Text accompanying the exhibition Icons\Shift at Bulgakov Museum for KNO lab.space

The exhibition ICONS \ SHIFT brings together works from four Dutch artists who are closely related to each other and the Leiden based art initiative IS-projects. Involved artists Iemke van Dijk, Henriëtte van 't Hoog, Jan maarten Voskuil and Guido Winkler all make paintings, yet are interested in expanding painting away from the two dimensional. The viewer's standpoint matters. There is a shift from painting to object, although they are still painters. 

Iemke van Dijk (Wassenaar, 1969) lives and works as an artist in Leiden, the Netherlands and is co-founder of IS-projects. With printmaking as her background, her interest turned to making reliefs. Since 2010 she makes wall drawings and floor pieces that are basically trompe-l'oeil reliefs. Often site-specific. Iemke is interested in serendipity, yet deliberately sets rules for it to work. The work on show is part of a new series entitled “Circles and Squares”. The observer who understands that ovals represent circles will experience space and movement.

The geometric abstract work of Henriëtte van ’t Hoog (Amsterdam, 1943) often makes you lose your balance. She plays with the perspective of cube-like forms, with their three-dimensionality, their color, and light. When you walk along these objects, their forms change, their perspective collapses. The reflecting paint on the back of the object radiates its color on the wall. The reflection emphasizes its spatiality and gives the thing a poetic connotation. Consequently, the work of Henriëtte van ’t Hoog is at the same time concrete and not concrete.

"In a world that is not clear, we have to make things clear." Building on the philosophies of Theo van Doesburg who promoted pure non-objective abstraction, Jan Maarten Voskuil (Arnhem, 1964) creates multi-dimensional works that bridge the boundaries between painting, sculpture and architecture. He expands the possibilities of painting by stretching linen on spatial constructed wooden frames. Rigorous mathematical principles govern his experiments, as does an ongoing conversation with the conventions of Minimalism, Hard-Edge painting and other modern schools of thought.

Guido Winkler (Alblasserdam, 1969) works as an artist in Leiden, the Netherlands. In a concise and precise style he makes paintings, photographs, multiples and spatial installations that evoke associations with architecture. For the viewer to experience space and time and to study one's perception. His wooden paintings are flat and have tapered sides. Like the other selected artists, the work sits in between painting and object.

Within the context of art initiatives like KNO, IS-projects -It is what it IS- is running business for over ten years. It has established more than 30 exhibitions on various locations and in several combinations internationally, that attracted in total over 180.000 visitors. In 2017, Iemke van Dijk and Guido Winkler were appointed as curators of the Open Air Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden as well as the multi venue exhibition Raakvlakken for Beelden in Leiden. The 2017 exhibitions were being held within the frame of 'From Mondriaan to Dutch Design' on the occasion of the centennial of De Stijl movement. De Stijl, founded in Leiden by Theo van Doesburg in 1917.

Van Doesburg predicted in his time that for the next phase of art history, painting needed to make a transition into the third dimension. Since long, a three dimensional painting would still be called a sculpture. These artists show there is a way in between.

The KNO lab.space project is a program, that takes place at the Bulgakov Museum in Kyiv. KNO -Kyiv Non Objective- has been established to operate as a public organisation. Founded by Ukrainian artists Tiberiy Szilvashi, Badri Gubianuri, Elena Dombrovska and Serhiy Popov, its aim is developing a platform for further dialogue between contemporary reductive and non-objective artist networks, internationally.