work

'less is more' is the ideal from which henk van putten already for many years is trying to make his constructive, geometric art.

the ideal would be a simple, strong, shape, well made and of an interesting construction.

he still struggles with contradictionary considerations:

leaving things out can lead to objects which do not look simpeler, but, on the contrary, more complex.

presenting a geometric idea in ​​a beautiful way sits in the way of presenting it in an understandable way.

these days, considerations of ‘beauty’ are of less concern to him than they used to be.

it is the geometrical idea, the play with newly discovered ratios, which takes precedence.

one such idea, leads to many objects in very different materials.

he is looking for new and interesting ways to arrange the all-time basic geometrical forms.

by manipulating these given elements in a certain way, surprising and interesiting new shapes can be created.

as a sculptor, he is always busy investigating the three-dimensional effects.

form, size and material determine the monumentality of a sculpture.

he always uses a very limited scale of basic shapes: the circle, the square and the triangle are his basic tools.

he tries to realize a metamorphosis in the shape and especially in the spaciousness of a basic form by using  very different materials and ‘translating’ the basic concept into different expressions or ‘descriptions’ of one basic form.

henk van putten thinks that a sculpture should be visibly appealing, but above all particularly interesting.

 

henk van putten

born in 1936 in amsterdam (nl)

lived and worked since 2001 in auroville (in)

died in 2019 in auroville (in)

1948 higher technical school, amsterdam (nl)

1950-1960 works as designer at various studios

1959 travels through spain and marocco

1965 sets up own consultancy agency

1970 moves to ibiza and works as a freelance artist

1972 returns to the netherlands

1973 works as a freelance sculptor

1976 settles in amsterdam (nl)

1979 lecturer at the gerrit rietveld academie in amsterdam (nl)

1980 founds gallery the art stable an publishes first edition of ‘art stable review’

1984 establishes artist’s group ‘asa’

1998 study trip to india

1999-2000  regular visits to auroville, india

2001 permanent residence in auroville, pondichery, india

education

henk van putten graduated at the higher technical school in amsterdam and is autodidact

exhibitions

solo exhibitions

in the netherlands (nl):

amsterdam: museum fodor (1978), galerie vieleers (1993), galerie professor brummelkamp (1993), galerie art stable (2009, 2011), galerie carla koch (1997, 2013)

deventer: arti domo (1970)

the hague: presentation ’40 paintings at he asser institute’ by galerie art stable (2009)

leidschendam: galerie de sluis (1980)

nijmegen: museum van nijmegen (1989)

plasmolen (near nijmegen): de vierde dimensie (1994, 1996, 2000, 2004)

in belgium (be):

antwerp: avant garde gallery (1985), gallery bozar (1987)

brussels: galerie amaryllis (1992)

liège: galerie liehrmann (1992)

oostduinkerke: gallery de muelenaere & lefevere (2007)

in germany (de):

münchen: asb gallery (1985)

in india (in):

aureville: savitri bhavan with agnus gastmans (2010)

in the united kingdom (gb):

london: asb gallery chernex (1985)

in spain (es):

barcelona: asb gallery (1989)

ibiza: galerie carl vandervoort (1972)

in switzerland (ch):

zug: gallery am see (1988)

group exhibitions

in china (cn):

wuhu city: wuhu sculpturepark (2014)

in india (in):

auroville: gallery kala kendra, bharat nivas (2005, ,2006, 2009), art on sunday (2011, 2012)

chennai: art world, sarala’s art centre (2006)

mumbai: cymroza gallery (2007), harmony art (2008), indus vista gallery (2008)

pondicherry: exhibitionhouse, sri aurobindo ashram (2005), shilpataru foundation (2008)

in poland (pl):

elblag: centrum sztuki galeria el: ‘reductive nl: four generations of geometric-abstract art from the netherlands’ (2014)

in slovakia (sk):

bratislava: dom umenia: ‘geometric-abstract.eu’ (2012)

poprad: tantranska galeria: ‘reductive nl: four generations of geometric-abstract art from the netherlands’ (2015)

in csechia (cz):

ostrava: galeria vytvarneho umeni: ‘reductive nl: four generations of geometric-abstract art from the netherlands’ (2015)

gallery 9 presents his works since 2014:

2024 summer exhibition in the gallery

2023 holidays exhibition in the gallery

2023 summer exhibition in the gallery

2021 summer exhibition in the gallery

2021 spring exhibition in the gallery

2020 summer exhibition in the gallery

2019 summer exhibition in the gallery

2019 open garden days amsterdam, garden keizersgracht 416, amsterdam (nl)

2019 winter exhibition in the gallery

2018 open garden days amsterdam, garden keizersgracht 416, amsterdam (nl)

2018 kunstrai | art amsterdam in rai, amsterdam (nl)

2018 winter exhibition in the gallery

2017 art the hague in fokker terminal, the hague (nl)

2017 duo exhibition together with eliza kopec in the gallery

2017 summer exhibition in the gallery

2017 spring exhibition in the gallery

2017 winter exhibition in the gallery

2016 seasons holidays exhibition in the gallery

2016 summer exhibition in the gallery

2016 spring exhibition in the gallery

2016 rotterdam contemporary art fair in cruise terminal, rotterdam

2015 summer exhibition in the gallery

2015 trio exhibition together with aaldrik harkema and bilal chahal in the gallery

2014 exhibition 6 positions concrete art

art fairs

art basel, basel, switzerland (ch): 1972, 1974, 1983, 1984

art cologne, cologne, (de): 1983, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998

art fair london, london, (gb): 1984, 1985

art frankfurt, frankfurt (de): 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001

art rotterdam, rotterdam (nl): 2000, 2001, 2002

art the hague, the hague (nl) 2017 with gallery 9

holland art fair, the hague (nl): 1995, 1996, 1997

kunstrai, amsterdam (nl): 1995, 1997, 1999, 2018

lineart, ghent, belgium (be): 1991, 1992, 1999

pan amsterdam, amsterdam (nl), 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and with galerie carla koch in 2013

rotterdam contemporary art fair, rotterdam (nl), 2016 with gallery 9

gallery 9 presents his works since 2016 on art fairs:

kunstrai | art amsterdam in rai, amsterdam (nl): 2018

art the hague in fokker terminal, den haag (nl): 2017

rotterdam contemporary art fair in cruise terminal, rotterdam (nl): 2016

collections

worsk of henk van putten are in several private collections and the collections of among others:

amc-brummelkamp gallery and amc-vitrines

art parks international, guernsy, (gg)

buma-stemra, amstelveen (nl)

city of amsterdam (nl)

city of nijmegen (nl)

sap, den bosch (nl)

yellow fellow foundation, woudrichem (nl)

museums

musea with works by henk van putteni in their collections:

museo de arte contemporaneo, ibiza (es)

museum het valkhof, nijmegen (nl)

museum ‘schloss moyland’, bedburg hau (de)

commissions

1982 national sportscentre papendal, arnhem (nl): sculpture

1984 publisher wolters samsom (nl): paper press

1985 herman miller furniture, londen (gb): sculpture

1990 buma stemra, amstelveen (nl): wall relief

1994 city hall, woerden (nl): time piece

1995 sphinhex printers, amsterdam (nl): floating sculpture

1996 leidengallery, leiden (nl): table an chairs

1997 the kuiper group, heemstede (nl): light object

1998 the kuiper group, heemstede (nl): balancing object

1998 sap, den bosch (nl): object, stainless steel

2000 wolter&dros, amersfoort (nl): kinetic object (oeuvre award)

awards and nominations

2014 the wuhu liu kaiqu excellent award (sculpture, stainless steel 5 meter long)

publications

‘limitation or addition’ by henk van putten, published in the periodical ‘symmetry: culture and science‘, vol. 16 no. 1, amsterdam, the art stable gallery