all this here. herman de vries

+++pioneer between science, nature and art / pionier tussen wetenschap, natuur en kunst +++

+++Cees de Boer, Rijksmuseum Twenthe+++

+++

herman de vries (1931) can truly be called a pioneer, as he, as one of the first artists, doesn’t represent nature in his works, but presents it as it appears to us. In his vision, nature doesn’t consist of isolated phenomena, but everything is interconnected. This holistic, ecological perspective makes the work of herman de vries anno now more topical than ever.

With a comprehensive essay by Cees de Boer, texts by Caroline Breunesse and Josien Beltman, and an overview of herman de vries’ work. 

herman de vries’ love for and knowledge of nature are reflected in the development of his art in ever-changing ways. At first, nature is a source of inspiration, then a model for his art, and in the end nature itself is art. The subject of this essay by Cees de Boer is how herman de vries moves through these steps, and what philosophical concepts animate his art. From the start, he strives to visualise natural processes; he wants to become aware and be aware of these processes in order to be able to communicate them. In 1957, he states: ‘art is the visualising of nature’, and: ‘art is philosophical reflection in a visual form’). This becomes a guiding principle for the artist’s entire oeuvre, in which abstract and concrete artistic tendencies, philo sophical concepts, and scientific inspiration question each other. In the end, de vries arrives at well-considered, but always direct ways of presenting nature as art – not by means of a symbolic ‘as art’, but via the equation nature=art. 

rijksmuseumtwenthe.nl

hermandevries.org

pioneer between science, nature and art / pionier tussen wetenschap, natuur en kunst

Cees de Boer, Rijksmuseum Twenthe

€29.50

Tweet