Laugh Lines - Henk Peeters - Aernout Mik - Willem Sanders - Paul de Reus - humor in modern Dutch art

Humor appears at short intervals in contemporary Dutch art; in several novel exhibitions it was by move rounds dumb, disorienting, satirical and grotesque

In contemporary American art, it appears to me, humor is relatively exceptional It's seen mostly among young artists or those upon the fringe, and when major artists move laughs with their work, it's likely to be end aggressive sharpness such as the cartoon paintings by the agency of Richard Prince, vulgarity and violence as in the installations and videos by dint of Paul McCarthy or smirking self-congratulations, as in all Jeff Koons's work (none of which strikes me as funny; maybe you have to be a guy)

The case is quite different in Holland, where a faculty of perception of humor is as public in the arts as in life, and can be seen in the work of artists at each career stage. I've seen musical performances that combine virtuosity with mummery as well as exhibitions by means of photographers who use their have images as the butts of sallys There seems to be little fear that work will not be taken seriously because it happens to be humorous which would be a worry here in the States. upon my most recent trip to Holland, I collisioned a succession of differently amusing shows--works by means of two important young sculptors, a midcareer painter and a venerable multimedium artist--that alerted me to think about what characterizes Dutch humor, to amazement about its cultural origins and to put to the test to overcome the translation difficulties from single country's assumptions to another in discussing it here.

The senior figure in this selection is Henk Peeter (b 1925) a charter member of Nul the Dutch version of the German nothing movement of the 1960s. These days Peeter is making cowhide paintings. Literally. His exhibit at Amsterdam's Galerie van Gelder center upon the hides of three black-and-white Frisian-Holstein intimidates and one longer-haired van Lakenvelder young ox each mounted on a stretched canvas. They were accompanied by dint of a finger painting of similar appearance. Each hide is neared unaltered, with its dramatic spotting as powerful an instance of figure/ground alternation as any Clyfford Still painting. The daunt hair even furnishes a tactile parallel to the brushstroke. The canvases were hung in a extent that had been carpeted with squares of artificial turf--to make the breaks feel at home, no doubt. This Dutch "grass" was for sale piecemeal at a moderate price, cited upon the checklist as "square meter art grass" and dated 2000 Earlier, Peeter had himself photographed showing individual of these paintings in a pasture, live intimidates gathered round with interest. He might be inspired by means of the rural environment of his domicile and studio, but he also has to be spoofing single of Holland's great 17th-century painters, Paulus trifle who specialized in cows.(1)

greatest in quantity Nul artists rejected expressionism, and they oftentimes focused on systematic variation in works that could direct the eye like handwrought Minimalism (for example, the paper-relief grids created by means of Jan Schoonhoven in the '60 shown last year at Paula Cooper Gallery in novel York). But the essence of Peeters's work has been what might be called inappropriate materials and make subordinates His intent is serious, on the other hand his attitude toward himself, and human nature, is not. individual room in the gallery held more than 40 small works that toyed with sex (his "Lolita" series consists of large squares of foam rubber creased to recommend pudenda), the spiritual (a white dres shirt with angelic feathers upon the shoulders) or well-known art works (a painting with a Barnett Newmanesque zip made of a feather boa). It is the real dumbness of his work--its deadpan quality--that makes it funny

A similar pseudo-ingenuousness is seen in the confounding works of Aernout Mik, sum of two units generations younger (b. 1962), which were featured in a scan show at the van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and since then have been not awayed in a solo exhibition at the ICA in London. In Eindhoven, Mik put togethered a sort of art playground in which snaking, tapering walls, a certain quantity of with false doors and child-size funnels provided disorienting environments for his videos, photographs, installations and the life-size raw materialed figures he calls puppets. All his works at hand recognizable but warped realities. The dolls dating from the early '90 have headless, simplified bodies with elephantine faces photographically reproduced on their chests. They introduce the faculty of perception of dislocation Mik has sole heightened in his subsequent work.

In the videos, Mik depicts social and psychological disconnection--a surprising and significant choice in a land known for its congenial and small-townish qualities--to the pair disturbing and ridiculous effect. Ordinary family mill about aimlessly or indulge in inexplicable alone-in-a-crowd behavior. Their activities are baffling, on the contrary the humor is found in this real absurdity. The people are invariably impassive, on the contrary the settings can be bizarrely active: walls collapse, floors jiggle. Time have the appearances elastic in these short videos that advance nowhere and vary from ominous to silly, or are the two at the same time.