Untitled - Galerie Kunstraum Egg

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M i c h i el B l u m en th a l
2000 — 2015 (a selection in more or less chronological order)
December 2014
Work in progress, because everything perishes…
From when I was young I have always been drawing,
first the outskirts and interiors of Amsterdam. My look
on reality was shaped by the desire to create an ideal
space or living environment. Maybe I was predestined
as a city planner or interior designer, but it remained
all fantasies, dreams and romanticism. My education
was coloured by protection and school performance; the only subjects which really interested me were
history and geography: trying to realize where the far
away and beyond was to be found. On friday night I
went to a drawing course in the Nuts studio, that was
a different world: catching a model or a still life with
charcoal; and afterwards we went to have a drink at
the Bar Americain on Leidseplein, at the times it seemed more of an artist hangout. Even though I grew
up in Amsterdam I did not develop any real ideas or
ideals in my puberty. My planned world tour ended
in a vacation in Spain. Just before I took the boat for
Morocco I called home; a few days later I sat on the
train for Groningen, destined to study law.
Life as a student for me was just passing time; a discontinuity with my solitary past, or dreamful youth and
the start of a different more social life. After one year
of studying law I changed, without regret, to History.
For years I read books on all odds and ends of history
and graduated on Pasolini: The battle against civility.
My first work experience was at the Festival a/d Werf
in Utrecht, where I have been responsible for marketing, production and the general management. I learned a lot, overall to take responsibility, I have met
a lot of interesting, inspiring people and I felt proud
to contribute to a wonderful product: theatre. At the
same time I kept on dreaming and travelled a lot.
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The next step was the Art academy Rietveld in Amsterdam, there I learned to put my thoughts and feelings in
a more aesthetic framework. This has stimulated me
into great creativity. My choices were initially conservative: drawing, painting and printing. Drawing has always been the base of all my work. A very worthwhile
experience was a study exchange with the School of
Visual Arts in New York, there I experienced a much
more concrete approach towards art.
Don Quisciotte e Sancio Panza e cento mulini a vento, 2000, 100 x 100 cm, acrylic and ink on paper
1999 Modigliani
I graduated at the Rietveld on Modigliani. Just by
chance I met this man in the corridor of the house of
a friend: an intriguing dreamful look, shabby clothes
and a brush in his hand. Studying him, I discovered
he had a very concise body of works with the smell
of pastis (French liquor). The thin line between fiction
and reality fascinates me. I drew different aspects of
the life of Modigliani and imagined Paris in the beginning of the 1920‘s. The work got the shape of a kind
of storyboard, while in fact there was not even a story
told and it was more a kind of mosaic or a very difficult puzzle.The idea that I had never dedicated myself
completely to art and the fact that it was about time
to do so made me follow my dreams and I decided to
go and live in Italy.
2000 – 2010 In Transit
Via South America Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil I travelled towards Naples and Montalcino, there I worked
for two years in the vineyards of the Padovani twins at
the campi di Fonterenza. In the end it is love that kept
me in Italy, even though I have to admit that I am also
very sensitive for the sunny weather, the simple good
food, all history and the incredible views.
In these years of transition I developed In Transit, a
physical and mental journey. I drew the influence of
a continuous changing environment on the mind and
vice versa. Always “On the way”: the choices of the
images and the directions of looking were free. It
didn‘t really matter if I was travelling myself or I was
making the journey in my head. Every painting is the
reproduction of a moment, a collage of different moments, encounters and feelings. I cherish nomadism
(nomadic life) and I subscribe the beautiful all explaining phrase of Marion Stump: „Nomads are always
elsewhere“. It is my slogan for life.
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Margherita e i suoi veri amori, 2000, 150 x 100 cm, acrylic and ink on paper
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Napoli, spacca Napoli, 2000, 120 x 120 cm, ink and gouache on paper
Rome
Rome, seems to me, a beautiful lazy lady, overwhelming, impressive, miserable and most of the time bathing in a glorious sunlight. She exists of infinite surprising caverns and corners where history is everywhere
and tangible in a unique way. She is pleased with herself and has herself often portrayed. When I arrived
in Rome in 2000 I have drawn the life and travels of
Aeneas in twelve colour prints. Later I made a series
of etchings inspired on Roman archaeology. And still
I often sit down in a remote square and portray parts
of Rome, observing her with a mix of love, disbelieve
and hate. A few of these drawings you can see on the
website of the Hadrianus project of the KNIR.
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Dido waits for Aeneas, 2001, 40 x 30 cm, gouache, ink and aquarelle on paper
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^ Sentimento, 2002, 32 x 24 cm, gouache and ink on paper
< The art of making jam, 2002, 32 x 24 cm, ink and gouache on paper
Donkeys
In 2001 a red donkey appeared in my work. The first
time I met him was on a trip in Nepal. In this animal
I found the ideal companion, who lead me the way,
who by standing still on unexpected moments showed me things which I otherwise would have passed:
observing, curious and unsure. It wasn‘t too hard for
me to identify with a donkey and so he became my
alter ego: clumsy, chunky and obstinate, wandering
in a world he does not understand. A donkey is also
a counterpart of the much more aristocratic, famous,
and much more popular horse, which you find everywhere
in art history. I have made three exhibitions in which
the donkey played the major part: In times of donkeys
(2002), A donkey in love (2003), The ultimate donkeys
(2004). The donkey has been at my side as a kind of
evil conscience, which reminds m e of who I am.
After reading the Metamorphoses of Apuleio, in which
the principal character Lucius „by chance“ changes
into a donkey and continuous life from this perspective, through the eyes of a donkey, my research continues. On invitation of Franco Troiani I have modelled 100
donkeys of clay and put them around the well of the
Chiesetta della Madonna del Pozzo in Spoleto. The
well, as a source of life and ideas, was the place for
this installation called Metamorphosis. This installation has
gone on tour together with the performance Ananke
made by Graziella Reggio. Art critic Anna Cochetti
has written a text on these trans/uman(z)e (transhumance) and hosted this project in her studio Storie
Contemporanee in Rome.
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< Zurich 1 and 2, 2002, 24 x 32 cm, collage >
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The bull of Arnulf Rainer, 2002, 32 x 24 cm, aquarelle on paper
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Don Quisciotte, 2004, 120 x 100 cm, oil on canvas >
< Don Quisciotte, 2004, 50 x 70 cm, ink and gouache on Nepalese paper
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^ Un Uomo, 2004, 200 x 100 cm, tempera on canvas
Lost in paradise, 2004, 200 x 120 cm, tempera on canvas >
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Due asini in un campo di papavari rossi, 2004, 150 x 120 cm, acrylic on paper
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Un bel piatto di spaghetti, 2004, 50 x 35 cm, ink and gouache on paper
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Storyboard, 2004, 120 x 100 cm, gouache on paper
Marmellate di fichi, 2005, 32 x 24 cm, gouache on paper
Terremoto, 2006, 50 x 35 cm, ink and gouache on paper
2003 – 2012 Il Trullo: exhibitions for my trees
Trees for trees 1 & 2
Believing in an Apocalypse coming close, I felt the
need of a piece of land, to grow my own tomatoes. In
2003 I bought a trullo in the middle of an orchard in
Puglia, the heel of Italy. The trullo is an archetypical
little cottage for poor farmers, when you look more
close to it a little castle for dwarfs, surrounded by figs,
plums and pears. I was fascinated by the archaic way
of life in this area, where the nature and old values still
determine life. The simplicity of life here taught me a
lot. It was the ideal place to experiment outside of my
own cadres and to capacitate in the art of making jam.
A lot of work remained work in progress, in the end,
the lack of an audience necked me.
I weeded the red earth and at the same time I painted
my old paintings over again and hung them on the
washing lines, where nature and wind had free play.
Here originated my first exhibition for my trees. At a
certain point I questioned myself what trees would really
enjoy to see. And I started to make realistic portraits
of them and their surroundings. These portraits I hung
up in the trees and had wind and rain play with them
until the point nature swallowed them. I do believe in
the tree as an observer.
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Exhibition for my trees I, 2005, diverse formats, oil on canvas
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One cup of tea, 2006, 100 x 100 cm, oil on canvas
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L‘invasione delle brocche, 2006, 50 x 40 cm, red ink and gouache on paper
2006 House of butterflies
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House of butterflies was a project commissioned by Kaap, before De Kleine Biënnale (the Small Biennal), curated by Mark Kremer. On the fortress Het Hemeltje in the vicinity of Utrecht (NL) we placed a green house where
I worked for three weeks with children on a house for butterflies.
House for Butterflies, 2006 >
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De Kleine Biennale, 2006, installation >
2006 Castelluccio
Together with Annibale Parisi and Peter Noser, two artist and friends from Montalcino, we made an exhibition
in the castle Castelluccio, on the properties of the family Origo. This castle is a stone‘s throw from the oak of
Annibale, an oak with 200 years of history. In this castle with a view we brought an ode to Tuscany. We received
a hospitable welcome in the old rooms with faded wallpapers and the splendid views over the Val d‘Orcia and
famous Crete Senese. Our works hung harmoniously together. This is so far one of my most beautiful exhibitions,
only visible for the accidental or casual passerby.
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The fall of the orchestra (Per la Musica Castelluccio di Pienza), 2006, 70 x 100 cm acrylic and collage
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Me as San Franciscus, 2006, 45 x 90 cm, ink and acrylic on paper >
< My Empire State Building, 2006, 20 x 20 x 100 cm, terracotta
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^ Blue Monday, 2008, various works on paper
Cin cin, 2008, 40 x 30 cm, collage >
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The bar of Kavafis in Alexandria, 2008, 32 x 24, mordente (ink) and acquarelle on paper
2009 The studio‘s of others
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Until now I have not been able to furnish myself an appropriate studio. It seems, I don‘t know why, I deny myself
this kind of refuge. That‘s why I often borrow a studio of friend artists or artists which I admire or which intrigue
me as a place to escape to. It is also a way, in a meditative way, to relate with other artists and the art world.
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^ Studio di Clemente, 2008, 32 x 24 cm, mordente (ink) and aquarelle on paper
Merce Cunningham at Fondation Maeght, 2008, 50 x 35 cm, ink on paper >
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Studio di Jean Tinguely, 2008, 32 x 24 cm, ink on paper
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Il mondo di Peter Noser, 2008, 50 x 35 cm, ink and gouache on paper
Me, Myself, I (portraits)
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I believe that looking at someone
else in a way is looking at your
self. Most of my portraits are a
kind of selfportraits: impressions
of „a state of mind“.
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Me in the cage of Leoncillo, 2010, 50 x 35 cm, mordente (ink) and aquarelle on paper
Ash drawings
Jim as Vincent (the mower)
Dug up paintings
These drawings derive from a meditative ritual. When I
arrived at the trullo in spring, the grass needed mowing,
as it stood at least one meter high. Then the earth
needed to be burrowed and the trees be pruned, etc.
etc. In the fall these heaps were burned into ash or
charcoal, with which I drew in the red earth: ash drawings. The next spring these drawings had disappeared, until I started all over in the next fall.
The letters of Vincent van Gogh, have always inspired
me and gave me a lot of comfort and resignation: it
is not a problem to keep looking and searching. Still I
can be touched by his descriptions about the things
he discovered as a painter and which made him utterly
happy. But also his complete dedication or surrender
to art and being an artist, including all its doubts and
hardships, as something inevitable touches me a lot.
Jim as Vincent is an ode to Vincent van Gogh or rather
indirectly to Francis Bacon who made four incredible
paintings of the mower. Mowing as a kind of universal
and meditative movement.
A lot of portraits are simple failings or have lost their
„momentum“. Some of them I dedicated more of less
to nature and time and by chance I dug them up again.
The work of the nature and especially of the ants has
been miraculous and made me look in a complete different
way at these portraits… Until the point the ants made
a definite end of these.
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After ten years I gave up the struggle against the elements
and have sold the trullo. I returned to flat paper, much
easier to handle.
Me and my shade
2010 Sweet lemon tree or Literary moments
It was a game with the fantastic light. I picked up photography
where I had left it (at the School of Visual Arts) in New
York. The light gave me the possibilities to have shades
playing the leading parts.
I have always been inspired by other arts, for example
literature: different fictional characters and scenes
play an important role in my work. In the public library
Rispoli in the centre of Rome, I brought together a lot
of works with a literary connotation. More important
to me was the collaboration with the cellist/composer
Stella Veloce: my drawings appeared as the background
for her music impro/composition and got a complete
different dimension and dynamics.
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Opening Sweet Lemon tree, Biblioteca Rispoli, Roma, with a composition of Stella Veloce
Dreaming sweet lemon boy, 2010,32 x 24 cm, ink and aquarelle on paper
2011 Wormerveer and Paul Thek, the wonderful world
that almost was…
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< Banner Milano Bis, 2011
In the wet summer of 2011 I stayed in exile in the studio
of a friend in Amsterdam. First I had the plan to return to
all the places of my childhood, and I wanted to make
drawings of these. But I was too much impressed by
the present. Besides that, I discovered a wonderful
library with all kind of art books and also I enjoyed
theatre again.
In Wormerveer I discovered the work of Paul Thek,
an artist/vagabond who intrigued and inspired me
tremendously. He is and does all what I am not
and do not dare. I admire his passion and the uncompromising fantastic worlds he created. Some of
his installations I have copied in drawings as a way
to revive them but in the end are rather a kind of homage. It was also a romantic longing to the sixties,
when there seemed another relationship with art and
between artists.
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Déjeuner sur l‘erbe, 2011, 150 x 120 cm, ink and acrylic on paper >
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^ Masja‘s table, 2011, 50 x 35 cm, ink and aquarelle on paper
Two lovers in the pantheon on the day it rains roses..., 2011, 50 x 35 cm, mordente (ink) and gouache on paper
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^ Venice, 2011, 40 x 30 cm, foto
< Buffalo Bill and the only Indians ever in Venice, 2011, 50 x 35 cm, mordente and aquarelle
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The secret garden of Gabriel Orzoco after the Pavillion of Carlo Scarpa at the Venice Biennale, 2011, 32 x 24 cm, mordente (ink) and aquarelle on paper
2012 C‘è qualcosa nel dolore degli altri, there is something in the pain of others…
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Based on the poems of Maria Leonardi I have experimented with the relation between word and image: can
text also be an image? The poems of Maria Leonardi are slippery as water, you can read them over and over
again, and always find something new to discover, to interpret, to understand. A series of drawings appeared,
which change all the time in content and details. We have projected them in the summer of 2012 on the Ponte
Rotto from the Tiberina Isle, Maria read her poems while the Tiber flowed along.
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senza te al mondo
il mondo è insostenibile
neanche una vertrebra
che regga tale insensatezza
© Maria Leonardi, 2012
Senza te al mondo, 2012, 50 x 35 cm, ink and gouache on paper
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^ Blue baithingsuit, 2012, 65 x 50 cm, ink and aquarelle on paper
< Crime in the Bonte Zwaan, after Bonny and Clyde, 2012, 65 x 50, ink, acrylic and collage
2012 A house in a house in a house…
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In A house in a house in a house I had the visitors of the New West Fest in Amsterdam, curated by Edward
Janssen, tell about their ideal space, a fantasy or a reality. These I worked out into paintings and now hang all
together as a big house (a mosaic) in het Talentenhuis in Amsterdam Osdorp.
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^ Een huis in een huis in een huis, detail, 2012, 40 x 50 cm, ink and acrylic on canvas
Een huis in een huis in een huis, 2012, 600 x 200 cm, ink and acrylic on canvas >
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Da nessuna parte, 2012, 70 x 50 cm, ink and gouache on paper
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Teodolapio, 2013, 50 x 35 cm, mordente (ink) and aquarelle on paper
Fonte delle marmellate, 2014, 70 x 50 cm, ink and gouache on paper
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Metamorfosi, 2013, with Graziella Reggio, 100 man and 100 donkeys in terracotta, foto © Fabian Cevallos
2013 There once was a donkey…
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To give my work a new direction, to find a way to recycle my insurmountable pile of drawings and to overcome
computer fears, I participated in an animation course by Femke Hyong. Inspired by the songs and texts of
Maaike van den Hoek I made illustrations and moving images. This resulted into an experimental program, a
live concert with animations titled: There once was a donkey…, which we have presented in the fall of 2013 in
Amsterdam and Den Horn.
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Incontro sul Ponte del Diavolo, Barga, 2014, 100 x 70 cm, ink and gouache on paper
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Diva, 2014, 50 x 70 cm, ink and aquarelle on paper
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Libro impossibile, 2014, aquarelle and mordente on folded paper
Libro impossibile, 2014, aquarelle and mordente (ink) on folded paper
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Branches, 2014, 150 x 150 cm, acrylic on paper >
^ 200 Alberi, 2014, with Graziella Reggio, 200 drawings on diverse formats with variouy materials on paper
2014 200 Trees
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In commission of the association Moto della Mente in
Rome Graziella Reggio and I drew 200 trees. The tree
seen, understood, beloved as the essence of life. The
tree symbol of gladness, rooted in the earth and in contact with the universe, by roots, trunks, leaves, branches
and fruits. Every plant gives and takes from the earth and
is the emblem of the joy of our existence.
200 Alberi, 2014, with Graziella Reggio, 200 drawings on diverse formats, with various materials on paper
Memories of pancakes
I love to collect: bottles, tiles,
boxes, little bags, pots and
pans, anything, …. and this was
the pan in which my mother fried
pancakes. It is an important object that represents the memories
and the taste of pancakes, a
symbol for happy moments in
my childhood. My childhood is
past, the memories I keep, the
pan hung for a year in a pear
tree and caught the morning
sun.
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House of Sol Lewitt, 2015, 50 x 35 cm, mordente (ink) and aquarelle on paper
Memories of pancakes, 2015, 100 x 70 cm, ink on paper
Balletto delle cafettiere
The coffee perculator has an archetypical shape and
is a symbol for daily trivialities. At the same time hugely
elegant. How beautiful it would be if they could dance,
a waltz would be fantastic. This was an idea for an
abstract choreography, which has never been edited.
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First kiss, 2015, 32 x 24 cm, ink and aquarelle on paper
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All that connects us, 2015, 65 x 50 cm, ink, aquarelle and gouache on paper >
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Michiel Blumenthal, 1964 born in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), lives in Italy
Education
Selected Group Exhibitions
1995-99 Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Visual Arts, Amsterdam
School of Visual Arts, New York
1998
1991
Masters degree in History, University of Amsterdam
2014/15
2013
2012/13
2012
2012
2012
2012
2011
2009
2009
2008
2008
2007
2006
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002/3
2002
2002
2002
2001
2001
2001
2001
2000
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015
2014/15
2013
2013
2013
2013
2011
2010
2006
2004
2003
2003
2002
2001/2
2001
Kunstraum Egg, Zürich-Egg, CH
200 Alberi with Graziella Reggio, KADO, Creazioni Floreali, Roma, IT
Er was eens een ezel ... animations for songs by Maaike van der Hoeck, Den Horn and Amsterdam, NL
Trans/uman(z)e 2013 with Graziella Reggio, Roma, IT
8° Viaggio Viaggiatori sulla Flaminia with Graziella Reggio,
Palazzo Mauri, Spoleto, IT
Metamorfosi, installation with Graziella Reggio, Chiesetta
Madonna del Pozzo, Spoleto, IT
Villa Etra with Beatrice Pasquet, Cave, IT
Sweet Lemon Tree, Biblioteca Rispoli, Roma IT
Castelluccio with Annibale Parisi and Peter Noser, Castellu-
cio di Pienza, IT
Gli ultimi asini, MAD/Gabriele Mannino, Roma, IT
Aeneas in Saaksum, Gallerie de Verbeelding, Saaksum, NL
Een ezel verliefd, Friso Tammes en Martine Schotte, Amster-
dam, NL
Il tempo degli Asini, Giocchi d‘Acqua e Verde, Artena, IT
Galleria Turchi, Montalcino, IT
Peter Noser, Zürich, CH
Nameless, Kunstraum Egg, CH
Art House, Ostuni, IT
Umbruch, Kunstraum Egg, CH
Een huis in een huis in een huis, Art Circle NeWestFest, Amsterdam, NL
Racolta: projection of poems by Maria Leonardi
Isola Tiberna, Roma, IT
100% Periferia, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma, IT
C‘è qualcosa nel dolore degli altri, Libreria Frane, Roma, IT
Numero 5 bis, Daniela e Lorenzo Sacchi, Milano, IT
Luci Sorgenti, Chiesa di Sant‘Antonio, Cascia, IT
Welcome in het Bos, setdesign for production by Maaike van den Hoek, Groningen, NL
Terra, Cisternino, IT
Blauwe Maandag, Productiehuis Tripact, Amsterdam, NL
Per la Musica II, Castelluccio di Pienza, IT
De Tienhof, Utrecht, NL
House for Butterflies, De Kleine Biennale, Utrecht, NL
Per la Musica, Castelluccio di Pienza, IT
De Tienhof, Utrecht, NL
Numero 5, Daniela e Lorenzo Sacchi, Milano, IT
Materia Diforme 2, Confartigianato di Asolo, Asolo, IT
Sentimento, Cielo del Esauilino, Roma, IT
Kulturschiene, Herrliberg, CH
Studio Puopolo, Roma, IT
Galleria Patrick Maffei, Follonica, IT
Kunsthaus Dietikon, CH
Locanda Piazza Padella, Montalcino, IT
Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, D
Oosterkerk, Amsterdam, NL
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Ausstellung im Kunstraum Egg
3. Mai bis 13. Juni 2015
IMPRESSUM
Idee
Foto
Text
Layout
Druck
Auflage
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Peter Noser und Susanna Hofmann
Michiel Blumenthal und Fabian Cevallos
Michiel Blumenthal
Susanna Hofmann artmanagement
Pixartprinting SpA, Venedig, IT
500
2015 Michiel Blumenthal, Kunstraum Egg
Kunstraum Egg
Dorfstrasse 22
CH-8132 Egg-Zürich
+41 (0)44 984 47 75
[email protected]
www.kunstraumegg.ch
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For more information see my website www.michielblumenthal.com
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