Sculpture Highlights at KunstRAI Amsterdam

KunstRAI Art Amsterdam (31 May-6 June 2017) is the longest running art fair for contemporary art in the Netherlands. The public fair features a huge number of established and emerging galleries which offer a wide variety of contemporary art, applied art and design.

Visitors will find paintings, sculptures, photography and graphic art as well as glassware, ceramics and jewelry. In this text, we’ll be highlighting five distinctive sculptures, available at the fair. 

_{1. Esther Stasse, NT, 2017. 47 x 38 cm, available at Galerie Carla Koch, stand 31.}

A former ceramicist, the Dutch artist Esther Stasse creates sculptures that are based on geometrical shapes like the cylinder, the oval and the rectangle. These works are usually rendered in monochromatic colours and are void of decorations, revealing the sheer beauty of geometry.

While many of the artists objects can be used as vases, Stasse is mainly interested in their formal and aesthetic qualities, rather than the objects utilitarian function, as demonstrated in NT (2017, fig.1). This work shows a black geometrical sculpture, consisting of several rectangular shapes which playfully interact with each other.

Although NT seems to be a wonderful piece of autonomous art, it can also be utilized as a vase, as the flower on the lower left is meant to indicate.

_{2. Poren Huang, Generation to Generation, 2005. Bronze, 17 x 45 x 30 cm, available at Okker Art Gallery, stand 77.} 

Poren Huang, a Tawainese sculptor, is fond of dogs. Since his childhood he has always enjoyed the company of man’s best friend. At one point in his life Huang even cared for more than 20 dogs! Therefore it may not be surprising that many of his sculptures are a tribute to these animals. His bronze dog sculptures symbolize a dogs typical qualities; its sincerity, loyalty and enthusiasm.

Traits that, according to Huang, humans are often lacking. His shiny frisky dog Generation to Generation (2005, fig. 2) is somewhat reminiscent of Jeff Koons' polished sculptures and Keith Harings stylized dogs, but it has a genuine quality of its own, due to the slightly cubist style and glossy black coat.

_{3. Fons Schobbers, Sculpturale bank, Elisabeth. Polyester, 125 x 300 cm, available at Galerie Mia Joosten, stand 66a.} 

The Dutch sculptor Fons Schobbers is known for his Sculpturale bank, Elisabeth (fig. 3) which was captured by the famous photographer Erwin Olaf. Named after Fons’ wife Elisabeth, this polyester sculptural bench reveals various organic shapes which allude to the female body. Hardly recognizable as a functional object, this work is highly abstract and lacks exuberant adornments.

Schobbers has always been interested in creating sculptures that are characterised by clear lines, exuding simplicity and sensuality. His work is also profoundly inspired by nature’s organic forms, as exemplified in this elegant sculpture.

_{4. Natasja van der Meer, Popcorn, 2017. Porcelain, wood, nylon, 25 x 25 x 40 cm, Rademakers Gallery.} 

Natasja van der Meer, a mixed media artist, is fascinated by the curiosity of children and the way they experience world’s mysteries and nature’s enthralling beauty.

Therefore, childhood has become a recurrent theme in Van der Meer’s oeuvre. She creates monochrome or brightly coloured sculptures of children, flowers, animals, hearts and guns with butterfly patterns which are all depicted in a simple and innocent way. One of Natasja’s latest works (2017, fig. 4) displays a traditional bag of popcorn and above it numerous porcelain popcorn parts that are suspended from nylon wires, as if frozen in time. As a consequence Popcorn toys with a sense of oddness, and playfulness, simultaneously. 

_{5. Jeroen Henneman, Vogels IV, 2008. Stainless steel, 42 x 80 x 19 cm, Kunsthandel Meijer}.

Jeroen Henneman describes his typical sculptures as “standing drawings” as many of these works are solely composed of metal outlines, giving the illusion of depth. Among his most iconic “standing drawings” are De Schreeuw (The Cry, 2007) in the Amsterdam Oosterpark and a portrait of Queen Beatrix. In addition, everyday objects and animals are recurrent themes in Henneman’s oeuvre. His sculpture Vogels IV (2008, fig. 5) made out of stainless steel, shows a silhouette of a bird, perching upon a white pedestal. Here, the entire surface of the bird is visible, rather than only its thin outlines. While it is displayed as a three-dimensional object, the notion of a silhouette generates flatness.

Gallerease is present at stand no.66 of KunstRAI in Amsterdam. We hope to see you there!