Daan van Golden, Richard Aldrich, Ronald de Bloeme, Carel Blotkamp, Indigo Deijmann, Maurice van Es, Fergus Feehily, Kees Goudzwaard, Mirthe Klück, Niek Hendrix, Robbin Heyker, Maja Klaassens, Marijn van Kreij, Just Quist, Magali Reus, Julian Sirre, Annemarie Slobbe, Alice Tippit, Riëtte Wanders.
September 5 - November 7, 2021
The origin of this exhibition lies in an encounter between the artists Robbin Heyker (1976) and Niek Hendrix (1985), who met by chance in 2015. It soon became apparent that Daan van Golden is an important reference point for both of them in their conception of art and their work. The concepts of “thoughtfulness” and “room for slowness”, in particular, played a central role in the discussions between Heyker and Hendrix.
Van Golden’s work is included in many museum collections, but he only produced a few works each year. He was therefore never very visible; his production was simply too low. Brushstroke by brushstroke, he built up an oeuvre that seemed to revolve around meditation, repetition, the personal, but also the mundane, the banal. Seemingly simple paintings unfold a stratification of complexities of the working of the image and its art historical context. In short, the fundamental question of what makes a painting, a painting and what does that mean? And what does that then mean for artistry? Both of them recognise themselves in these questions, but deal with them in a very different way. These are questions that, in the current art discourse, receive little attention in an institutional context.
Over the years, there have been many more artists for whom the work of the enigmatic Van Golden has been a source of inspiration, and each of these artists has approached it in a different way. Some even refer explicitly to Van Golden’s work.
The group exhibition that we are putting together based on the link with Van Golden is therefore not only a tribute to an important Dutch artist, but also a celebration of the far-reaching influence of his oeuvre on many generations of artists, worldwide moreover. An exhibition in recognition of the diversity and ambiguity of art and its makers. For us, the most important thing is to put on the agenda what Van Golden stands for, namely the previously mentioned ‘thoughtfulness’ and ‘slowness’.
Curators Niek Hendrix and Robbin Heyker
The exhibition has been made possible by Stroom Den Haag