3. Juni 2012 - New Ceramics

gallery
top anton reijnders
below gallery with annemie Boissevain and
nesrin During
GALERIE DE WITTE VOET
Galerie De Witte Voet belonging
to Annemie Boissevain,
is probably the most prestigious clay
gallery in the Netherlands. On its website
it states that the gallery presents
contemporary art, and the represented
artists of the gallery have chosen clay
as their starting point. Annemie Boissevain
is not specifically interested in
clay but more generally in materials
and how they are worked, not necessarily
in their technical aspects. At the
end of 1970s and beginning 80s, when
she started her gallery in Amsterdam,
there was a booming ceramic scene
with much interesting work being
made in clay .
Her gallery is not a beautiful space,
ranged with beautiful ceramic works
on beautiful plinths and in show cases.
It has the reputation of being an avantgarde
gallery. Several years ago when
applied arts were banned from the famous
Art Amsterdam Fair, Galerie De-
Witte Voet was the only exception to
the rule. At Art Amsterdam this year,
DeWitte Voet will be showing the
works of Satoru Hoshino (JAP.)
Annemie Boissevain has been running
her gallery for the last 35 or
more years based entirely on her own
judgement. She takes works that have
a sense of adventure she says. Her artists,
both internationally well-known
artists and emerging new Dutch talents,
are selected because their works
show much material knowledge as
well as “more than just that". She
shows geometrical, architectural work
(Setsuko Nagasawa, FR-JAP; Martin
Smith, GB; Ken Eastman, GB.)
She also shows what may be called
sculptural work like the Myriad Humanoids
(Nick Renshaw, GB), small
white human figures by Anne Marie
van Spang (NL) or the Nomad Heads
by Xavier Toubes (SP). There is conceptual
work with a mix of different
materials from Ad Swinkels (NL) and
Jassu Kaneko (JAP), and also works
of installation artists including other
materials ( Elly de Goed, NL and Trees
De Mits, B). She has shown Anne Aus-
nesrin During
Annemie Boissevain has
been running her gallery
for the last 35 or more
years based entirely on her
own judgement. She takes
works that have a sense of
adventure, she says.
loos (B) and Clare Twomey (GB), who
are lured by transitory, temporary
work. Last year, Clare Twomey, set up
three long, high-standing tables in the
gallery and covered them with white
porcelain powder, an unsaleable item,
that made a deep impression on Annemie
and the public. The diversity of
the contemporary ceramic art chosen
by Annemie Boissevain is due to her
open-mindedness: not wanting to stay
put, opting for an open, responsive,
exploring approach and savouring the
new developments that clay art can
offer. What she doesn't show is traditional
functional vessel forms.
Her numerous artists from Japan
to Spain come back to show their new
works every few years at her gallery.
De Witte Voet is situated at the
heart of Amsterdam, at Kerkstraat
135, which is the gallery area of Amsterdam,
within walking distance from
Stedelijk Museum.
If you were to stand outside and
peer in, you might think you had been
mistaken perhaps, for there are no
show cases, no shelves full of ceramics;
if you look a bit longer you may
discover some pieces on the ground or
hanging on the wall. The grey cement
floor is a neutral surface. The space is
sober, and unornamented.
Nesrin During is a ceramist, and besides
her practical and educational work, she
writes for KleI (nl), Ceramic review (gB)
and neW CeraMICS (D)
galerie De Witte Voet is open Weds.-Sat.
12.00-17.00 hrs and 1st Sunday of the
month.
info@galeriedewittevoet.nl
www.galeriedewittevoet.nl
48 NEW CERAMICS May / June 2012