MAGAZINE The CREATORS
Chu Teh-Chun
Michiel Schrijver
The Venguardists
Simon Stålenhag
The Chinese-French abstract
“Travelling along the horizon”
A quick review to the visual
Dystopian illustrator for
painter who pioneered the
concept of the major XX
masochistic times.
integration of traditional
century painters.
Chinese painting techniques with Western abstract art.
First Edition, June 2018
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Chu Teh-Chun was a Chinese-French ab-
he was strongly influenced by the abstract
stract painter who pioneered the integration
works of Nicolas de Stäel, which encouraged
of traditional Chinese painting techniques
him to move away from figurative painting
with Western abstract art. Born on October
entirely. By 1964 his burgeoning career was
24, 1920 in Hangzhou, China, he studied at
boosted enormously by an exhibition at the
the National School of Fine Arts, now known
Carnegie Art Museum in Pittsburgh, and in
as China Academy of Art, where he met fel-
1987, the Taipei Museum of National History
low artists Wu Guanzhong and Zao Wou-Ki,
also mounted a major retrospective of Chu’s
with three friends becoming affectionately
work. He died on March 26, 2014, in Paris,
known as the “Three Musketeers” of Chinese
France, soon after the deaths of his lifelong
Modernist Art for their inventive and influ-
friends Wu Guanzhong and Zao Wou-Ki. To-
ential practices. In 1949, he moved to Tapei
day, his works are held in over 50 museums
where he taught at the National Univer-
worldwide.
sity before moving to Paris in 1955. There,
ON COVER.
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WELCOME! In or first edition, we want to think about the meaning, from the reasons the artist have to make an artwork to the deep and personal sense that everyone can find in art
G
enerally, when someone asks for
In these cases, as long as there is some writ-
the “meaning” of a piece of art, they
ten history, either from the artist or others,
want to know the artist’s intention
we can know exactly what the artist intend-
- what was the artist trying to say in the art-
ed, and we can also know what the extra
work, convey to the viewer? Unfortunately,
symbols they put in the work were about,
meaning is not that simple. First of all, art-
or the special clothing they used, because
ists today often don’t have a clue. In the old
there are written histories that include these
days they did, because they were commis-
matters. So, if you want to know the mean-
sioned to create works that depicted some-
ing of these works, you pick up a history of
thing specific. “Dear artist, here’s some mon-
the artist, plus an art history text, and there
ey. make an sculpture of my wife, and make
you go! (Or these days, you can often just
it good!” Or, “paint a portrait of me, and be
google the painting, or find it on the muse-
sure I look really important!”
um website, which will give you a great deal of information).
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“Once the camera was invented, artists began to create work speculatively - painting not for a specific client, but as an imaginative work.”
H
owever, for artworks created after the
The intention of art became whatever the
mid-1800s, things become much
artist desired, and not what the purchaser
more complex. Because once the
desired. And when artists create, particular-
camera was invented, artists began to create
ly in non-representational ways, they often
work speculatively - painting, for example,
don’t have any clear linear-type thoughts
not for a specific client, but as an imagina-
about meaning. They work intuitively, pro-
tive work, which they hoped would find a cli-
gressing from one stage to the next. Their
ent, through the help of a dealer or a friend
creations derive from heart and soul, not
or an exhibition. This changed things greatly.
primarily from intellect, the source of words.
Also, art became less realistic - first Impres-
There are, of course, many exceptions to this.
sionistic, then post-Impressionist, then Ab-
But for most artists, expressing “meaning” in
stract, then non-Representational - with no
words can be a real challenge.
relationship to any real objects at all. As this happened, the process of the artist changed also. They moved from being closely connected to the desires of their clients, and their community of clients, to a more solitary stance of “self-expression”.
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Claude Monet painted a series of oil paintings of the Palace of Westminster, home of the British Parliament, in the fall of 1899 and the early months of 1900 and 1901 during stays in London.
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T
herefore, deriving “meaning” for a
You can learn more about the artist and her
viewer has shifted. Artists will, often,
history and that may add to what you bring
come up with something or another,
to your search for meaning. You can learn
in order to satisfy the need their clients have.
about the context and history of when the
Or curators or art professionals will look at
art was made. You can search out critical
an artwork and basically “decide” what the
reviews and commentary. But if you want
meaning is and pronounce it. But truly, the
the real nitty gritty? The true meaning? To-
matter of meaning is now believed to be
day, you are on your own, because the only
completely subjective - which means that
meaning there is.... is yours. Your personal
you get to decide for yourself what each
emotional, psychological and intellectual
and every artwork means for you. And your
interpretation of any work of art is absolute-
meaning will be as true and valid as the
ly what it means. And you should never let
meaning that the artist himself has, or the
anyone take that away from you.
curator has.
“Your meaning will be as true and valid as the meaning that the artist himself has,”
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In 1912, Picasso created a cardboard maquette of a piece that would have an outsized impact on 20th-century art Picasso’s innovation was to eschew the conventional carving and modeling of a sculpture out of a solid mass. Instead, Guitar was fastened together like a structure.
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MICHIEL SCHRIJVER “Travelling along the horizon”
T
ravel fuels the imagination” is a vari-
plays an important role, and in which, above
ant on an old saying which certainly
which or within which people can be found.
applies to Michiel Schrijver. Painting
Michiel Schrijver’s world does not exist, but is
is a form of travel for him, after all. And the
nevertheless very realistic. With a little imag-
way it amazes him is a great motivation to
ination, we can enter houses, walk down the
paint. Amazement at everything he discov-
streets and wander from one painting to an-
ers en route in his inner world, because that
other in order to continue our journey. Schri-
is what appears in his paintings.
jver’s painted world is a world of desire and each painting is a stop along the way.
Sketch books full of ideas precede a painting, and that one sketch which can with-
We pause for a moment, look around us,
stand the test of criticism will be captured
savour the light and move on.
on canvas. It is a world in which architecture
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e are taken into his inner world where people play a minor role in an often overwhelming archi-
tecture. A minor role but of certain importance. Moreover, you always feel the presence of the sea in his paintings. Schrijver creates situations where certain elements frequently return. Buildings with pillars, domes and arches are often provided with ribbons and flags or signs with arrows, numbers and figures. They have no symbolic meaning but purely a pictorial function.
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“Water flows; it is always moving, bringing us to many places. To unknown isles as far as beyond the horizon. That intrigues me, but also staying home within the security of the harbour, giving us comfort, has a certain attraction”.
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he people within these structures
Overwelming architecture dominates his
have indistinctive lifes. In order to get
scenes, illuminated by Mediterranean co-
his paintings to a good end he deals
lours. Water is an important element for him,
with a creative imagination. This is a dual ac-
as well as people who almost always play a
tivity; it combines the act of seeing with the
minor role in his scenes. They seem to have
action of creating. His paintings show a van-
indistinctive lives. In short: he uses the out-
tasy world - the world of Michiel Schrijver.
side world to feed his inner world. All paintings are executed with acrylic on canvas.
“Of course many questions arise about the world I create, but I don’t have to know the answer. Something gets lost when I know what it is all about”.
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Exhibitions 2018 Art Laren, with galerie Honingen. 15-16-17 of June. Summerexhibition, Groupexhibition at Galerie Bonnard, Nuenen. July 8th August 26th. Permanently paintings in stock at Galerie Honingen, Galerie Wildevuur and Galerie Bonnard.
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he 20 th-century Western painting begins with the heritage of late-19th-century painters Vincent van Gogh, Paul
THE VANGUARDISTS A XX century western painting quick guide
Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and others who were essential for the development of modern art. At the beginning of the 20th century, Henri Matisse and several other young artists including the pre-cubist Georges Braque, André Derain, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck revolutionized the Paris art world with “wild”, multi-colored, expressive landscapes and figure paintings that the critics called Fauvism. Starting a wave of movements that subsequently derived in the century of the vanguardists..
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he intense colorism of the works he painted between 1900 and 1905 brought him notoriety as one of the
Fauves (wild beasts). Many of his finest works were created in the decade or so after 1906, when he developed a rigorous style that emphasized flattened forms and decorative pattern. In 1917 he relocated to a suburb of Nice on the French Riviera, and the more relaxed style of his work during the 1920s gained him critical acclaim as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting.[6] After 1930, he adopted a bolder simplification of form. When ill health in his final years prevented him from painting, he created an important body of work in the medium of cut paper collage.
P
icasso’s work is often categorized into periods. While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the
most commonly accepted periods in his work are the Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period (1904–1906), the African-influenced Period (1907–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909– 1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919), also referred to as the Crystal period. Much of Picasso’s work of the late 1910s and early 1920s is in a neoclassical style, and his work in the mid-1920s often has characteristics of Surrealism. His later work often combines elements of his earlier styles.
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A
ustrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement.
Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d’art. Klimt’s primary subject was the female body and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. In addition to his figurative works, which include allegories and portraits, he painted landscapes. Among the artists of the Vienna Secession, Klimt was the most influenced by Japanese art and its methods. He subsequently accepted no more public commissions, but achieved a new success with the paintings of his “golden phase”, many of which include gold leaf. Klimt’s work was an important influence on his younger contemporary Egon Schiele.
I
nfluential Italian painter and sculptor, he helped shape the revolutionary aesthetic of the Futurism movement as one
of its principal figures. Despite his short life, his approach to the dynamism of form and the deconstruction of solid mass guided artists long after his death.[1] His works are held by many public art museums, and in 1988 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York organized a major retrospective of 100 pieces.
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H
is highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included Expressionism, Cubism, and Surre-
alism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually deeply explored color theory, writing about it extensively; his lectures Writings on Form and Design Theory are held to be as important for modern art as Leonardo da Vinci’s A Treatise on Painting for the Renaissance. His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality.
H
e is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th century abstract art, as he changed his artistic direction from
figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic vocabulary was reduced to simple geometric elements. Mondrian’s art was highly utopian and was concerned with a search for universal values and aesthetics. He proclaimed in 1914: “Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. We find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art. Art should be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man”.
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panish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona, he earned international acclaim, his work has been
interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride. In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and famously declared an “assassination of painting” in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.
D
alí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly
skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931. Dalí’s expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, at times in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media. Dalí was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork, to the dismay of those who held his work in high esteem, and to the irritation of his critics.
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K
andinsky’s analyses on forms and colours result not from simple, arbitrary idea-associations but from the painter’s
inner experience. He spent years creating abstract, sensorially rich paintings, working with form and colour, tirelessly observing his own paintings and those of other artists, noting their effects on his sense of colour. This subjective experience is something that anyone can do—not scientific, objective observations but inner, subjective ones, what French philosopher Michel Henry calls “absolute subjectivity” or the “absolute phenomenological life”
A
merican painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his
unique style of drip painting. Pollock started using synthetic resin-based paints called alkyd enamels, which at that time was a novel medium. Pollock described this use of household paints, instead of artist’s paints, as “a natural growth out of a need”. He used hardened brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes as paint applicators. Pollock’s technique of pouring and dripping paint is thought to be one of the origins of the term action painting.
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he twentieth century was one of particular worldwide upheaval, ranging from wars to economic downturns to
radical political movements. No one can disagree that the years between 1900 and 2000 were years of extreme change for artists all over the world. These changes were boldly reflected in the works of avante-garde artists throughout the century. Classical art was being challenged more and more as waves of nationalism and imperialism spread over the world in the early half of the twentieth century.
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SIMON STÅLENHAG Dystopian illustrator for masochistic times
S
imon Stålenhag is the internationally
He is based in the countryside outside of
acclaimed author, concept design-
Stockholm, Sweden and has worked on
er and artist behind Tales from the
a variety of projects, ranging from films,
Loop and Things from the Flood. His high-
commercials and book covers to art di-
ly imaginative images and stories depict-
recting and concepting for video games.
ing illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane,
He has mentioned Lars Jonsson and Gunnar
hyper-realistic Scandinavian and American
Brusewitz as their biggest influences - that is
landscapes have made Stålenhag one of
in approaching real landscapes. Regarding
the most sought-after visual storytellers in
the surreal, Zdzislaw Beksinski has always
the world. Tales from the Loop was ranked
been his bigger influence.
one of the “10 Best Dystopias” by The Guardian, along with such works as Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca.
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elcome to rural Sweden, some-
The artwork is impactful as a result of this
time in the late ‘80s. Citizens go
juxtaposition between the harsh realities of
about their mundane lives and
life and the sci-fi technologies of our dreams.
children explore the countryside. But some-
It’s reminiscent of worlds like the one so ef-
thing isn’t quite right. Robots and hovercrafts
fectively portrayed in games like Half-Life 2,
are commonplace, and decaying science fa-
and like such great video games, the uni-
cilities sprout from the harsh Scandinavian
verse created by the artist seems to continue
landscape. There’s even a rumor circulating
well beyond the edge of the canvas.
that dinosaurs have returned from the dead after some failed experiment. This is the world that exists in artist Simon Stålenhag’s mind, and it’s only accessible through his paintings. The alternate universe he’s created is inspired by the sci-fi movies he watched as a kid growing up in the rural areas around Stockholm.
“The only difference in the world of my art and our world is that ... ever since the early 20th century, attitudes and budgets were much more in favor of science and technology.”
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MAGAZINE