‘Herz’ Or ‘Ein Herz für Helen’? | 10 May 2024

This is a story that probably won’t interest anyone. It’s a long story. It starts in 1982 and lasts until 2024. Long story short.
A painting by Walter Dahn, titled ‘Herz’ (1982), is now on view at the exhibition ‘Gewaltige Kraft – die explosive Malerei der jungen Wilden’ in Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden (D). On the canvas measuring one and a half by two meters, an arm is depicted in loose brushstrokes with a bright red love heart in its outstretched hand, which is handed to the viewer of the painting.
I saw this painting for the first time in 1982 at an exhibition by Walter Dahn in the Helen van der Meij Gallery in Amsterdam. And now, many years later, I saw the painting again in the recent exhibition in Museum Villa Rot.
I can still see the painting hanging on the wall of the Helen van der Meij Gallery. To this day, the title of the painting is in my memory as ‘Ein Herz für Helen’. Anyway, I was fifteen years old at the time and might have come up with this title myself. The title ‘Ein Herz für Helen’ makes a direct connection or relationship between the painting and the gallery, or between artist and gallery owner.
What was the actual title? Is the title on the back of the painting? What title is mentioned on the list of the paintings that were exhibited in Galerie Helen van der Meij in 1982? ‘Herz’ or ‘Ein Herz für Helen’?

MS

This selection of announcement cards from 1982, comes from my personal collection of invitations to exhibitions with works by Walter Dahn I visited in Germany and the Netherlands while in my teens.

‘Herz’ Of ‘Ein Herz für Helen’? | 10 Mei 2024

Dit is een verhaal dat waarschijnlijk niemand interesseert. Het is een lang verhaal. Het begint in 1982 en duurt voort tot aan 2024. Lang verhaal kort.
Een schilderij van Walter Dahn, getiteld ‘Herz’ (1982), is momenteel onderdeel van de tentoonstelling ‘Gewaltige Kraft – die explosive Malerei der jungen Wilden’ in Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden (D). Op het doek van anderhalf bij twee meter is met losse verfstreken een arm afgebeeld met in de uitgestrekte hand een felrood liefdeshart dat de kijker van het schilderij wordt aangereikt.
Het schilderij zag ik in 1982 op een tentoonstelling van Walter Dahn in Galerie Helen van der Meij in Amsterdam. En nu, vele jaren later, zie ik het voor het eerst weer terug in de recente tentoonstelling in Museum Villa Rot.
Ik kan me het schilderij nog steeds voorstellen, hangend op de wand van Galerie Helen van der Meij. Tot op de dag van vandaag is in mijn geheugen de titel van het schilderij: ‘Ein Herz für Helen’. Maar goed, ik was toen vijftien jaar oud en had deze titel misschien wel zelf verzonnen. De titel ‘Ein Herz für Helen’ maakt een directe verbinding of relatie tussen het schilderij en de galerie, of tussen kunstenaar en galeriehouder.
Wat was de werkelijke titel? Staat de titel op de achterkant van het schilderij? Welke titel staat er vermeld op de lijst van de schilderijen, die in 1982 werden tentoongesteld in Galerie Helen van der Meij? ‘Herz’ of ‘Ein Herz für Helen’?

MS

Deze selectie aankondigingskaarten van 1982 komt uit mijn persoonlijke verzameling uitnodigingen voor tentoonstellingen met werken van Walter Dahn die ik in mijn tienerjaren in Duitsland en Nederland bezocht.

Photos: Martijn Sandberg

A Little Ode Or An Insult? | 18 April 2024

‘Hallucinations’ is the title of a series of drawings on aluminium. The aluminium surface plays with light and creates a ‘chiaroscuro’ of alternating light and dark tones within the sequence of drawings. Viewed from different sight angles, a radiant message appears and disappears in the reflecting lines: ‘Image Not Found’, ‘Space For Rent’, ‘Nothing New Under The Sun’, ‘Wer Nichts Weiss Malt Einen Kreis’.
What to paint? I based the text of this drawing on a German children’s rhyme. It says: ‘The person who no longer knows, paints a circle’. I am dedicating it to the artist, to anyone who draws or paints a circle. A little ode or an insult?

MS

‘Hallucinations’ is de titel voor een serie tekeningen op aluminium. Het glimmend oppervlak speelt met lichtinval en creëert in de reeks tekeningen een ‘clair-obscur’ van wisselende lichte en donkere tonen. Vanuit verschillende zichthoeken bekeken, verschijnt en verdwijnt in de reflecterende lijnen een stralend bericht: ‘Image Not Found’, ‘Space For Rent’, ‘Nothing New Under The Sun’, ‘Wer Nichts Weiss Malt Einen Kreis’.
Wat te schilderen? De tekst van deze tekening heb ik gebaseerd op een Duits kinderrijmpje. Er staat: ‘Wie het niet meer weet, schildert een cirkel’. Ik draag het op aan de kunstenaar, aan iedereen die een cirkel tekent of schildert. Een kleine ode of belediging?

MS

More info and photos of the series can be found here, in section ‘drawings’.

Title: ‘Wer Nichts Weiss Malt Einen Kreis’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Material: ink on aluminium
Size: 21cm x 30cm

Photos: Martijn Sandberg

An Offer You Can’t Refuse | 12 February 2024

In 2004, I received an invitation to visit the Head Office of TPG Post in The Hague. I was asked whether I would design a stamp. That sounded to my ears like an ‘offer you can’t refuse’. After all, if you can be successful in stamp format, then you can manage every dimension.
Designing the stamp has a special place in my oeuvre. In contrast to other work, I incorporate ingredients given in advance when designing the stamp: the value indication, the year and the issuing country all upon a surface with a serrated edge. To my eyes, the design of the stamp stands symbol for a ‘postage stamp’.

MS, 12 February 2024

If I were to wake you up from a deep sleep and immediately ask you what a stamp is, then with your finger you would draw a flat surface with a zig-zag edge. So this is the main characteristic of a stamp apparantly, and how we recognize a stamp as being a stamp. And in fact, that’s the origin or starting point of my stamp design – it’s based on the characteristic standard perforation line. Even self adhesive stamps have a perforated edge. The perforation edge has thus performed through the test of time. MS / 2005

In 2004 werd ik uitgenodigd om langs te komen bij het hoofdkantoor van TPG Post in Den Haag. De vraag was of ik een postzegel wilde ontwerpen. Dat klonk in mijn oren als een ‘offer you can’t refuse’. Immers, als het je lukt op postzegelformaat, dan kun je elke afmeting aan.
Het ontwerpen van de postzegel heeft een speciale plaats in mijn oeuvre. In tegenstelling tot ander werk, geef ik bij de postzegel vorm aan ingrediënten, die vooraf zijn opgegeven: de waarde-aanduiding, het jaartal en het land van uitgifte, allemaal op een vlak met een kartelrand. In mijn ogen staat de vormgeving van de postzegel symbool voor een ‘postzegel’.

MS, 12 februari 2024

Als ik je zou wakker maken uit een diepe slaap en je direct vraag wat een postzegel is, dan teken je met je vinger de contouren van een vlak met kartelrand. Blijkbaar is de rand het belangrijkste kenmerk waaraan we een postzegel herkennen als een postzegel. En in feite is dat het uitgangspunt of de oorsprong van mijn postzegelontwerp – het is gebaseerd op de karakteristieke perforatierand. Zelfs de zelfklevende postzegels krijgen nog een perforatierand. De tanding heeft de tand des tijds dus doorstaan. MS / 2005

More info and photos of the postage stamp can be found here, in section ‘other’.

Long Live Art! | 31 October 2023

Anyone may read and uncover the figuration every day anew: ‘I am still alive’. As well as celebrating life, the work of art offers a tribute to art. The artwork itself declares: ‘I am still alive’. Long live art!
In the exhibition ‘Cut Painting!’, ‘I am still alive’ is located near a painting by Maarten Ploeg and by René Daniëls. These are two works of art I have selected from the BPD Art Collection. In this context, ‘I am still alive’ is also to be seen as my little ‘hidden’ ode to the work of both artists. It is the artwork that speaks for itself, it is the art that says ‘I am still alive’.

MS

Iedereen kan dit kunstwerk elke dag opnieuw bekijken. Telkens weer kun je in de figuratie de letters lezen en ontdekken: ‘I am still alive’. Naast het vieren van het leven, is het kunstwerk een ode aan de kunst. Het kunstwerk zelf verklaart: ‘I am still alive’. Lang leve kunst!
In de tentoonstelling ‘Cut Painting!’ is ‘I am still alive’ geplaatst in de buurt van een schilderij van Maarten Ploeg en René Daniëls. Het zijn twee kunstwerken, die ik heb geselecteerd uit de BPD Kunstcollectie. In deze context, is ‘I am still alive’ mijn kleine ‘verborgen’ ode aan het werk van beide kunstenaars. Het is het kunstwerk dat voor zichzelf spreekt, het is de kunst, die zegt ‘I am still alive’.

MS

Text from: ‘Cut Painting!’, digital publication (NL/EN), page 24/34. PDF:

BPD Martijn Sandberg Cut Painting.pdf

‘Cut Painting!’ is the title of the online publication, published as a sequel to the eponymous exhibition in 2022 at Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam.
Martijn Sandberg has made a selection of his own works – the cut paintings – for this exhibition, as well as works of art from the BPD Art Collection.

More info and photos of the exhibtion ‘Cut Painting!’ can be found here, in section ‘cut paintings’.

A painting by Maarten Ploeg at ‘Cut Painting!’ | 18 March 2023

In 1985, I viewed this painting through the eyes of a teenager at a Maarten Ploeg exhibition in the Amsterdam Gallery Jurka. I saw the same painting again in the BPD Art Collection depot, as I was selecting art works from storage for the exhibition ‘Cut Painting!’. The Maarten Ploeg painting now forms part of the artworks I have assembled on the walls of the Burgerweeshuis.
Faces appear and letters refer to the human figure in Maarten Ploeg’s paintings. You might say that the canvasses are portraits of the paintings themselves, with titles such as ‘OK-Head’, ‘X-Man’, ‘XYZ’. And the letters on the canvas tell the story ‘behind’ the paintings. The motif on the square painting consists of a number of dots and coloured surfaces. The dots in the topcoat stare at you. This canvas from Maarten Ploeg’s oeuvre is just as lively as the ‘letter figures’.

MS

Dit schilderij bekeek ik door de ogen van een tiener bij een tentoonstelling van Maarten Ploeg in 1985 in de Amsterdamse Galerie Jurka. Ik zag hetzelfde schilderij terug in het depot van de BPD Kunstcollectie, tijdens mijn selectie van kunstwerken voor de tentoonstelling ‘Cut Painting!’. Het schilderij is nu onderdeel van de kunstwerken, die ik heb samengesteld op de muren van het Burgerweeshuis.
In de schilderijen van Maarten Ploeg verschijnen gezichten en refereren letters aan de menselijke figuur. Je zou kunnen zeggen, de doeken, met titels als ‘OK-Hoofd’, ‘X-Man’, ‘XYZ’, zijn portretten van de schilderijen zelf. En de letters op het doek, die vertellen het verhaal ‘achter’ de schilderijen. Het motief op het vierkante schilderij bestaat uit een aantal stippen en kleurvlakken. De stippen in de verfhuid staren je aan. Net zoals de ‘letterfiguren’, is het doek uit het oeuvre van Maarten Ploeg is springlevend.

MS

Text from: ‘Cut Painting!’, digital publication (NL/EN), page 24/34. PDF:

BPD Martijn Sandberg Cut Painting.pdf

‘Cut Painting!’ is the title of the online publication, published as a sequel to the eponymous exhibition in 2022 at Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam.
Martijn Sandberg has made a selection of his own works – the cut paintings – for this exhibition, as well as works of art from the BPD Art Collection.

More info and photos of the exhibtion ‘Cut Painting!’ can be found here, in section ‘cut paintings’.

Three paintings by Lucassen in ‘Cut Painting!’ | 24 February 2023

I have compiled three paintings by Reinier Lucassen in the ‘Cut painting!’ exhibition, dating from various years. Next to each other all in a row, I have shaped Lucassen’s work into a triptych on the wall opposite the interior playground belonging to the former Burgerweeshuis. Reinier Lucassen transforms verbal and visual poetry into paint. Even the signature and the date is part of the figuration in each painting.
White letters in the monochrome black surface are written on the first canvas to the left: ‘P.T.T.R.G.A.3’. The handwriting and the abbreviation makes me think of ‘L.H.O.O.Q.’ on a painting by Francis Picabia. When you pronounce this in French, it sounds like: ‘Elle a chaud au cul’- ‘She has a hot arse’.
And look at how the figuration of the middle painting, ‘Inside Outside’, fits so well with the adjacent setting, the concrete circular forms in the floor of the little playground.
The title of the third painting is ‘No (Historic development of script into image)’. There is an about-face in the title, and a contrary development. You would expect, as history is said to teach us, the reverse to be true: from ‘image’ to ‘script’.
Anyway, have you noticed it already? The number three occurs on all three of the canvases. It is self-evident that the canvas where ‘=3’ is pictured large, forms the final piece in my compilation of the triptych.

MS

In de tentoonstelling ‘Cut Painting!’ breng ik van de kunstenaar Reinier Lucassen drie schilderijen uit verschillende jaren bijeen. In een rijtje naast elkaar, heb ik het werk van Lucassen geformeerd als een drieluik op de wand tegenover de binnenspeelplaats van het voormalig Burgerweeshuis. Reinier Lucassen zet verbale en visuele poëzie om in verf. Zelfs de handtekening en het jaartal is onderdeel van de figuratie op elk schilderij.
Op het eerste doek links, staat met witte letters in het monochroom zwarte vlak: ‘988Lucassen’ en ‘P.T.T.R.G.A.3’. Het handschrift en de afkorting doet me denken aan ‘L.H.O.O.Q.’ op een schilderij van Francis Picabia. Wanneer je dat uitspreekt in het Frans, dan klinkt het als: ‘Elle a chaud au cul’ – ‘Ze heeft een hete reet’.
En kijk eens hoe de figuratie van het middelste schilderij ‘Inside Outside’ goed aansluit op de nabije omgeving, de betonnen cirkelvormen in de vloer van de kleine speeltuin.
De titel van het derde schilderij is ‘No (Historische ontwikkeling van schrift naar beeld)’. In de titel is sprake van een ommekeer en tegengestelde ontwikkeling. Je zou verwachten, zo leert ons de geschiedenis zegt men, dat het andersom is: van ‘beeld’ naar ‘schrift’.
Overigens, had je het zelf ook al opgemerkt? Op alle drie de doeken komt het cijfer drie voor. Het spreekt voor zich dat het doek, waarop ‘=3’ groot is afgebeeld, het sluitstuk vormt in mijn samenstelling van het drieluik.

MS

Text from: ‘Cut Painting!’, digital publication (NL/EN), page 29/34. PDF:

BPD Martijn Sandberg Cut Painting.pdf

‘Cut Painting!’ is the title of the online publication, published as a sequel to the eponymous exhibition in 2022 at Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam.
Martijn Sandberg has made a selection of his own works – the cut paintings – for this exhibition, as well as works of art from the BPD Art Collection.

More info and photos of the exhibtion ‘Cut Painting!’ can be found here, in section ‘cut paintings’.

The Other Side of Painting | 22 February 2023

Take a look at the other side of painting. – Portrait of the artist with back of a painting by Lucassen. (photo by: Atelier Rinzema)

See and read more in the publication ‘Cut Painting!’

The digital publication (Dutch/English) may be downloaded here as a pdf:

BPD Martijn Sandberg Cut Painting.pdf

Publication:
‘Cut Painting!’ Martijn Sandberg

Format:
Pdf, 34 pages, 7mb, A4

Language:
Dutch, English

Publisher:
BPD Kunst en Cultuur, Amsterdam

More info and photos of the exhibtion ‘Cut Painting!’ can be found here, in section ‘cut paintings’.

Greetings from the Nieuwmarkt | 21 February 2023

It has taken a while, but the art work ensemble in the underground metro station at Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam, is now complete again and fully restored at last.

In 1980, Louis van Gasteren together with Jan Sierhuis, Bert Griepink, Roel van den Ende and Tine Hofman created the ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ for the Nieuwmarkt underground station, as part of a chain of station artworks along the Amsterdam East Line.

The photo collages of ‘Greetings from the Nieuwmarkt’ are back on the wall after an absence of more than ten years. The triptychs with broken mirrors were recently cleaned.
The faded photos and posters in the compositions of wall fragments at the entrance to the platform have been replaced. The slogan ‘We’ll Keep Living Here’ (‘Wij Blijven Hier Wonen’), painted anew with white gloss, is still wet and stands out against the wall as never before.

The underground mission is done!

Martijn Sandberg

Read the pamphlet ‘Demolition Ball and Battle of Waterloo’ here that I wrote in 2011 promoting the conservation and renovation of the artworks during structural alterations to the East Line metro stations.

Related articles, section ‘blog’:

‘Demolition Ball and Battle of Waterloo‘, 29 June 2011
‘Artworks metro stations‘, early documents, 5 August 2011
‘Favourite Sites in Amsterdam‘, 3 February 2018
‘Through The Lens of Louis van Gasteren‘, 1 March 2018
‘Inventory Post-War Wall Art Amsterdam‘, 6 December 2018

Click here to see text in Dutch, as PDF.

The Rebirth of the Poet | 7 February 2023

‘Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker’ is a book by Jason McBride published in 2022, that sheds light on the life of Kathy Acker (1947-1997). It is the first full-scale authorized biography of the pioneering, experimental writer Kathy Acker. In addition to paying detailed attention to her other work, this biography also dedicates several pages to the theatrical performance: ‘The Birth of the Poet’. What a pleasure to finally read something about the background and creation of this ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ by Kathy Acker, Richard Foreman, Peter Gordon and David Salle!

Here is what I wrote in 2017 about ‘The Birth of the Poet’ in response to the publication of the biography ‘After Kathy Acker’ by Chris Kraus, in which the piece was conspicuous by its absence:

‘The Rebirth of the Poet’

In 2007 I created the artwork ‘If These Walls Could Speak’ on the side of the Public Library lift shafts, OBA Amsterdam. The artwork consists of a typographic figuration of titles I selected from the library’s collection.
The lift cabin with visitor journeys through darkness as it were, past an endless story composed of ‘stolen’ and ‘borrowed’ titles, such as ‘The Art of Writing’, ‘The Murmuring of the Muse’, ‘Elevator Madness’, ‘Heaven and Hell’ and ‘The Birth of the Poet’.

‘The Birth of the Poet’ (‘De Geboorte van de Dichter’) is a stage piece by Richard Foreman, for which Kathy Acker wrote the libretto, with a set design by artist David Salle and music by Peter Gordon. Staged in America in 1985, it had its premiere in the RO Theater in Rotterdam in 1984, where I was in the audience.
Incorporating ‘The Birth of the Poet’ title in the ‘If These Walls Could Speak’ artwork many years later, is my covert little ode to this intriguing Gesamtkunstwerk, and at the same time a reminder of Kathy Acker’s oeuvre.

A biography of Kathy Acker (1947-1997) was published recently in 2017, written by Chris Kraus. Remarkably, not a single word is devoted to the preparations and performance of ‘The Birth of The Poet’ in the biography, ‘After Kathy Acker’. The key piece is conspicuously absent, an omission in the biography.

Meanwhile, the public is still waiting for a special reissue of ‘The Birth of the Poet’, with original recordings of the Zeitgeist document in vision and sound. Moreover, the time is ripe for a reprise, a re-enactment, for which I already have the title: ‘The Rebirth of the Poet’.

Martijn Sandberg, 7 November 2017

Click here for text in Dutch, as PDF.

XYZ | 25 October 2021

A recent acquisition – the announcement card by Dutch artist Maarten Ploeg for the 1985 exhibition ‘XYZ’ at Zeno X Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium. A nice addition to my collection of interesting invitation cards by artists I like, or still like.
The second photo is a beautiful, small print on the cover of a brochure, acquired at the Maarten Ploeg exhibition that I saw in 1985 in Galerie Jurka, Amsterdam. Liked it then, like it still.

‘XYZ’, Maarten Ploeg, invitation card, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium, 1985.
‘Schilderijen’, Maarten Ploeg, Dienst Beeldende Kunst, Den Bosch, 1985.

This selection comes from my private collection of catalogues, invitations to exhibitions, artists books and art magazines.

Martijn Sandberg, 25 October 2021

After all: A painting is never finished | 19 October 2021

This is one of my favourites in the early invitation collection, dating from my youth. On the front is a painting by Maarten Ploeg, from 1981.
I was fourteen then, when the re-emergence of expressive painting (‘Neue Wilden’) in Germany and Europe also flourished in the Netherlands, with a.o. Maarten Ploeg and Peter Klashorst at the forefront.
During the exhibition ‘Ik schilder, dus ik ben’, Maarten Ploeg together with Peter Klashorst painted over their paintings on show. After all: ‘A painting is never finished’.

Martijn Sandberg, 19 October 2021

‘Ik schilder, dus ik ben’, invitation card, group show, Dienst Beeldende Kunst, Kruithuis Den Bosch, 31 Oct 1981 – 3 Jan 1982.

Dutch Painting | 19 August 2019

Here’s an early original pen and ink drawing by artist René Daniëls in an exemplar of ‘Dutch Painting’ – an intimate ‘conversation’ between title and drawing on the title page.

Hand written text on the title page, upper righthand corner: ‘28091978, RD, van RH Fuchs’.

From the private collection of an Amsterdam art book dealer, photographed in August 2019.

Dokoupiliana | 14 June 2019

Let me show you three nice invitation cards from my ‘Dokoupiliana’ collection.
The first is the invite to Georg Dokoupil’s impressive exhibition ‘Corporations & Products’, in Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne in 1985, consisting of paintings and sculptures of brand names in clay and paint. On the outer side, a portrait of the artist in a beret, pipe in mouth, in front of the ‘Rolex’ painting.
On the second card is a portrait of the artist Georg Dokoupil as ‘clown’, shrouded in mist, amidst paint pots and canvas stretchers in the atelier Im Klapperhof, Cologne in 1983. The portrait as a parody of the artist, inspired by promptings from on high.
The third is the invitation card for the ‘Gemeinschaftsbilder’, a series of collaborative paintings by Walter Dahn and Georg Dokoupil, exhibited in Galerie ‘t Venster, Rotterdam in 1982, with the intriguing title: ‘Ein Pinsel’ (‘One Brush’).

-‘Corporations & Products’, Georg Dokoupil. Invitation card (outer side), Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne, 1985.
-‘Portraits’, Georg Dokoupil. Invitation card, Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne, 1983.
-‘Ein Pinsel’, Walter Dahn & Georg Dokoupil. Invitation card, Galerie ‘t Venster, Rotterdam, 1982.

This selection of ‘memorabila’, photographed in June 2018, comes from my personal collection of invitations to exhibitions by Georg Dokoupil and others. I visited the exhibitions in Germany and the Netherlands while in my teens.

Martijn Sandberg, 14 June 2019

Early Works (1990) out of the Dustbin | 30 April 2019

A diptych from 1990 about painting and sculpture, with the artist’s wordplay on ‘Vermeer’ and Delft Blue pottery.

‘Meer Vermeer Vermeerder Vermeerderen’, Martijn Sandberg, 1990, ink on plate, 21cm x 21cm.
‘And You Can Always Make An Ashtray’, 1990, Martijn Sandberg, ink on plate, 21cm x 21cm.

Martijn Sandberg, 30 April 2019

Early Drawings (1984) out of the Dustbin | 18 March 2019

Early drawings by Martijn Sandberg from 1984, fished out of the dustbin. A mixture of visual puns and rhymes, twisted titles and names.
The series is about art, artworks and trends in the art world of the time that have now become art history. The four early drawings may also be seen as a portrait of the artist at the age of seventeen.

‘Nada Nadja’

The ‘Nada Nadja’ drawing includes playful variations on the names of Dutch ‘art supremos’. For example Frans Haks as ‘clockface’, registering the Zeitgeist. Among other things, a guitar with no strings is visible in the figuration. A hand is portrayed with five letters apportioned over the finger tips. The image refers to the iconic title ‘Nadja’ from Surrealism. The title ‘Nadja’ is echoed in the written word ‘Nada’, which means ‘nothing’.

‘König Köln’

In the drawing the Muse is portrayed as an idol and object of desire. With two words as a ‘hint’, the drawing includes references to seeing the exhibition ‘Westkunst’ in 1981, which was assembled by ‘Art Pope’ Kasper König and took place in the Rheinhallen in the city of Cologne: ‘König Köln’ (‘King Cologne’).

‘Dokoupil ohne Stil’

The drawing shows a backlit face en profile as a self-portrait, with figuration containing the text ‘Von Hier Aus’ (‘From Here’).
The side figuration portrays a palette and a brush, a skull and an African shield. A rhyme appears on the border: ‘Dokoupil ohne Stil’ (‘Dokoupil without Style’).

‘Von Hier Aus’

The drawing ‘Von Hier Aus’ (‘From Here’) combines the image of a locomotive as a reference to the painting ‘Time Transfixed’ (1938) by René Magritte, with the title of an exhibition. The ‘Von Hier Aus’ exhibition took place in Germany in 1984.

Martijn Sandberg, 18 March 2019

Click here to see text in Dutch, as PDF.

Back To Normal | 24 October 2018

Another gem from the personal archive, and a good read: the handwritten pamphlet by ‘Gruppe Normal’ – Peter Angermann, Jan Knap and Milan Kunc -, published in conjunction with a show held at Neue Galerie, Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen (D), in 1981.

“Andere machen aus 1 Idee 1000 Bilder, ‘Normal’ macht aus 1 Idee 1 Bild” (“Normal’ makes only one picture, not thousands, out of one ideas”).

“Nur wer wirklich malen kann soll malen” (“Only people who know how should paint”).

This selection comes from my private collection of catalogues, invitations to exhibitions, artists books and art magazines.

Martijn Sandberg, 24 October 2018

Exvitations for Beautiful Exhibitions | 31 August 2018

Here are some cards, photographed in August 2018, from my personal archive of invitations to several René Daniëls exhibitions I visited in my teens.
Every one of them little works of art – with a drawing on the front the artist made specifically to announce the exhibition. The invitation as an ‘Exvitation for Beautiful Exhibitions’; ‘Innodiging voor Mooie Tentoonstellingen’.

Martijn Sandberg, 31 August 2018

Inventory Post-War Wall Art Amsterdam | 6 December 2018

In the last two years at the request of the City Council, Amsterdam monumental wall art from the post-war reconstruction period (1945-1975) was listed and evaluated.

The inventory was drawn up by art historian Yteke Spoelstra, in collaboration with Norman Vervat, Heritage Association Bond Heemschut. The Soundboard group consisted of Frans van Burkom, art historian, Simone Vermaat, Government service agency for Cultural Heritage, and Martijn Sandberg, artist.

On Thursday 6 December 2018, the Amsterdam city council organised a symposium around the inventory and the survey. A number of speakers at this symposium, including Martijn Sandberg, discussed post-war monumental wall art from different perspectives.

Nothing on the Wall? Nothing the Matter!

Martijn Sandberg delivered a lecture at the symposium, with the title: ‘Nothing on the Wall? Nothing the Matter!’
In his plea for a ‘Public Works Service’ – serving public art -, Martijn Sandberg spoke of the brick relief by Aart Roos on the Zeeburgerdijk, a Johan Haanstra facade artwork hidden from view, the Peter Struycken railings at De Nederlandsche Bank, the artworks in the Oostlijn metro stations and metro tubes, and a wall artwork by Hans Koetsier in Amsterdam North which has quietly vanished.

A Hans Koetsier Was Here

”In 1977, visual artist Hans Koetsier created a mural on the end facade of a block of flats in Amsterdam North – Amerbos. The capital letter ‘Y’ can be made out within the cloud form figuration as a reference to the nearby IJ.
When I wanted to view the work on location for the first time last year, it turned out not to be there anymore; it had ‘silently’ disappeared from the flat’s facade. Then I asked myself out loud: how is that possible? Why is it not there? Who, or what agency, is concerned about the artwork? ‘A Hans Koetsier Was Here’.
Might it be an idea to realise Hans Koetsier’s demolished artwork on the facade of the block of flats once more? A ‘Public Works Service’ might also dedicate itself to the revival of lost wall art. ‘Out of sight’ does not necessarily have to mean ‘for always’.”

A brochure has been published on the inventory of post-war monumental wall art in Amsterdam, and was introduced at the symposium. The publication contains a textual contribution by a.o. Martijn Sandberg:

The Handwriting of Time

”Public artworks integrated in architecture are therefore not works of art on a pedestal. They really are part of the environment. You may walk past them countless times and then suddenly you discover something extraordinary about them. They are the city of Amsterdam’s public secrets.
There was naturally a great deal of discussion in the sounding board group when assessing more than two hundred works of art. Take the brick relief by Aart Roos on the Zeeburgerdijk for instance. Initially this was not designated a ‘top work’. But actually it is, precisely because he has used no paint but allowed light and the relief to do the work. Superb, isn’t it?
We functioned as a sort of ‘Public Works Service’, guardians of the Muse. If you’re going to renovate or alter something, then take the artwork into account; it is the handwriting of time. That is what contractors and owners must get into their heads. And we’re managing to do that increasingly often.
Inspiring? Sure. As an artist I inevitably regard things from the viewpoint of the work I myself am doing. Consequently, you feel an affinity and you perceive quality and craftsmanship extra acutely, in that Aart Roos brick relief for instance. And furthermore you realise you’re in a tradition, that you’re literally and figuratively building on something. The artwork not as a pin-head or pimple on the architecture, but as a constitutional component of it.”

Project: Post-war Wall Art Amsterdam
Inventory: Yteke Spoelstra, Norman Vervat
Sound board group: Frans van Burkom, Martijn Sandberg, Simone Vermaat
Research period: 2017-2018
Publication: City council Amsterdam, BMA Bureau Monuments and Archaeology

Click here for text in English, als PDF.
Click here for text in Dutch, als PDF.

See also, section ‘stories’:

Text: ‘Demolition Ball and Battle of Waterloo‘, artworks metro Oostlijn, 29 June 2011
Text: ‘Instead of ‘DNB Must Not Be‘, railings Peter Struycken, 9 June 2011

Through The Lens of Louis van Gasteren | 1 March 2018

Louis van Gasteren (1922-2016) was a filmmaker, visual artist and ‘seismographer of his time’. In 2011, Louis van Gasteren rang to invite me to visit him, in response to my contribution to the call for preservation of original artworks during the Amsterdam metro stations’ Oostlijn renovation. Van Gasteren created the Gesamtkunstwerk ‘Greetings from the Nieuwmarkt’ in the station Nieuwmarkt with Jan Sierhuis, Bert Griepink, Roel van den Ende and Tine Hofman.
During our conversation in the Kloveniersburgwal house, just a few canals from the studio here, I also had a look at his archive. It contained material from divers public artworks, either executed or concept proposals. And then I began thinking: a wealth of artworks by Louis van Gasteren that could be realized at a specific location, anew or for the first time.
After our meeting we remained in touch about the progress of the Nieuwmarkt artwork. In the period that followed, Louis van Gasteren also surprised me several times by announcing that he had seen one of my Amsterdam artworks on site: ‘The Key Is Under The Doormat’, ‘You Have Ten Saved Messages’, and the floor-piece ‘Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright’.

“Yes, Martijn, I called my driver and we went off by car to Kraaipan Square. What would you say to elevating your floor artwork to a space where we could hold a Service? A church with no walls and roof, only a floor. And there’s a lecture there about the issue you postulate: ‘Tomorrow everything will be alright’.
So there they are, a trio of heavyweights scrutinizing the course of time: your staircase, the synagogue and now this square. I think your artwork and your message require verbal justification for the institutionalization of the optimistic message. In other words, we’re going to raise that floor.”

‘Nema Avonia za Zagreb’ is Louis van Gasteren’s last film. A retrospect of his life including the beautiful scene in Abcoude – a Dutch village with two churches lying in line with distance between them – where the vanishing of one tower behind the other tower is masterfully portrayed.

Martijn Sandberg, 1 March 2018

Click here for text in English as PDF.
Click here for text in Dutch as PDF.

Favourite Sites in Amsterdam | 3 February 2018

Martijn Sandberg describes and photographs his choice of five locations in the city of Amsterdam. The article was previously published in the London-based magazine Citylikeyou in January 2012.

Dis-pe-reert Niet

At the Damrak on the daily journey between home and studio, my eye is continually drawn to the emblem that has functioned as a facade ornament on the corner of the Beurs van Berlage for more than a hundred years.
In combination with the past function of the building – trade centre – and in relation to financial crisis, the timeless maxim gains extra significance: ‘Dis-pe-reert niet’ (‘Do not des-pair’).

Homo Sapiens Non Urinat In Ventum

The portal between the Leidseplein nightlife area and the Max Eeuweplein is pompously accentuated by a classical looking facade, designed in 1991 by Zaanen Spanjers Architects. On the frieze, supported by columns, the architect has carved an inscription: ‘Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum’ – ‘A wise man does not piss into the wind’. A ‘wisecrack’, disguised in Latin.

Art In The Underground Stations

Under the city, the extraordinary Gesamtkunstwerk by Louis van Gasteren, Jan Sierhuis and others is located in Nieuwmarkt underground.
This is one of the public artworks of the Seventies and early Eighties endangered due to station renovation on the Underground Eastline. At present there is a notice hanging at different spots on the wall: ”This artwork has been temporally removed due to renovations”.

Deze Muur Staat Er Niet

A few years ago I had a conversation with a staff member from Uytenhaak Architects about concealed texts in Amsterdam, relating to my own work ‘stoned forever’, which is integrated in brickwork in the Olympic Quarter.
He said that there is a text in Morse code incorporated into the Droogbak (1989), a residential building by Uytenhaak: ‘Deze muur staat er niet’ (‘This wall isn’t here’).
It is located close to the railway line. Rudy Uytenhaak later told me that this was his last opportunity to protest against the acoustic wall that had to be constructed for bureaucratic reasons.

Fence

The fence around De Nederlandsche Bank on the Frederiksplein is a true optical experience. While passing the building, a rhythmic, dynamic pattern appears and disappears in the trellis of the fence.
The figures on the sides of the rails were designed in 1992 by artist Peter Struycken, a pioneer in the area of environmental art and generating computer-program based image, light and colour compositions.

Article: Favourite Sites in Amsterdam
Author: Martijn Sandberg
Previously published: January 2012
Magazine: www.citylikeyou.com, London/ UK

Click here for text in English, as PDF.
Click here for text in Dutch, as PDF.

Instead Of DNB Must Not Be | 9 June 2015

Many people consider De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) Head Office at Frederiksplein to rank among the ugliest buildings in Amsterdam.
De Nederlandsche Bank is located where the Paleis voor Volksvlijt (Palace for National Industry) went up in flames in 1929. Some call for the De Nederlandsche Bank to be demolished in favour of rebuilding the Paleis voor Volksvlijt.

Demolishing De Nederlandsche Bank, however, would imply the permanent loss of an intriguing artwork to the Amsterdam street scene.

The fence around the plinth of De Nederlandsche Bank continues to create a true optical experience. While passing the building, a rhythmic, dynamic pattern appears in the trellis of the fence.
The figures on the sides of the rails were designed in 1992 by the artist Peter Struycken, a pioneer in the field of environmental art and in generating computer-program based image, light and colour compositions.

Whether or not you like the building, the presence of this unique artwork might be a valid reason to plead – instead of ‘DNB must not be’ – for the retention of De Nederlandsche Bank and to refrain from reconstruction of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt.

Martijn Sandberg, 9 June 2015

Click here for text ‘Instead Of ‘DNB Must Not Be’, in English as PDF.
Click here for text ‘In Plaats van ‘DNB Weg Ermee’, in Dutch as PDF.

Related: ‘No Longer Art: Peter Struycken‘, Domeniek Ruyters, metropolism.com, 18/06/2015.
Related: ‘Exit Struycken?‘, Domeniek Ruyters, metropolism.com, 22/06/2017.

Artworks metro stations Early Documents | 5 August 2011

As a follow-up to the ‘Demolition Ball and Battle of Waterloo‘ text in English and Dutch in my June blog, here is a collection of early documents related to the artworks created for the Amsterdam metro stations in the Seventies and early Eighties.
This historic material, photographed in July 2011, comes from the archives of Louis van Gasteren.

Many thanks to Louis van Gasteren and his assistant Elisabeth Verheus for both inspiring conversations and information. Particularly concerning the artwork Metrostation Nieuwmarkt, and for permission to use and reproduce the material.

Demolition Ball and Battle of Waterloo | 29 June 2011

There is a danger that distinctive works of art created in the Seventies and early Eighties will vanish from several stations, as part of the Amsterdam Metro East Line renovation.
They include the Gesamt artwork by Jan Sierhuis, Louis van Gasteren, Tine Hofman and others in the Nieuwmarkt metro station, the typography ‘Waterloo’ by Willem Sandberg at Waterlooplein station, and the letters by Opland at Wibautstraat station.
Regrettably, the artwork by Siet Zuyderland in CS station was recently removed.

Every one of the artworks on the East Line is exceptional, typical of the location. As a series, each in its own way is characteristic and symbolic of the history of integrated art in public space – under and above ground – of the city of Amsterdam, of The Netherlands and even further afield.

It is therefore of real cultural importance to mount a campaign and take direct action to retain the works of art still existing in the metro stations, and to protect them from the strokes of the demolition ball.

I wish to support the renovation, relocation or complete re-execution of the above-mentioned artworks according to their original design in the station renovation. Tomorrow these artworks will then appear as good as new, just as they were formed yesterday and designed by the artists at the time.

In my vision, the East Line renovation moreover offers the optimum, ideal opportunity to seriously investigate whether re-executing artworks, that have in the meantime disappeared from the metro line, may yet be included in the renovation planning.
With this objective in mind, it might be possible to have the entire range of site-specific artworks – at any rate as complete as possible – present at metro stations between the Central Station and Amsterdam Zuidoost after the planned completion of the station renovation, in 2014.

So please give the artworks their old place back in this station renovation and if need be, adapt the renovated areas to the works.

Let us all fight for a renewed look at the plans, with all the care and attention needed. A look at all avenues allowing the collection of public artworks presently enriching the metro route to continue to exist as part of the East Line renovation.

See you at the Demolition Ball and the Battle of Waterloo,

Greetings from the Nieuwmarkt,

Martijn Sandberg

Click here to see text in English, as PDF.
Click here to see text in Dutch, as PDF.

”The last thing you should do in times of cultural demolition is destroy good public works by good artists and designers.” Max Bruinsma.
To read Max Bruinsma’s argument in its entirety, see the online article ‘Grafisch erfgoed bedreigd’ (‘Graphic legacy threatened’) on the Items website: www.items.nl

Text: ‘Demolition Ball and Battle of Waterloo’ (short version)
Author: Martijn Sandberg
Date: 29 June 2011