Darkness is a place
Hans den Hartog Jager en Arno Kramer
Edition: Paperback tweetalig (NL en ENG) Size: 23 x 33 cm
Pages: 64
Illustration: 50
NUR: 646
ISBN: 978-90-89101-53-2
Author(s): Hans den Hartog Jager en Arno Kramer
In collaboration with: Renie Spoelstra, Ferry van Zijderveld en HOTEL Amsterdam
Year: 2009
Price: € 26,50
www.reniespoelstra.com
Renie Spoelstra aims at an atmosphere of deliberate apathy in which hours and days pass by in a flash, like a moment frozen in time, in her enormous, wall covering charcoal drawings. In recent works she is more and more focused on generalizing the particular.
Spoelstra wants to minimize concrete observations on purpose in such a manner that they can serve as a substitute of a multiple of similar situations.
In 2001 Spoelstra started taking photographs of parts of Dutch forests and recreation areas without too specific characteristics. It was her idea to catch the "lack of climax", in the way nothing is happening. As a result of this photo material she started drawing. Meanwhile she uses film stills instead of photographs.
To get to a drawing Spoelstra chooses an image from the video that carries most relevant characteristics of the determinedly filmed mood. This is sketched roughly in a very large format. What starts as a rather flat, dull image of the still, changes into the penetrating and absorbing effect of the completed drawings by carefully accentuating and removing the deep black charcoal. These details from landscapes show that the work of Spoelstra is much more about humanity than about nature or landscape. They are reflections of places in which the existence of every piece of wood and field is stipulated by man. The landscape has been transformed and changed into a recreation area.