairytales together with children’s nightmares. From the impossible castles to the face of the terrified child in the video work, everyone can find or feel a connection to his\ her own childhood.

I just visited with a friend De Haalen museum in Haarlem.These shoos covered with copper sulphate crystals are part of the work Seizureof Roger Hiorns.Which is a bigger installation: walls and objects, all covered with this shining reflecting crystals. To me it looks like the frozen palace of Sleeping Beauty, when she was waiting to be kissed by a prince. Only in this case nothing will “save” the shoes from the frozen moment. I was wandering if Hiorns found the miracle material that turns objects timelessly and preserves moments infinitely.

Last autumn I visited Esther Kroon’s solo exhibition in FOAM museum, Amsterdam. In her self portraits, I could see the honesty and sensitivity, the same I found in her children’s series photos. Like this one from 1989, Kroon sits on bed, surrounded with hanged wash. Apparently the most ordinary pose for self portrait, all planed to details: the hidden light sources that comes from different directions, the empty walls as background, the bright “frame” around the “dark” figure. On the same time she looks so fragile and vulnerable. Clearly she is not the protagonist we expect to find after the curtain that was lifted.

only a  few days ago  I was at the RijksakademieOPEN 2012. Saw some great works there. Like the one of Goeun Bae. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to see her performance, using this amazing piece. I could only imagine her “wearing” it around her body. On one side protecting herself on the other using it as  a weapon.

A special place with a special exhibition. An example from the exhibition is this eye, an art work of the artist Daido Moriyama which reminds me the open eye in the film “ A Clockwork Orange”. Only there, in the film, the eyes were forced to stay open. This one just staring at you. With both eyes I found myself been watched, like the roles were changed: the art work looks at me, the viewer.

I loved this piece: Şükran Moral entering into the village with her three future “husbands” dancing with them in her “wedding”. All the people around looked happy and satisfied. Moral’s version of polygamy awakes thoughts and questions about the role of women in our society today.  On the other hand watching the video makes me smile. However dealing with taboos and with traditional rules is very heavy. Moral fights against them with her art works. In this specific work, I think that she also visualizes thoughts that we don’t dare to expose and to share.

A few days ago was the opening in Ron Mandos gallery, Amsterdam. Next to me a very young man explained in a loud voice that in the drawing made with charcoal and rubber, we should see the lighted spider web. I could only follow with my eyes the exploding lines, braking aggressively through and erasing the darkness. A composition of light and the amazing hand movements of the artist Cindy Wright

Jack Whitten talks about the way he sees art and about tools and ideas he uses to make his art. For him, light and space are responsable to create the feeling of infinity and at the same time to be specific in time and place. The beaming light that comes out of his work creates this cosmic feeling. In some paintings the light is hidden between lines and color patches, it directs you to focus at what is existing and what has disappeared in to+ the black.

When I looked at this photo of Christopher Payne my first thoughts were about a pile of extremely big sweets. But very fast it became clear that it is a pile of colorful pillows from different couches. The colorful furniture and the green "relaxing" walls in the places, promise a future which is a big doubt for the people who used them. The photo is part of a series that were taken in different deserted psychiatric hospitals in the USA.

The opening of the exhibition of Anish Kapoor in the spectacular space of the museum. Some works are from the collection of De Pont and some from other places. I have a feeling the art works of him became like jewelry: objects which crystallize a concept and on the same time contain high value, simple and familiar forms. It is pity, like jewelry, only rich people can afford them.

In betweenclassic paintings, in between the heart of consensus  western art- the one that sees itself as the center of culture of the 20th century, hangs upside down a photo of people from somewhere in the “third world”. On the floor in front of the photo lays a gold framed mirror that reflects the photography. In this way the viewer sees "correct" the photographed.
It is an art work of the great artist Alfredo Jaar. Doeshe say with this work that the classic museum visitor needs gold a frame mirror to be able to see “the other”?

In this work of Ursula Hübner we face distorted figures with impossible connected organs. What is perceived here is a grotesque distortion that could exist elsewhere in a product promotion. This and other works in the exhibition “Grotesque” annulled the differences between grotesque and porn, between grotesque and advertisement. The figures in the works with pervert expressions and a threatening look remind me of the devilish smile on the face of Joker, Superman's eternal enemy. He also had to live with the brutal cutting of his mouth, to live with a twisted face forever, so this will promote the image of the beautiful and benevolent Superman.

In a white space, flooded with day light, stands like a fragile skeleton, the sculpture of Wolfgang Flad, touching the floor with light touches, sending thin lines to the ceiling and walls like air roots, like it is looking for new connections. This remarkable sculpture corresponds with other art works in the exhibition.
If you turn your head you will notice the chaotic paintingsofAb van Hanegemwithinternal spaces which refer to the movement of the lines and interior spaces of the sculpture of WolfgangFlad.In a nearby space, slowly dripping wax creates stalactites, like pervert architecture. This work, like others in this exhibition, offers fantastic worlds and views to the visitor.

Between hundreds of dramatic, harsh colored photos some with impossible compositions, at the preview of the Unseen Photo Fair, I stand in front of real light in the modest work of Anoek Steketee. A plain room with bare furniture turns her photo into a place of intimacy and fluorescence. The format she chose contains very few objects, but succeeds to create a picturesque place.

Intended to be an international event, however felt very German. Like the work by Sofie Bird Møller ( Denemark), which reminds me etchings of Albrecht Dürer and not only because of the technique.  Like Dürer she paints her female figures related to dramas and relevant stories from life.
Dürer was intrigued by figures from the bible; Møllers heroes are figures from the advertisements world, from fashion magazines. The models are her heroes. But like Durer’s “Melencolia”, her figures living partly in a nightmare. 

This week was the opening of The Paper Biennial in Museum Meermanno The Hague.   A place which tries to keep the glory of the book.  I was curious aboutthe work of Alicia Martin: Is the building “throwing up” paper, “vomiting” books that people don’t want anymore or is the building trying, without success to “swallow” all the books that people don’t want anymore? This is what makes the work intriguing: seems that the books are stuck there in the window of the building, in between the two: cannot throw up and cannot swallow what people are trying to get rid of.

Like araw meat as was just cut, bleeding and wounded, the red sky hangs over the city. Artist Anna Boghiguian draws different cities she visited but mostly she describes Cairo in her paintings, her city where she was born and grew up. She creates a dense situationby using the limited scale color, show small wandering restless figures.
And the red sky hangs threatening the places before the storm.

(part 3),Contemporary Art from The Caribbean in Amersfoort.  Last posting about Wendell McShine’s  work. The artist mixes in his installation on the wall drawings, text and video art. Seems all of his creatures are in the middle of a scene but at the same time most of their faces are turn towards us, the visitors. They look directly to our eyes like forcing you to follow the nightmare they experience.

(part 2), Contemporary Art from The Caribbean in Amersfoort.  In the work of Wendell McShine you find figures with ambiguous sexual identity spread over the wall in different sizes. Some of them are drawn in sharp lines some of them done from paper cuts. The figures look like they are oscillating between children drawings and sophisticated pictograms. Their features remind me of the desperation you can find in the works of the German Expressionists. More than that, their bodies recall Erich Heckel’s, the contrast of black and white remind me of Ludwig Meidner’s work and  their distorted proportions make one think of Max Beckmann.

(part 1), Contemporary Art from The Caribbean in Amersfoort. Different art works scattered in three floors, each work from each artist represents a different origin. Seems that the artists are forced to represent the place they come from. I think it creates a differential quality of works. I found the work of Wendell McShine spectacular. You need time and patience to see all its details.
(see parts 2 and 3)

visitingThe Gerrit Rietveld Academie, graduations exhibition. I arrived with high expatiations. Here is one which I found interesting:  the workof Razia Barsatie deals with taboo in Suriname society, but she does not fall into the trap of banality. Local customs do not become local exotica. She deals with the first blood days as a teenager and about the taboo around it.
It is prohibited to show the blood, signs should disappear as quickly as possible. In her work she develops painting to a screenings work then adds more materials wisely and creates a local story about her and her family with the local customs.

Manifesta 9 in Genk, Belgium. A city just across the Dutch border, a different place, a different world. Igor Grubic photographs of mine workers in a moment of rest. They have faces of angels that saw too much.  With their work in the mines, they used to supply us with coal for heat and light. When you look at the one in this photo you see how high the price was he paid. The artist gives them honor, a pair of wings, to have something they never received in their lifetime.

A sculpture by Jane Alexander. This one forces you to look first at his eyes.I did so and still felt inconvenient. Then I discovered that it is not only the eyes it is also the grey skin and even more irritating is the posture. Is he before torture or after?

Shapes, colors and light are the tools and at the same time the theme of the artist David Batchelor. He uses leftovers like computers cables, plastic bottles and cheep sunglasses to build western totems and abstract temples.

The heads in the instalation: The Repair of Kader Attia remind me the monumental heads statuesfrom Easter Island. In this deep work he succeeds to merge different times from a different life.
He shows diverse cultures around the world, using showcases, shelves, photos, slides show and with more media, all relate to the need to repair objects and people. It is clear that there is a lot more to repair.

Only, maybe, when it is snowing heavy in the winter, maybe, only when the trees are standing black and naked without leaves, maybe, only than this area can look romantic. The gray colors give it something of the past, but when you look carefully to the details, you see life here and now in this place. 
The work from the artist Dimitar Solakov named: (My) Bulgaria.

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, opens doors for visitors: finally after a very long journey the white ship (the new building) anchored in her home port (the old building). While you walk inside the connection between them both, the new one to the old one looks so natural.

Students looking for their classes to start the studies of this week. Meanwhile, in the university art gallery, I am looking at the video art work of Oscar Muñoz,  Line of Destiny. In which one sees how his hand is filling up with water again and again. The artist, as Narcissus, repeatedly examines his reflection. In a kind of ritual his reflection is “slipping” through his fingers and disappears. I could feel with this work how fragile the presence is.

visiting gallery Castrum Peregrini center of Amsterdam. Don’t be confused: the orthodox Jew you see here praying with an open Quran in his hand, mind you it is not a real one! It is part of the art work: Stairway to Heaven by the artist: Eugenio Merino, in the exhibition: Paradox,  The Limits of Liberty.
Is it a wish that one day the three monotheistic religions will share their books? I don’t believe that exchanging the books will lead to better times, to heaven. It will still be possible to interpreted the written word and use them against other people. The limits of liberty are there in the religions themselves.  As if killing in the name of god won’t happen anymore.

First I was attracted by the strong colors, than by the disturbing details of the picture. After a few more minutes of looking I discoverd the demons peep out between the lines.
They are realy scary.
This drawing is one of group of works of Marie Suzuki. All of them are shocking from the first glimps on. But if you force yourself to keep looking, you will discover very interesting hidden stories.

This event was organized by Human Rights Watch. The topic was: Child marriages. You cannot imagine it: 11,10 or even 5 years old girls who are still forcibly married. As one of them said: ”this is the beginning of my death”.
Between the multicolored decorations, dancing and singing people the photographer Stephanie Sinclair constrained in the expression on the faces of the girls. They look to the camera and force us to look at their eyes. The question if art can change the world, comes up here strongly.

Runa Islam and Willem de Rooij talking about their art works:  forms, light, shapes and colors. Explaining how they try to create a meditative work which isolates the viewer in a way: isolates him from other memories or even from history.
It seems like they try to create a spiritual experience, to get to the highest level of abstraction. The ghost of white on white (1918), Kazimir Malevich, was in the air.

Aterribly cold and windy afternoon. The official opening of EYE, the new film museum, Amsterdam Noord.
With the first glass of Champagne:
I saw many black ties.
I wasn’t sure that the neighbors (Amsterdam Noord residents) where invited to the gala.

With the second glass of Champagne:
I saw many ties that did no longer look black
I found out that the neighbors (Amsterdam Noord residents) were not invited to the gala.

With the third glass of Champagne:
I saw many ties, they all looked white.
I was sure that the neighbors (Amsterdam Noord residents) will dream tonight about how it feels like to be in such a gala.

The spring is here. Visiting Yehudith Mizrahi studio could mention a visit (if it was possible)to Geppetto's workshop - creating Pinocchio. Mizrahi "gives" life to furniture, machine parts and boxes by turning them into an object that produces movement and sound. In a short clip you can see installation old shoetrees with old suitcases, all from the same period. It is a group with a connection between them. The way they move looks like creatures trying to get out of the materials limits. Or like Pinocchio, waiting for the fay that will revive them alive.

A beautiful sunny day, in the museum a selection of video works of John Baldessari from the seventies. It is a sequence of a search and examination of capabilities: how does a movement look, how can one change a images, the meaning of text writing and…about relationships with other artists.
Baldessari engages in the material itself and the content, while form interests him less. The video is a tool and an action in space. The quality is not as we know it today. However, today's polished works can be misleading. The video became an instrument easy to use and yet can be quite an empty vessel. Or only to be: “A good image making”, as Rudi Fuchs said in same day.

In the piece of video called:  “My Voice Would Reach You” the artist, Meiro Koizumi, focuses on the disappointment of interpersonal communication. We see him making a phone call tohis mother. Soon enough it becomes clear that on the other side of the line, answering him, is a representative of the phone company:  a 24 hours service provider. What Meiro Koizumi cannot tell to his mother, he says to the sales representative, the one in service that has to answer to every phone call.
The conversation becomes a revel in memories of past and closeness. Japanese culture and day-to-day routineare the background but not the essence. The artist refrains from presenting Japan as an exotic place; he focuses on what sits much deeper: relations.

I travelled to Rotterdam, with high expectations on my way to visiting The Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam.  Cristian Boltanski exhibits there his work “Chance”. The work and the idea of the work look familiar, like it was done before. The tension, the mystery and the fears that he knew to create are not there. It is a weak work.
It is not enough to bring a big name to a museum; it has to be also a good art work.

A retrospective of Absalon, the Israeli - French artist that died age 29. No doubt that his short appearance in the art world adds extra glory to his work.
All of his pieces so pure and precise also the video works which I saw first time. Like the one ‘Bataille’, he looks there fighting against nothing. For me in this work he defines space by movements, one person space, like the cellules works he built.

In a separate hall screening video art work of Titus Simoens: Haar en Hem: ona white surgeons tableor maybealtarlies a woman.  Undulating her body changes from its heads to the legs to a man's body and returns toa woman and so forth. Fascinating is the wavelike movements, the changes from one gender to another are not taking place instantaneous and sometimes creates androgynous view like this one on the photo.
The naked body positioned inthis way relates to dramas in our culture: the sacrifice of Isaac to “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” painted by Rembrandt in 1632.
 

15 min walk in freezing wind from the Bijlmer metro station. On the stage of the theater auditorium hangs the work called Panorama Heesterveld 2010-2011 of the artist Taatske Pieterson. It is a photo panoramamade of photographed passersby, each one of them photographed separately in different season of the year. All from the Bijlmer neighborhood, all posed with their face to the camera. The artist assembles them in to a one 360° collagepanorama.
Like the known artist Jeff Wall, she casted the figures, like Jeff Wall she can be blamed in “total control”. Only in this case the figures are “stars” only for few days and only in this panorama.  Taatske Pieterson create a new look to people who live here, very close, 15 min walk from the Bijlmer metro station.

Friday afternoon, the opening of REAL IS ME  in The Passenger Terminal , Amsterdam. The Pride Photo Award is part of this art affair. In a separate section, you can find the photos of the artists who arrived to the final stage for this award, in this competition. Each one shows faces of sexual discrimination or relate to other gender issues. What strikes me most was this image, the one that Boris Dittrich started his lecture with.
A photo of man from Burundi, who was kicked out of home, a man who cannot show his face in public – for him it is a death or life question. He can only raise his hands and symbolically ask to stop the discrimination. For me, this face that has to stay in dark, says all.

The one that made me smile on this gloomy gray afternoon was the artist Heri Dono with his installation: The Jester Court. The serious leader\judge dressed up seating with his tongue out, ready to lick, turning his head from one side to the other to be sure that everybody can hear him. And he talks and he talks and the defendants\the parliament members agree with every word.
In the background you can see the “people” symbolized by drums that thunder once in a while. It is not clear if they choose the leader\judge or he choose them.

The video art work of the artist Gary Hill, “Around and About”. We see “things”, collage of images:part of walls, part of furniture, books etc. In the background someone talks about his relationship, about his feeling to someone he loves.
Like the young couple in Georges Perec’s book “Things”, who are looking for the happiness by owning things, the guy in this art work is looking for his love – for his happiness. We see “things” which are\were part of his place together with the one that he loves. Is this is his way to feel the emptiness if he will be alone

The artist Nathaniel Mellors placed sculptures from the museum collection together with screenings parts of his video. The sculptures are expected to be connected to the narrative video. But they are not.
When I watched this film in his last show “Ourhouse”, I felt like my brain is going to explode from the magnificent madness. In this show, in Cobra, he lost this power and the madness decomposed and disappeared.