Igshaan Adams (ZA)
Korrie Besems (NL)
Bram Braam (NL/DE)
Tim Breukers (NL)
Ricardo van Eyk (NL)
Nadia Naveau (BE)
Charlotte Schleiffert (NL)
Kristina Schuldt (DE)
Nina van de Ven (NL)
Jenny Ymker (NL)
In October 2013, PARK opened its doors. A festive exhibition now celebrates its tenth anniversary. From each year, one exhibiting artist has been chosen for the anniversary exhibition entitled 'X'. These participants indicate the quality and range of the programme with which PARK has been shaped over the past decade.
The opening on Saturday 9 September at 4pm will be performed by Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen, director of De Pont museum. The new PARK book with all activities from 2021 to summer 2023 will also be presented. It will be handed over to Marcelle Hendrickx, alderman of culture Municipality of Tilburg, by board member Verily Klaassen. In addition, Jacques Palinckx, current city composer of Tilburg, will give a short performance at this festive opening. You are cordially invited.
Igshaan Adams (ZA 1982) finds inspiration in his childhood set in a community of 'coloureds' during the harsh reality of South African Apartheid. A childhood in which he was not only treated as a second-class citizen, but strongly identified with women as a boy and was raised as a Muslim in the home of his Christian grandparents. In his work, using materials and motifs from his family's Muslim and coloured culture, he creates a sophisticated, intimate and sometimes even dreamy world. As if he is constantly re-examining in his work what it is to be 'just' human, against all polarisation and prejudice. On show are two works by him from the Ekard Collection, made of woven nylon rope and nylon clothesline, beaded chains and cord.
Korrie Besems (NL 1961) has been working with photography and text since 1984. After working for many years on documentary photo series with the urban landscape as the main theme, she now works again on autonomous photo-text combinations. Besems: 'The longer I work with photos, the more mysterious they become. I scratch or cut open the extremely thin layers of photos. I then end up in a boundless space filled with blurred spots, words, text fragments and/or image fragments. This creates new poetic images that go far beyond the credibility of the captured moment in my photographs. For me, a photograph is no longer a proof or document, but a signifier to find my own truth. I am constantly exploring the boundaries between meaning and suggestion. My works gradually become more abstract, but a notion of a photographed moment is always present.' She shows all 7 works from the series ALS EEN SHADUW HEEN.
Bram Braam (NL/DE 1980) is interested in the malleable of our everyday environment. Besides producing photographs, collages and assemblages, Braam mainly focuses on sculptural work of subtle or, on the contrary, imposing size. The plan-like clarity of the Dutch landscape and the raw, urban chaos of Braam's hometown of Berlin come together in his work. He has lived and worked in Berlin for more than a decade and draws his inspiration from this raw metropolitan environment. Braam reflects on this city and shows its many contrasts in his work. Contrasts like rich and poor, smooth and raw are brought together in a way that lets you experience that, placed in the right frame, building rubble can become poetry. Braam shows a number of sculptural works that together form an installation.
Tim Breukers (NL 1985) shows at PARK, among others, two large ceramic works made during a working period at EKWC in Oisterwijk. He works at the crossroads of classical, technically ingenious sculpture, and art in which relativity and the everyday play a role. He tries to stretch the boundaries of traditional sculpture while subjecting elements from pop culture to a solemn sculptural treatment. He is characterised by visual inventiveness combined with an exceptional control of materials. Breukers: 'I want to let the material speak. How the material drips, breaks, cracks, flakes or deforms. As if it wants to break down. I use the danger of collapse to put tension on the sculpture.'
Ricardo van Eyk (NL 1993) considers himself a painter: 'Although my work is mainly within painting, my fascinations do not allow themselves to be expressed exclusively in the two-dimensional. In all my presentations, I look for the dialogue between the work and the space; it influences the choice and placement of finished works.' His work stems from a special fascination with the urban environment as a constantly changing system and the way the city functions as a 'carrier' of traces of human presence, the passage of time and signs of decay. His installations and paintings are sometimes described as 'in between architecture'. Found objects and the use of everyday household materials underline his playful way of working. At PARK, he will show the large work 'Villa', among others.
Nadia Naveau (BE 1975) uses a wide range of materials such as clay, ceramics, wood, plaster, plasticine and found objects. In her oeuvre, she experiments with forms, materials and use of colour. For her sculptures, she draws inspiration from various contexts that she kneads together to create a strange, idiosyncratic imagination. She seamlessly unites forms and iconography from antiquity with those of popular media. Naveau explores the boundaries between the figurative and the abstract, the baroque and the stylised, the contemporary and the classical, and blends them in her works. The eclectic sculptures consist of different forms or elements, assembled into one sculpture or combined in an installation. 'I find it important that an image evokes alienation. I like images that attract me, but where at first glance I don't know what to do with them, what their meaning is. A good image you taste, it has something tasty.'
Charlotte Schleiffert (NL 1967) makes drawings and paintings, mostly in large formats. Almost always the woman is central and her work is about power and powerlessness, freedom and unfreedom. Be who you want to be, that is her message. She brings different worlds together, combining animal and human, the Western world with the Eastern, man and woman, culture with sub-culture. She finds inspiration on her many trips (including to Indonesia and China), in historical books, recent newspapers, in the National Geographic or fashion magazines. Often, her drawings have a vertical format and her human figures are presented full-length. Her latest drawings are horizontal and have a more narrative character. She now also shows a number of paintings on canvas that are more formal and simple. Recently, nature plays an increasingly important role in her work and the characters are surrounded by flora and fauna.
Kristina Schuldt (DE 1982) creates wonderful figurative paintings and drawings that seem to have sprung from an infinite imagination. Her paintings are colourful and dynamic, filled with people and plants that are round and shiny like metal tubes. Schuldt's work stands out because it creates a tension between realism and abstraction. Her art can be characterised as unorthodox and idiosyncratic, often with autobiographical starting points. She forms a visual language all her own in which powerful and playful women show themselves to the world. Strong women who are both vulnerable and full of bravado. The exhibition features two of her paintings from the Stichting Heden Collection: the horizontal work 'Blumen' and a large work entitled 'Beim Friseur'.
Nina van de Ven (NL 1988) is fascinated by symbolism. She investigates how symbolism is used as a means of communication in different times and cultures. In her drawings, Nina van de Ven depicts fabulous, hybrid characters. In her work, she builds a personal universe where the power of visual storytelling is central. She draws inspiration from representations that cover the entirety of human civilisation. The attributes, motifs and symbols she combines in her drawings come from a variety of sources: historical, occult or everyday, and are full of references, both to history and pop culture. For example, she combines logos of luxury brands and puffer jackets, the relics of the present day with the buttons of the Celts, motifs from the past.
Jenny Ymker (NL 1969) creates alienating worlds. She uses photography to depict stories and transforms those images into tapestries, light boxes and film loops. She draws her inspiration from unusual places, situations or events. In all her works, she herself is the 'model', placing herself in a different reality. The protagonist is always seen from the back or the side, standing lonely in a situation that seems to go on forever. Ymker's work involves images that could be called iconic, but with an absurdist touch and a certain melancholic loneliness. Her work has an exciting duality, namely a gentle humour that mixes with the absurd. It shows a person in constant confrontation with the world, while the world lacks any answer.
Click here for the exhibition guide (in Dutch).
'PARK is a true artists' initiative: founded for artists by artists. Founded thanks to the tenacity of a couple of idealists who knew how to take an idea that was poorly developed in the then municipal arts plan and in ten years have developed it into a place that matters nationally. PARK is acknowledged.'
Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen in opening speech
In the media:
- Stadsnieuws - 02-09-2023
- Tilburg.com - 09-09-2023
- Brabants Dagblad - 15-09-2023
- Trendbeheer - 02-10-2023
- Zout Magazine - 07-10-2023
