16 Sep – 10 Dec 2021 - NLMagazine Art & Culture - ANDRÉ DE JONG has been pushing the limits of drawing for over five decades. Now, his work is being examined in the new monograph Acts of Drawing, arranged into thematic chapters that bear the titles of his series, such as “Body-Landscape” and “Folds.” The added references to times of day invite viewers to respond to de Jong’s ways of working, grounded in daily actions. Highlights from these series that have been critically acclaimed in his recent shows in Amsterdam and New York will feature at TMH.
The book also provides an introduction to the artist’s vast photographic output. During the lockdowns, de Jong, who is at the height of his game, has returned to making photographic observations around his studio. De Jong’s photographs, as Jan Postma observes in the book, are “images that seem to identify the moment when reality becomes unrecognizable.”
ABOUT THE BOOK
André de Jong: Acts of Drawing is a “book about” and a haptic art object. For the first time, it will bring to light de Jong’s singular drawing series and work process. It is a rare case nowadays, but his prescient oeuvre remained virtually unseen for four decades—he has been living and working away from art centers in the countryside of Friesland—until Museum Belvédère, NL, mounted his retrospective in 2010. Since then his work has met with critical and public acclaim when exhibited by The Merchant House in Amsterdam and New York.
For the first time, this book brings together de Jong’s landmark drawing series: Body-Landscape, Hands, Heads and Portraits, Photographic Acts, Revelations, Folds, and Body/Body Parts. It also features a previously unseen selection of raw tree images from his vast photography archive.
Bron: The Merchant House Amsterdam.
