your own

your:own

a young, contemporary art gallery

“Im Surrounded By Inspiring People”

Your:Own

‘A Young, Contemporary Art Gallery’

Credits; All text by: Jeroen Smeets Text editor; Nick Bridge Design; Tobias Krasenberg Photography; John Davies Prepress & DTP: Charl Bos (Colorprofile.nl) This publication has been made possible by: Stolichnaya (LOGO) Red Bull (LOGO)

2010

YOUR:OWN would have not been the same without the support of the following people; My family, Cathrine K. Reimann, Cosimo de Leo Ricatto, Hanneke Huisman, Hyland Mather, Tobias Krasenberg, Jochem Veen, Tess van Zwol, Joe Holbrook, Clelia Zida, Benjamin Rokes, all the artists involved, everybody that I worked with and visited the gallery.

“testical sate”

Gijs Kast

‘Show’

G

ijs Kast (real name Gijs Huijgen) was born in Weert and studied Man & Communication in Eindhoven at the Design Academy, but is nowadays settled in Amsterdam. His self-released book ‘Böhnhase, a black guide’ (2008) led him to winning the Dutch Design award for Best Illustration in 2009. The book was an overview of the people living in the ‘Doornakkers’ neighbourhood, a known problem area in Eindhoven. Gijs took it to himself to portray the people living in this area and created a yellow pages for their own created, sometimes shady professions. Gijs has continued his series of portrayal but is now traveling all over the Netherlands and Belgium looking for new inspiration on low-brow events, out of sight shows, and forgotten fairs. His confronting, honest and raw illustrations let you see behind the face of the person portrayed, telling his or her story.

One

Fresh out of design school, you won an award for best illustration at the Dutch Design Awards.

How was that experience?

It was a big surprise for me to win a Dutch Design Award.

I actually didn’t even know there was an award for illustration and I never sent something in to the organisation. That means I was ‘scouted’ for the illustration award, it was a great honour!

Usually there are only celebrated designers in the house and running for the prizes so I think it’s a good thing that they give prizes to young, upcoming guys as well.

You travel all over the Netherlands and Belgium to find people to portray; browsing fairs, shows and events. Where do you hear about these shows?

I always go together with photographer Boudewijn Bollmann.

He runs a website called twisted streets (www.twistedstreets.nl) and he has an exceptional good nose for these type of events.

Together we think of nice shows we want to visit and hope to find another idea or person over there to visit next. Now that we’re doing this for a while we’re also starting to get good tips from friends who know about the project.

What is it that the people you portray have in common?

You can see they have lived. They are not just a face, but there is a story that comes with it.

What kind of places did you find yourself while gathering content for your show at the YOUR:OWN gallery?

I visited a big dog show in Boskoop, near Alphen aan de Rijn, and found a funny lady who does smaller shows in Amsterdam.

I stayed in touch with her and ended up at her place at one point. At her place she’s always making suits and props for her and her dog. I’ve also visited Mechelen, just below Antwerp, for the strongest man of Antwerp contest. Here I got to know a debutante contester and visited him at his home. My last trip was to a tractor pulling contest. I try to start at big and professional events and trough the people you meet you end up at the small, sort of improvised, hobby events.

“hardcore and definitely smelly, but very friendly”

I imagine a very vivid smell of sweat surrounding the ‘strongest man of Antwerp’ contest.

What was it like being there?

These guys are hardcore and definitely smelly, but very friendly.

What I like about them is that they don’t do it for the show, they just really want to be the strongest. It’s not about the looks, but it’s all about the power. I also loved the sideshow with cheerleaders, especially when it started raining and they weren’t motivated anymore.

How do people react to you when you are drawing them?

Sometimes I make quick sketches, but I also take pictures to draw from later. At these events you have to catch a moment, and then a drawing takes too long. If I had a chat with somebody or visited their home I always send them the drawing later.

Some like it, some don’t care.

Who are you still eager to portray?

Where do plan on going next?

I want the continue this series and go to more shows!

Strip clubs, magic shows, armwrestling contests and so much more.

Two

I

The Things We Are

‘We Look For The Sun In The Wrong Places’

t’s not about the destination but the road that takes you there. The Things We Are (Joost Stokhof) loves that road. Born in Amsterdam, Joost resided in Utrecht while attending the School of Arts in Utrecht (HKU) where he studies illustration, graduating with a BFA in 2008. While working and traveling with his friend Yuri Veenman under the moniker of Superdeluxe, Joost finds himself in new surroundings at every turn. Hitchhiking every summer to unknown places to find inspiration along the way for a spontaneous exhibition, whether it is in Malmö, Hamburg or anywhere else. Recently two months were spent in Trondheim, northern Norway, for an artist residency. Filled with new bags of work, Joost came back to the Netherlands. For his new exhibition, Joost shows his Norwegian inspired work for the first time in the Netherlands.

You are traveling a lot, and continue to make work while on the road, exhibiting in places like Malmö, Hamburg and others. Where does your urge to travel come from?

I just love the feeling of being away. Discovering new places, new people. That is straight inspiration. Also I work really intuitively, most of the times I use shapes, words or forms that I have close to me. So every time I travel I change those direct influences and therefore my work changes too.

You’ve studied in Utrecht at the School of Visual Arts. What is the most important thing that you learned from your studies?

I guess the best part of art school was the ability to try things, fuck up things and try other things again. It was four years of trial and error. That changes a bit when you’re working in the real world, but I try to still fuck up some things every now and then.

You’ve just come back from working in Norway for a period of two months. How has being in Norway inspired your new work?

I was asked to come over for an artist in residency. Basically I was free to do whatever I wanted. I had an apartment and a studio and they arranged a show for me. It was all pretty exciting. I’m really into the whole Scandinavian art movement nowadays so it was hugely inspiring to have lots of talented people around me.

A lot of Norwegian artists that I’ve met work somewhat like an illustrator but work more in an abstract way, using a lot of simple, almost naïve, shapes in their works. Being there challenged me

How would you describe your work?

Like I said I really to work from my intuition, so in that way it is really autobiographical. I love to put things that are on my mind or fascinate me at that moment directly into my work. Most of the time I don’t have a plan when I start, I just let it happen and a lot of the times it makes sense afterwards.

“I just love the feeling of being away”

to try and fit that into my own work, my line drawings next to those influences which I think worked out really well.

Your work goes very well in combination with poetry, music and other forms of art. What is it that your work makes so accessible to these art forms?

I’ve always been searching for ways to combine my art with other art forms. I just like the idea of making my work more than just a drawing or a painting, When you add music or poetry to it, you can create a more complete atmosphere. I really would like to present people an experience, more than just an exhibition with art works. I think combining my work with other types of art is a good way to do so. Apart from that it is really inspiring to work with other artists, so I’m planning on doing more of those collaborations in the near future.

L

asse Netterstrøm (1980) is a self-taught, and humble Copenhagen artist hailing from a background in architecture. Lasse completed his study at The School of Architecture (The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) where he graduated with a masters degree. As Lasse describes it, he is dealing with making ideas, thoughts, visions and rambling into tangible objects. With his roots in graffiti and street art, Lasse evolved his more abstract works on canvas. Working in a balance of greytones and colour Lasse’s work is based on different themes, experimentation and structural problem solving.

Three

As a self taught artist, how did your art career evolve?

Graffiti was the starter for me (like so many others). I was massively into graffiti during the 90’s and then I started playing around with different mediums like handmade stickers, posters, stencils and so on around 2001. That’s when I started working under the moniker of ‘Silencio’ and that project started up.

After a few years I got invited to do some canvases for a big group show for Copenhagen Cruise in 2004 and then it’s just been growing ever since. Though I’ve mellowed the streetwork out quite a bit now, I guess it’s all a part of what I’m doing now anyhow. To me it looks like a logical evolution, though it may look nothing like it.

Lasse Netterstrøm

‘Maybe It’s Right There’

How does it work now when you are painting?

What happens when you pick up a blank canvas?

I normally start out really loose with a feeling, a sentence or some doodles. Some main moves are laid down and I start building on that. Sometimes the composition and imagery is all up in my head and is just waiting to get out and at times I have to sit and stare and contemplate on every detail before getting anywhere. Normally a painting will make some twists and turns before getting completed. At times it doesn’t even feel like I’m totally in control. But it’s never uneventful and that’s what’s great about it.

Your abstract work has a strong combination of greytones and colour at the same time. How do you make these two opposites fit together?

It’s always fun to hear how people see one’s work. My work is based on different themes, experimentation and structural problem solving. I have elements that I try to mix and evolve in each painting, depending on the thought behind it and where the process takes it. I don’t see it as a battle. It might not always even be intentional. I just think that my kind of image vocabulary, comes through strongly in a mix of greys and colours.

How would you describe your work?

Normally I’ll let people make up their own minds on my work.

But it’s mainly abstract, as you said yourself. I do have some photographic images in my silkscreened works and I’m starting to show photos as a part of my visual universe. I tend to explore

“At times it doesn’t even feel like I’m totally in control”

structures and symbols a lot. An example is the net pattern which symbolises an experimentation on a self regulating structure. I’m really interested in working with different themes or ‘problems’ and dealing with them in my own abstract language. Hopefully that speaks to people on some level, but I don’t think it’s important if they get my motives or not.

How much of your work would somebody be able to relate as Scandinavian art or influence?

As a trained architect, former graffiti bomber, street-artist and now mainly painter I’d say that I’m influenced from all over. Of course we’re all products of our environment on some level, but I’ve travelled a lot and I’ve got inputs from a whole bunch of places and things. Coming from the north, I’d say the seasons is something that influence me, and everybody else up here as well. Maybe that creates some kind of Scandinavian sensibility, but I won’t elaborate to much on that though, haha. Also getting schooled as an architect, you get a strong awareness of that part of the history. That definitely have influenced me in a lot of ways, but I can’t tell you if that’s a good thing or not.

A

Four

professional skateboarder, owner of skateboard company ToyMachine and established photographer, illustrator and painter, Ed Templeton (1972, Orange County, USA) is hard to pin down.

Being an entrepreneur through his skateboarding, artwork and involvement in the influential ‘Beautiful Losers’ exhibition, Ed Templeton is an inspiration for many young contemporary artists these days. Having the opportunity to host his ‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’ exhibition completed the circle within the YOUR:OWN gallery.

Ed Templeton

‘Drinking The Kool Aid’

Ed Templeton’s work merges all of his activities on a level and democratic field of subculture art. Ed Templeton’s European travelling photo exhibition ‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’ is a personal chronicle that serves as a mirror for a broader reflection on what it means to be human. A series of fifty photos made throughout the long career of Ed Templeton, with photos ranging from 1995 to 2009, including subjects like his wife (Deanna Templeton), skateboarding, daily life but also other artists like Margaret Kilgallen.

With origins in the skateboard and punk scenes, his work reflects the DIY aesthetic and endeavour of these cultures, which is furthered by having no formal training as an artist.

Templeton’s use and mingling of multiple mediums (painting and/or writing on photographs, etc.) demonstrates his nonhierarchical approach, whilst his subject matter in turn reflects a non-judgmental perspective of his surroundings. With subject matter not only delving into his personal relationships, but also seeking the outside streets and the activities surrounding the skate culture, Templeton reveals a phantasmagoria of images contextualizing a broader vision of contemporary youth culture.

“I a broader vision of contemporary youth culture”

Ed Templeton has exhibited internationally at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Museum Het Domein (Netherlands), and Kiasma Museum (Helsinki), as well as participated in the influential Beautiful Losers exhibition and feature film. Recenty Templeton opened his biggest exhibition to date at the S.M.A.K. Museum in Gent, Belgium. The ‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’ exhibition has been a travelling European exhibition that has also exhibited at the Elms Lesters Paintings Rooms (London, UK).

YOUR:OWN was proud and very pleased to have the Ed Templeton exhibition on display as the only gallery in the Netherlands.

Panik

‘It’s Your World’

M

r. P, better known as Panik, might not be a familiar face around Amsterdam, but take a walk down the streets of London and you are bound to run into his work. The extensive background in graffiti formed the artist that Panik is today. His work is vivid, charismatic and as he describes himself ‘in a constant negotiation between love and anxiety’. In London, he’s backed by the influential graffiti crew ATG, but for the past two months he’s been on a trip around Amsterdam to break away from the hectic life that is London.

Five

How long have you been working in London as an artist, and how did that all come about?

I started painting graffiti in 1999 and was bombing pretty much all the time between 2001-2005. Through graffiti I learnt a lot about balancing shapes and colours in order to convey a feeling or grab attention. By 2005 I felt like I had achieved what I wanted with regards to getting my name up in London. On top of that a lot of the people from my crew had stopped or were not so active at the time. I remember getting the bus back from south London after a mission and just having this feeling of dissatisfaction from what I’d been painting. Right there I decided with myself that I was gonna start taking things in a new direction.

How would you describe the work you make now?

People often reference Aztec art when they look at my characters but my style didn’t directly come from that. My work is usually vibrant, abstract bursts of colour that look like it’s about to get up and leave. I love playing with how the face can convey emotion and when I get in a rhythm they end up matching my moods or resembling my expressions. A lot of my paintings or drawings has stemmed from formulas and techniques I learnt while painting large scale stuff in the streets. I feel sometimes that my work is driven by love and anxiety and my paintings are often the outcome of me negotiating with the two. Essentially it’s there for you to take however you like, when you look at my work you’re basically looking at a therapy session of myself so if it helps you dissect your own emotions as well, then great, and if everything in your world is worryingly balanced and neutral and it momentarily spins you out then I would also be satisfied with this outcome.

What inpspired you to head to Amsterdam for two months. Did you need a break from London?

I’ve lived in London all my life, and while I love the place it can also get pretty stressful and suffocating at times. I wanted to go and live somewhere else for a bit but needed to have some kind of work/focus wherever that place was going to be. With my show at the YOUR:OWN gallery Amsterdam provided that for me.

Did you take any of your London attitude towards your work with you to Amsterdam?

I definitely try to take a bit of London mentality wherever I go, which is basically to get shit done and try and get up on top of whatever it is you’re approaching. That might sound a bit egotistical or over competitive but when you live in a place like London it is necessary. The pace is so fast, you kind of need to carry a bit of that mind state in order to be in control of where you want to go.

How much of that London attitude is related to your graffiti crew, ATG? Within the London scene we stand for a certain quality control not only within graffiti but now also art and music.

We are constantly evolving and growing in different ways so by me representing ATG through my gallery work I am contributing to a movement that has taken a decade to build.

I don’t think art connoisseurs around the world really care if you’re from a respected graffiti crew or not, but it’s just me.

“I’m contributing to a movement that has taken a decade to build”

I

f you’ve been in the Amsterdam nightlife, you’ve seen his work. Having designed posters for numerous parties of Rednose Distrikt and most recently the Dog Day Disco parties at Paradiso.

Stefan Glerum (1983), born in Amsterdam, has been closely involved with the music scene where he is able to let his imagination run wild. Before starting his study at the St Joost Academy in Breda, where he studied Illus-tration, Stefan enjoyed an internship at Joost Swarte (A Dutch designer and cartoon-ist).

Now Stefan’s own illustrations are in high demand.

Six

The first work I had seen from you were flyers and posters designed for Rednose Distrikt.

How did this connection come about?

About two years ago I moved back to Amsterdam. One night at a club I just walked up to Steven de Peven (from Rednose Distrikt) and told him I was an illustrator and gave him my card.

We chatted a bit about absurdist Belgian comics, Joost Swarte and other stuff. Shortly thereafter I got an email from him saying he really liked my work and asked if I could do a flyer for a party. That flyer is still one of my favourite pieces. When you do something for Rednose you can do pretty much anything you want. If it’s absurdist or politically incorrect, that’s more or less considered as a plus by them.

Stefan Glerum

‘From The Top Drawer’

What is that makes your work fit so well with music related themes?

Music is very important to me. When I went to art school, I basically wanted to design record covers. There always was something magical about them. Later I realized that illustrating for music is different from illustrating for let’s say articles or book covers. It’s not that defined; it’s more about atmosphere rather than words. When I get an article to illustrate my thought process is pretty much blocked. I can’t find any ways to take the subject matter and place into my world. With music however I can let my imagination run wild, make strange connections, associations. You don’t have to tell a specific story, you just have to get the vibe right. Or get it totally wrong, that’s fun too.

How does your work come about, do you sketch first, then draw, ink, and colour?

When I have a good idea I start sketching with pencil.

Sometimes I make scaled down rough sketches before I do my final drawing, but often I’ll start immediately on the final. I use rulers and a compass and straightedge to map out shapes. Some stuff I do freehand, but most of the shapes I want to draw super tight, especially the typography. My drawing usually gets a big mess of lines and shapes before I’ve finished the entire sketch, so I start inking some lines. I use a dip pen and Indian ink for this.

I use this technique because you can’t really ‘draw’ with it. It’s more like following your lines carefully with ink. Therefore your lines are getting really controlled and have equal thickness.

The dipping pen also gives a certain vibrance to your lines you couldn’t achieve with another kind of pen.

“It begins with early 20th century Futurism”

You’re putting in a lot of work there.

Why do you make all this effort?

Most important is for me that my stuff always looks handmade and has life to it. I usually do colours in Photoshop and use swatches of ecoline I previously scanned in to get a paper feeling and a gradient in my colours. When I have the time I colour my piece by hand with ecoline, but it’s the most horrible substance to colour with without getting stripes because it dries super quickly. When it does dry out evenly it looks like it’s printed and beats any marker or water based paint.

How would you describe your own style and influences?

Well, my style is influenced by a lot of stuff. I guess that’s kind of what defines my style. It begins with early 20th century Futurism.

In the sixties and seventies those art deco shapes came back in typography and design, but they got this ‘cult’ vibe going. But then my work is somewhat sweeter and more easy on the eyes.

It has more Joost Swarte and Hergé in it and it has a more model kit instruction booklet / building bricks experience for me. Top that with contemporary heroes like Chris Ware, Parra and Andy Rementer and I guess we’ve got it.

L

ennard Schuurmans has been working as an illustrator and painter for a long time. Though he only started using his birth name around three years ago. Before that he went under monikers as Frühstück, The Blouses, and v-i-a-v-i-a. Almost completely changing styles and elements of his work with every new name, his creative energy has remained recognisable throughout the years. Every new work he makes can be considered an echo of his previous work, always attempting new directions and concepts. For his exhibition at YOUR:OWN, Lennard worked on a new series of installations that help him cope with the visually aggressive chaos of modern life.

Seven

Your work is always changing, almost as a chameleon around your mood, vibe and spirit.

What do you think is the most essential part in your work that always stays the same?

That’s a difficult question. I try to find balance. I’m a builder.

I build compositions, moods, characters, landscapes. I try to make elements flow, float, grow and change. But I’m also very much interested in breaking things apart and giving it a new meaning by putting it in a different context.

Lennard Schuurmans

‘Things Are Gonna Change, I Can Feel It’

In your new installations you’ve been taking the different context to a new step, by providing the audience a piece they can interact with. What are these new pieces about for you?

Every day I wake up in a world that is visually aggressive.

I try to cope with that by selecting the input I consider worthy enough to stay in my mind. But the things that matter to me are changing in time. My friends, colleagues, and the media I follow all give me new input everyday. This inspired me to create changing modular installations in which I invite the viewer to interact. With this work I’m not trying to capture a moment in life. I’m trying to be part of it.

How did these installations come about. Did you work on these yourself, or did you get help from other people?

This is the second time I work with these installations. The first time I made three installations as a work in progress. It generated a lot of ideas. I talked about it with Pieter Numan. He helped to work out my conceptual ideas about it. It’s still a growing process and I’m planning to keep on working in this direction. It feels like a natural way to express myself. I always struggled with the traditional way of making a canvas because it’s so static. With these installations I feel I can go on for ever. I have so many ideas. It really grows on me. My dad helped me out with the production process and that also feels great.

“I was never really interested in abstract art”

You’ve also told me that you’ve been looking for more depth in your work lately, also from a art historic perspective. Where does this interest come from?

I was never really interested in abstract art. But because of this new direction in my work I started to look more into that direction. I found out that my new work resonates with some of the work of artists like Paul Klee, Ellsworth Kelly, Joan Miro and Stuart Davis. My paintings are a lot more abstract than my drawings. I wanted to find out what I like so much about painting abstract forms and shapes. Especially the work of Paul Klee and some of Joan Miro’s wall paintings trigger things in me that I also would love to communicate with my work.

Have you found any new insights into your own work while doing this research?

In my new work I am interested in the relationship between positive and negative elements in a composition of abstract forms and lines. With colour and contrast I’m trying to evoke emotions and portraying moods or social networks with pure form. I’m interested in rearranging elements so they can be viewed differently in a new context. Changing perspectives like patterns in life. Some times you don’t fit in your surrounding or you’re nearly invisible at the wrong spot. But after you made some moves your shining like the Toppers in the Arena. I’m trying to create the perfect spot at the right time. Positive and negative spaces interact and by doing so create new possibilities for elements to grow, destroy, to shine, vibrate or harmonize.

L

il’ Shy is a multimedia artist by heart. Her strong love for all things hands-on, craftsmanship and the art of lettering embodies all of her work, whether it be a painting, a drawing, a piece of clothing, a silkscreen print or a photo. Inspired by daily life, she uses words to vehicle emotions and thoughts. In the last two years Lil’ Shy has turned to textile as the medium of her choice, working slowly from typography towards abstraction. Her new exhibition will be showing her latest textile artworks that she has made over the last year.

Eight

You’re a Paris-born artist, but have been working in Amsterdam for the last ten years. Is Amsterdam your home?

Amsterdam is definitely my home now. Amsterdam is the best place to work on my art because I can isolate myself and focus on my work. For me, coming from Paris, it’s quiet here.

In Amsterdam there is such a great interest and curiosity for art. And I have all my friends here, I’m surrounded by inspiring people, that’s very special to me. I believe that all good things are the same in every city, really, the most valuable thing you can find are friends and good people.

Lil’ Shy

‘All That Matter, And All That Doesn’t’

Two years ago you started working with textile and different fabrics. How has this influenced the way you work?

Working with textile is more playful than working with paint.

When working on a piece with textile, I feel more free when I’m composing a piece. When I used to paint, I would go over and over to cover layers. One of the reasons that I enjoy working with textile is because there are no mistakes you can make.

I like that feeling, it’s liberating.

How do you actually make your textile pieces?

Which process do you go through, and what materials do you use?

First I make sketches on paper, I have tons of small bits of paper with words that I collect. Then I pick the colours for the pieces.

I’m a very instinctive person, and that also goes for my choices.

I just have to feel it, the colour combination has to give me a certain feeling that it’s what I’m looking for, otherwise I’m not satisfied with it. When I have the right colour combination, I start cutting directly in the fabric. I don’t draw on it, I go free hand.

After that I spend some time positioning, and fine tuning the composition. I leave it for few days, so that I can forget about it.

After that I start sewing it all by hand. That is a very long process, it takes me days, sometimes weeks to finish a piece. And as weird as it may sound, I always forget the effort and struggle it takes me, and the next time start an even bigger piece!

“Im Surrounded By Inspiring People”

Why is it that you sew everything by hand, and not by machine?

For me nothing can replace the hand, the line and the small imperfections that the hand creates. In a sense I compare it to drawing, I want my pieces to feel just as if I had drawn, but instead I sew.

And where do you get your textiles? Are you looking for all the Sunday markets to find the perfect fabric?

I have few shops in Amsterdam and Paris that I always go to.

When I see a fabric that I like I buy it, I never really know what I’m gonna do with it but I know that the colour is right, so something is gonna happen!

What kind of direction have you been going into in your latest works? And what can we expect of your new exhibition?

My work is slowly moving toward abstraction. At the moment it’s very geometrical. I have never been into figuration anyway. I use typography in my work as ‘a mass of matter’ to explore shapes and colour. I’m fascinated by colour, to create a good colour combination is essential in my pieces. So I think that abstraction is a natural turn in my work.

Nine

Joe Holbrook

‘Three Is A Crowd’

“Im Surrounded By Inspiring People”

your:own a young, contemporary art gallery