08.06 – 17.11.2013 artist overview
Michael J. Baers Michael J Baers (lives and works in Berlin) commonly uses montage as his method and the serial comic strip as his medium. He illustrates and mediates various situations and discourses – often inspired by history and art theory. His visual storytelling resembles film storyboards manuscript. Under the title Meta-Comics, Baers, drawing on a variety of references, ventures into an investigative, critical and selfreflective line of reasoning. Work in the exhibition Picasso in Palestine (2013) is a critical, reflective reportage. It combines drawing with extensive writing and thus plays with the boundaries of interpreting the Picasso in Palestine project by the Van Abbemuseum in 2011.
Michael J. Baers, Picasso in Palestine, 2013
Sue Coe Sue Coe (1951, lives and works in New-York) is an artist and animator working primarily as a printmaker. Her work is striking both visually and in subject matter, addressing broad contemporary socio-political issues including themes such as animal rights, capitalism, apartheid, aids, and war. These themes are explored through direct representations of specific scenes of slaughter, murder, or rape. She can be seen as an activist in the sense that her work functions as a source of information as well as a provocation of the viewer. Works in the exhibition Tragedy of War (2000) – a series of etchings that explores the various atrocities of war in contemporary era. How to Commit Suicide in South Africa (1983) – a graphic novel containing etchings of life in South Africa in face of apartheid.
Sue Coe, Bulls Eye (Target Practice) , copyright © 2000 Sue Coe. Courtesy Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Robert Crumb Robert Crumb (1943, lives and works in France) is one of the most well known cartoonists, famous for his criticism of American cultural values and specifically capitalism. He has often been criticised for his depictions of women and African-Americans, which have been regarded as sexist and racist. In this sense Crumb’s comics walk a thin line between criticism and representing that which he appears to criticise.
Robert Crumb, Lenore Goldberg and Her Girl Commandos (1970). Collection Henk Groenendijk
Emma de Swaef & Marc James Roels, Oh Willy… , 2012. Courtesy Beast Animation, Mechelen
Works in the exhibition Lenore Goldberg and Her Girl Commandos (1970) – in this comic strip Crumb introduces the character of Lenore, a radical feminist who believes in restructuring society in order to rid it of sexism. Through Lenore, Crumb both presents and makes fun of the 60s feminist movement. At first fighting against inequality, Lenore is ‘put in her place’ by Crumb as her rebellion is subdued as she becomes a mother.
utilises sculptural materials from life, creating worlds and characters made of carpets, leather, wood, or wool. The stories told in her films are somewhat dream-like yet relate to lived experience on a phenomenological level, conveying a sense of recognisable intimacy.
It’s Really too Bad (1969) – a comic strip about the desperation, depicting different social groups as a kind of scum of life, induced by capitalism. All are deeply defeated and depressed, repeating the sentence “why bother” over and over again. The Family that Lays Together Stays Together (1969) – an incestuous parody of familiar relations.
Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels Emma De Swaef and Marc Roels are filmmakers who collaborated together for the first time on the film Oh Willy… While this was Roels’ first time making an animated film, it continues many of the themes developed in the work of De Swaef. She often
Work in the exhibition Oh Willy…. (2012) is a short stopmotion film. The general narrative centres on an adult male character, presumably Willy, as he goes to visit his dying mother in what appears to be a nudist colony. The film is driven by oppositions such as clothed and nude, mother and son, aggression and gentleness or warmth and cold. All of which are played out through the bodily experiences of the main character, showing the inevitable interconnectedness of the physical and the emotional and constructing a sense of fluidity of age as a mother dies and an adult becomes a nursing baby.
Michael J. Baers Michael J Baers (lives and works in Berlin) commonly uses montage as his method and the serial comic strip as his medium. He illustrates and mediates various situations and discourses – often inspired by history and art theory. His visual storytelling resembles film storyboards manuscript. Under the title Meta-Comics, Baers, drawing on a variety of references, ventures into an investigative, critical and selfreflective line of reasoning. Work in the exhibition Picasso in Palestine (2013) is a critical, reflective reportage. It combines drawing with extensive writing and thus plays with the boundaries of interpreting the Picasso in Palestine project by the Van Abbemuseum in 2011.
Michael J. Baers, Picasso in Palestine, 2013
Sue Coe Sue Coe (1951, lives and works in New-York) is an artist and animator working primarily as a printmaker. Her work is striking both visually and in subject matter, addressing broad contemporary socio-political issues including themes such as animal rights, capitalism, apartheid, aids, and war. These themes are explored through direct representations of specific scenes of slaughter, murder, or rape. She can be seen as an activist in the sense that her work functions as a source of information as well as a provocation of the viewer. Works in the exhibition Tragedy of War (2000) – a series of etchings that explores the various atrocities of war in contemporary era. How to Commit Suicide in South Africa (1983) – a graphic novel containing etchings of life in South Africa in face of apartheid.
Sue Coe, Bulls Eye (Target Practice) , copyright © 2000 Sue Coe. Courtesy Galerie St. Etienne, New York
Robert Crumb Robert Crumb (1943, lives and works in France) is one of the most well known cartoonists, famous for his criticism of American cultural values and specifically capitalism. He has often been criticised for his depictions of women and African-Americans, which have been regarded as sexist and racist. In this sense Crumb’s comics walk a thin line between criticism and representing that which he appears to criticise.
Robert Crumb, Lenore Goldberg and Her Girl Commandos (1970). Collection Henk Groenendijk
Emma de Swaef & Marc James Roels, Oh Willy… , 2012. Courtesy Beast Animation, Mechelen
Works in the exhibition Lenore Goldberg and Her Girl Commandos (1970) – in this comic strip Crumb introduces the character of Lenore, a radical feminist who believes in restructuring society in order to rid it of sexism. Through Lenore, Crumb both presents and makes fun of the 60s feminist movement. At first fighting against inequality, Lenore is ‘put in her place’ by Crumb as her rebellion is subdued as she becomes a mother.
utilises sculptural materials from life, creating worlds and characters made of carpets, leather, wood, or wool. The stories told in her films are somewhat dream-like yet relate to lived experience on a phenomenological level, conveying a sense of recognisable intimacy.
It’s Really too Bad (1969) – a comic strip about the desperation, depicting different social groups as a kind of scum of life, induced by capitalism. All are deeply defeated and depressed, repeating the sentence “why bother” over and over again. The Family that Lays Together Stays Together (1969) – an incestuous parody of familiar relations.
Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels Emma De Swaef and Marc Roels are filmmakers who collaborated together for the first time on the film Oh Willy… While this was Roels’ first time making an animated film, it continues many of the themes developed in the work of De Swaef. She often
Work in the exhibition Oh Willy…. (2012) is a short stopmotion film. The general narrative centres on an adult male character, presumably Willy, as he goes to visit his dying mother in what appears to be a nudist colony. The film is driven by oppositions such as clothed and nude, mother and son, aggression and gentleness or warmth and cold. All of which are played out through the bodily experiences of the main character, showing the inevitable interconnectedness of the physical and the emotional and constructing a sense of fluidity of age as a mother dies and an adult becomes a nursing baby.
Piotr Dumala, Lykantropia , 1981
Piotr Dumala Piotr Dumala (1956, lives and works in Warsaw) is an artist and animator. His animations frequently employ philosophical themes, specifically existentialism, which appears to serve as a framework through which narratives unfold. He uses existentialism as a basis upon which he draws out metaphors and references to society in Poland, often demonstrating life as constricted, requiring secrecy, and saturated with social and authoritarian surveillance. Importantly, the feel of his work is additionally created through his animation technique. A technique which he invented himself, consisting of drawing into darkly-coloured oil paint placed on plaster in such a way that the drawing is constantly altered. Works in the exhibition Czarny kapturek [Little Black Riding Hood] (1983) – In this animation Dumala rereads the Brother Grimm’s story of Little Red Riding Hood, turning it into a story about collective devouring which lacks any morals, demonstrated through the representation of social encounters as literally consuming. Nobody remains innocent as the distinctions between the good and bad roles of the characters in the original story disappear and make us question the absoluteness of such roles in the first place.
Lykantropia (1981) – In this animation a pack of wolves eat each other alive upon discovering that they are
Greg Irons and Tom Veitch GI/TV, The Legion of the Charlies, 1971. Collection Henk Groenendijk
actually human beings. While the entire wolf pack participates in this act, the last wolf remaining is revealed to be the only one that is not human. In this way the animation reveals the threat of difference and the blindness involved in social pressures to conform in line of power.
Extrastruggle Extrastruggle is an artist working in Turkey who makes drawings. His work can be seen to form a kind of autobiography of Turkey which depicts events from Turkish history and its current political situation. Works in the exhibition Life without punishment (2013) – an animated video. Innocent Snake (2013) – black and white drawings.
Philippe Grammaticopoulos The animations of the filmmaker and animator Philippe Grammaticopoulos (1970, lives and works in Paris) centre on aspects of collectivity, with a specific focus on bourgeois conventions. They convey a sense of the mechanisation of life and entrapment within social systems which enforce sameness, where people look and dress exactly the same, live in identical houses, and follow accepted social procedures in a mindless, robotic-like way. The lines and sounds of his animations are clean, sharp, and dramatic.
Work in the exhibition Le Régulateur (2004) – this animated film depicts the making of a bourgeoisie family. Grammaticopoulos depicts a couple, apparently desiring to have a child, going to a scientist in order to pick out their future child’s features, such as his body, face, and eyes. The intimacy associated with the idea of a romantic relationship or a family is replaced with standardised, mechanical procedures and determined outcomes, but not without a few scary flaws in the mechanical system of reproductions.
Extrastruggle, Innocent Snake, 2013
Greg Irons and Tom Veitch Greg Irons and Tom Veitch collaborated in the early 70’s under the logo GI/TV as a cartoonist and writer team. Their work employs a sense of the absurd and takes on fictive story lines out of realistic associations. Works in the exhibition You Got a Point There, Pop! (1973) – a world war between men and women plays as a backdrop to the encounter of two fighters from opposing sides. One is a nude, black woman holding a knife. The other is a white man with a gun. The woman wins the fight and proceeds to rape and murder the man as she complains about sexism and the “masculine ego.” It would seem that depicting the rape of a man by a woman would imply an attempt at a feminist take, yet the emphasis on the woman’s perpetuation of the violence which she complains about
Philippe Grammaticopoulos, Le Régulateur, 2004. Courtesy the artist.
Piotr Dumala, Lykantropia , 1981
Piotr Dumala Piotr Dumala (1956, lives and works in Warsaw) is an artist and animator. His animations frequently employ philosophical themes, specifically existentialism, which appears to serve as a framework through which narratives unfold. He uses existentialism as a basis upon which he draws out metaphors and references to society in Poland, often demonstrating life as constricted, requiring secrecy, and saturated with social and authoritarian surveillance. Importantly, the feel of his work is additionally created through his animation technique. A technique which he invented himself, consisting of drawing into darkly-coloured oil paint placed on plaster in such a way that the drawing is constantly altered. Works in the exhibition Czarny kapturek [Little Black Riding Hood] (1983) – In this animation Dumala rereads the Brother Grimm’s story of Little Red Riding Hood, turning it into a story about collective devouring which lacks any morals, demonstrated through the representation of social encounters as literally consuming. Nobody remains innocent as the distinctions between the good and bad roles of the characters in the original story disappear and make us question the absoluteness of such roles in the first place.
Lykantropia (1981) – In this animation a pack of wolves eat each other alive upon discovering that they are
Greg Irons and Tom Veitch GI/TV, The Legion of the Charlies, 1971. Collection Henk Groenendijk
actually human beings. While the entire wolf pack participates in this act, the last wolf remaining is revealed to be the only one that is not human. In this way the animation reveals the threat of difference and the blindness involved in social pressures to conform in line of power.
Extrastruggle Extrastruggle is an artist working in Turkey who makes drawings. His work can be seen to form a kind of autobiography of Turkey which depicts events from Turkish history and its current political situation. Works in the exhibition Life without punishment (2013) – an animated video. Innocent Snake (2013) – black and white drawings.
Philippe Grammaticopoulos The animations of the filmmaker and animator Philippe Grammaticopoulos (1970, lives and works in Paris) centre on aspects of collectivity, with a specific focus on bourgeois conventions. They convey a sense of the mechanisation of life and entrapment within social systems which enforce sameness, where people look and dress exactly the same, live in identical houses, and follow accepted social procedures in a mindless, robotic-like way. The lines and sounds of his animations are clean, sharp, and dramatic.
Work in the exhibition Le Régulateur (2004) – this animated film depicts the making of a bourgeoisie family. Grammaticopoulos depicts a couple, apparently desiring to have a child, going to a scientist in order to pick out their future child’s features, such as his body, face, and eyes. The intimacy associated with the idea of a romantic relationship or a family is replaced with standardised, mechanical procedures and determined outcomes, but not without a few scary flaws in the mechanical system of reproductions.
Extrastruggle, Innocent Snake, 2013
Greg Irons and Tom Veitch Greg Irons and Tom Veitch collaborated in the early 70’s under the logo GI/TV as a cartoonist and writer team. Their work employs a sense of the absurd and takes on fictive story lines out of realistic associations. Works in the exhibition You Got a Point There, Pop! (1973) – a world war between men and women plays as a backdrop to the encounter of two fighters from opposing sides. One is a nude, black woman holding a knife. The other is a white man with a gun. The woman wins the fight and proceeds to rape and murder the man as she complains about sexism and the “masculine ego.” It would seem that depicting the rape of a man by a woman would imply an attempt at a feminist take, yet the emphasis on the woman’s perpetuation of the violence which she complains about
Philippe Grammaticopoulos, Le Régulateur, 2004. Courtesy the artist.
haviour and exposes the absurdity of social norms while also mocking masculinity and male sexuality. Works in the exhibition Intolerance series: Intolerance I – III (2000-2004) – This film trilogy displays the figures of the Zog through which it addresses social intolerance towards what is categorised as ‘different’ at large. The focus is on normativity that is shown to be culturally dependent rather than universally ‘moral,’ a theme largely explored through allusions to Christianity, with its historical witch-hunts, discriminations, and sexual repression.
William Kentridge, The Refusal of Time, 2012. William Kentridge, Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison, 2012. Installation at MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma. Image courtesy of Fondazione MAXXI, photo: Matteo Monti
Phil Mulloy, Intolerance III, 2004.
would suggest quite the opposite. The strength of this comic strip is not in the intended storyline but in the implications of a rape scene that plays with the gender roles of sexual vulnerability and violence.
The Legion of the Charlies (1971) – inspired by two stories of murder which were sentenced very differently, one is the murders committed by Charles Manson and three of his followers and the other the murders committed by soldier William Calley in Vietnam. The two stories are juxtaposed against each other, highlighting the inherent dehumanisation outside nationalistic borders, which is embedded in state apparatuses such as the military.
William Kentridge Kentridge (1955, lives and works in Johannesburg) is an artist, printmaker, and animator. His work is largely focused on socio-political themes drawn from the history of apartheid in South Africa. His trademark charcoal drawings, in which he uses erasure in order to create the next image, adds an element of closeness and intimacy to the depicted scene.
Prabhakar Pachpute, Canary in a Coalmine (detail), 2012. Clark House, Bombay, India
Work in the exhibition In the Studio of the museum, the impressive installation The Refusal of Time (2012) is on view, one of the highlights of dOCUMENTA13 in Kassel.
The Refusal of Time arose in part out of conversations between Kentridge and science historian Peter Galison on matters including the history of the control of world time, relativity, black holes, and string theory. In this work, a small band of brass and percussion plays anarchic music behind a sequence of animations depicting the institutionalisation of time in late-nineteenth-century Paris. Kentridge narrates the story of attempts to standardise the keeping of time: the invention of pressurised clocks, of time zones, of utopian visions of total synchronisation.
Phil Mulloy Phil Mulloy (1948, lives and works in the UK) is an artist and animator. His animations are marked by a crudeness of style, which stands out in his depictions of dark, flat silhouette characters contrasting the plain background of the depicted world. Narrative driven in approach, the storylines usually follow singular male characters through which social themes such as religion, capitalism, and racism are addressed. An important aspect of Mulloy’s films is his unmistakable social commentaries as he directly criticizes the roles of social actors and power relations involved in social structures. Combined with the frequent use of sex in his animations, Mulloy simultaneously ridicules accepted social be-
Prabhakar Pachpute Prabhakar Pachpute (1986, lives and works in Bombay, India) is an artist who makes drawings, sculptures, and installations. Pachpute was born to a family of coal-miners. Across his community most families have many male members working in the ‘Sasti Coal-mine’ of the Western India Coalfields Limited. In 2010 while pursuing his masters in Sculpture, Pachpute was drawn to the extensive coverage of the Chilean Mining disaster, where their rescue became an issue of international concern and the entire Chilean nation rallied behind them. During the same period in Chandrapur the collapse of a tunnel in an underground mine where many miners were injured went almost unreported by the national media in India. Even though India primarily depends on coal energy and it was the most important factor in the country’s economic growth, the apathy and neglect miners faced was a cause of concern for Pachpute. Having observed their lives closely and understanding their concerns, Pachpute decided to use the miner as the main protagonist of his practice. Works in the exhibition Canary in a Coalmine (2013) – is an installation comprised of wall projected drawings which depict the accident in Chandrapur and the collective strength of the coalminers. This installation is a reinterpretation of Pachpute’s 2012 installation Canary in a Coalmine in Bombay.
haviour and exposes the absurdity of social norms while also mocking masculinity and male sexuality. Works in the exhibition Intolerance series: Intolerance I – III (2000-2004) – This film trilogy displays the figures of the Zog through which it addresses social intolerance towards what is categorised as ‘different’ at large. The focus is on normativity that is shown to be culturally dependent rather than universally ‘moral,’ a theme largely explored through allusions to Christianity, with its historical witch-hunts, discriminations, and sexual repression.
William Kentridge, The Refusal of Time, 2012. William Kentridge, Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison, 2012. Installation at MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma. Image courtesy of Fondazione MAXXI, photo: Matteo Monti
Phil Mulloy, Intolerance III, 2004.
would suggest quite the opposite. The strength of this comic strip is not in the intended storyline but in the implications of a rape scene that plays with the gender roles of sexual vulnerability and violence.
The Legion of the Charlies (1971) – inspired by two stories of murder which were sentenced very differently, one is the murders committed by Charles Manson and three of his followers and the other the murders committed by soldier William Calley in Vietnam. The two stories are juxtaposed against each other, highlighting the inherent dehumanisation outside nationalistic borders, which is embedded in state apparatuses such as the military.
William Kentridge Kentridge (1955, lives and works in Johannesburg) is an artist, printmaker, and animator. His work is largely focused on socio-political themes drawn from the history of apartheid in South Africa. His trademark charcoal drawings, in which he uses erasure in order to create the next image, adds an element of closeness and intimacy to the depicted scene.
Prabhakar Pachpute, Canary in a Coalmine (detail), 2012. Clark House, Bombay, India
Work in the exhibition In the Studio of the museum, the impressive installation The Refusal of Time (2012) is on view, one of the highlights of dOCUMENTA13 in Kassel.
The Refusal of Time arose in part out of conversations between Kentridge and science historian Peter Galison on matters including the history of the control of world time, relativity, black holes, and string theory. In this work, a small band of brass and percussion plays anarchic music behind a sequence of animations depicting the institutionalisation of time in late-nineteenth-century Paris. Kentridge narrates the story of attempts to standardise the keeping of time: the invention of pressurised clocks, of time zones, of utopian visions of total synchronisation.
Phil Mulloy Phil Mulloy (1948, lives and works in the UK) is an artist and animator. His animations are marked by a crudeness of style, which stands out in his depictions of dark, flat silhouette characters contrasting the plain background of the depicted world. Narrative driven in approach, the storylines usually follow singular male characters through which social themes such as religion, capitalism, and racism are addressed. An important aspect of Mulloy’s films is his unmistakable social commentaries as he directly criticizes the roles of social actors and power relations involved in social structures. Combined with the frequent use of sex in his animations, Mulloy simultaneously ridicules accepted social be-
Prabhakar Pachpute Prabhakar Pachpute (1986, lives and works in Bombay, India) is an artist who makes drawings, sculptures, and installations. Pachpute was born to a family of coal-miners. Across his community most families have many male members working in the ‘Sasti Coal-mine’ of the Western India Coalfields Limited. In 2010 while pursuing his masters in Sculpture, Pachpute was drawn to the extensive coverage of the Chilean Mining disaster, where their rescue became an issue of international concern and the entire Chilean nation rallied behind them. During the same period in Chandrapur the collapse of a tunnel in an underground mine where many miners were injured went almost unreported by the national media in India. Even though India primarily depends on coal energy and it was the most important factor in the country’s economic growth, the apathy and neglect miners faced was a cause of concern for Pachpute. Having observed their lives closely and understanding their concerns, Pachpute decided to use the miner as the main protagonist of his practice. Works in the exhibition Canary in a Coalmine (2013) – is an installation comprised of wall projected drawings which depict the accident in Chandrapur and the collective strength of the coalminers. This installation is a reinterpretation of Pachpute’s 2012 installation Canary in a Coalmine in Bombay.
Peter Pontiac, Dope Carousel, 1993
Peter Pontiac Peter Pontiac (1951, lives and works in Amsterdam) is an artist who makes comics. He is well-known in the Netherlands, especially for his autobiographical depictions of drug use in the 80’s and his impressive and detailed drawing technique, condensing a lot of content into one drawing. His subjects range from fictive scenes involving politics with a depiction of his own character to scenes of daily life on the streets, including poverty and drugs. Works in the exhibition Pighead Acid Test (1969) – a fictional story about the kidnapping of president Nixon.
Art Under Attack (2013), Deus Ex Machina (1996), Dope Carousel (1993), Loveslug (1991) – Four drawings dealing with Pontiac’s experiences and life in Amsterdam.
Ton Smits, untitled, 1947
Ton Smits Ton Smits (1921-1981) was an artist and cartoonist based in Eindhoven. During WWII Smits drew political cartoons which parodied Hitler and the Nazis, as well as cartoons, which encompassed diverse aspects of the political situation in the Netherlands such as immigration policies, the former Dutch colonies, and the economy. After WWII Smits decided to focus his attention on non-political cartoons and paintings for which he is better known. Smits’s cartoons are flat, linear, mostly black and white, employing very little if any colour. Specifically in his political cartoons Smits takes a straightforward approach to the subject matters addressed. Works in the exhibition The series of cartoons by Smits shown in Black or White are his political cartoons made shortly after the WWII period.
Activities during Black or White During Black or White the museum is organising different activities. Both young and old visitors can become active themselves in the museum and workshops will be given. The works in Black or White are also an important source for the lectures on certain themes, the three-day summer course , the Zomertoer (Summer Tour) and the exhibition Colourful in black-and-white by children of Korein Kinderplein.
Curators Black or White: Galit Eilat, Taya Hanauer (co-curator)
Van Abbemuseum Bilderdijklaan 10, Eindhoven T +31 (0) 40 2381000 info@vanabbemuseum.nl www.vanabbemuseum.nl