‘barbares d’esprit’
‘barbares d’esprit’ is (‘thinking barbarians’) is the name of an artists’ group formed by ad arma, bert van santen, quraiseh and mark verdoes.
in june 2017 they jointly made a first series of works in a first work meeting, which were presented in july 2017 in an exhibition in the studio farmhouse of ad arma in alphen on the maas.
together they have drawn up a manifesto.
manifesto
we are artists of this time.
our work in innovatory.
our work is multidisciplinary.
we work at the bounderies of what is possible
we do look back but our work is always directed forwards.
we try to expand the possibilities of diverse techniques.
we have rough and also traditional ways of working.
we are not limited.
we embrace challenges by overcoming them by means of creativity.
our way of working connects us.
different nationalities do not devide us.
other cultural influences are welcome to us but still we are strongly connected to our own cultural background.
we are curious and like to experiment.
our work reflects on the past, today and our personal vision of tomorrow, we are thinkers.
we are all travellers in our own way.
our art is autonomous.
from left to right.: bert van santen, mark verdoes, quraiseh, ad arma
short biographies of the members of 'barbares d'esprit'
ad arma (rotterdam, nl, 1954)
master in arts, art academy artibus utrecht 1974-1979, has shown his work in many solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including in:
the international art center hong kong, macau museum of art, oita prefecture museum, japan.
he was artist in residence at the iccd in india in 1995 and stayed for a long time in nepal, india, japan, china, hong kong and spitsbergen to work and travel.
in japan, india, hong kong and macau he gave lectures and workshops.
in 2007 he was the artist of the year in the netherlands.
he is co-founder of the artist group 'barbares d'esprit'.
bert van santen (leerdam, nl, 1958)
studied cultural anthropology at the university of utrecht.
as an artist he is self-taught.
his work was previously exhibited in, among others in the netherlands in:
the gorkum museum, on the kunstrai in amsterdam, raw art fair in rotterdam, art breda in breda and in various greek museums in the framework of the 'orange water art festival'.
his 'fleurs-du-mal' paintings can be seen from summer 2018 in the new flower art museum, aalsmeer (nl).
he is the publisher of art folder 'k' and co-founder of the artist group 'barbares d'esprit'.
the work of bert van santen comprises several disciplines: paintings with oil paint, including the series' fleurs du mal ', and mixed media, sculptures, cabinet objects, work on paper and artists' books with mixed techniques.
quraiseh (baghdad, iq, 1965)
he is interested in changes that take place on surfaces of rust-damaged objects! is it really a damage or is there a transitional phase, accompanied by characteristics and values of hitherto unknown beauty?
he becomes inspired by his daily interactions with nature and colors, landscapes, public spaces, conversations with people, his own emotions .... in this way he develops a certain view, beyond what our eyes normally see.
he finds it most exciting to emphasize these slices, which are rusting, and to show the beautiful red-brown and discover it on the white material of his art and unfamiliar beauty.
natural effects of corrosion he always found fascinating!
if he sees something rusting somewhere, he wants to do something .... create something.
mark verdoes ('s-gravenhage, nl, 1960)
his work is a reflection on how he experiences the world and an attempt to visualize his contemporary vision of the cosmos.
his work is an idiosyncratic mixture of techniques and materials in which the controlled chance plays an important role.
nature is the driving force behind everything.
he works with the elements, eagerly making use of the unpredictability of, for example, air (heat) and water.
he developed many of the necessary techniques himself; he developed a method for photography in his paintings. to be processed according to a unique process
text piet augustijn
click here for the text of piet augustijn pronounced by him at the opening of the exhibition 'barbares d'esprit' 02-07-2017 in the studio farmhouse of ad arma in alphen on the maas (nl).
exhibitions
solo and group exhibitions in the netherlands, including alphen on the maas and amsterdam.
gallery 9 presents the work of ‘barbares d’esprit’ since 2017:
2017 solo exhibition in the gallery
2018 winter exhibition in the gallery
2018 presentation at kunstrai | art amsterdam in rai, amsterdam (nl)
2018 summer exhibition in the gallery
art fairs
presentation at kunstrai | art amsterdam 2018 in rai, amsterdam (nl) with gallery 9
collections
work of 'barbares d'esprit' is included in several private collections
publications
'barbares d' esprit ', 2017, 28 p., approx. 29.5 x 21 cm
