Four Dutch Artists in Traveling Exhibition Direction/Instruction

Fri, May 24 - Sat, Jun 22  2019

_M_ay 24, the traveling group exhibition Direction/Instruction opens at the Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia. The exhibition showcases an international group of artists who are focused on challenging uses of Geometry, Color, Composition, Text, Form and Ad Hoc materials. The exhibition is curated by Hyland Mather of Andenken Gallery. Direction/Instruction features artwork from 4 Dutch artists: Graphic Surgery (Gysbert Zijlstra and Erris Huigens), Jeroen Erosie, and Lennard Schuurmans.

Most of the artists featured are active in the urban realm and bent in new directions of creating form when using the street as a venue for their work. In a gallery setting, they each deliver classically beautiful work that reminds and expands on ideas explored by fine art champs like Ellsworth Kelley, and Sol Lewitt.

About the participating Dutch artists

Graphic Surgery is a pair of Dutch artists, Erris Huigens and Gysbert Zijlstra, who have taken new and bold steps to present flat but complex geometries to accent urban landscapes. The work of Graphic Surgery crosses many boundaries of genre and production method – including design, video, public murals and installations. What remains signature in their practice is a complex geometric visual language and the predominantly black and white color scheme that has become their trademark.

Graphic Surgery, Decrement X3

Graphic Surgery, Decrement X6

Graphic Surgery, Diagonal Increment S13

Jeroen Erosie‘s art originates in the practice of graffiti lettering, reflecting “a poetic journey of rounded forms and geometric lines, a language that channels the natural landscapes of his endless bike rides as much as the architectural observations of the city’s forgotten spaces and cultural symbols.”

Jeroen Erosie, Dérivedérive II

Jeroen Erosie, Dérivedérive I

Lennard Schuurmans is a Dutch multidisciplinary artist dually interested in geometric abstraction – inspired by the backgrounds of 50s animation – and vintage signage. He uses language as a tool to convey, with a simple word or several word phrase, a powerful emotive idea in each piece. His constructivist pieces with interchangeable parts also invite play into his work. Lennard uses materials found on the street or recovered from attics as base materials for his work.

Lennard Schuurmans, Bobby’s Jazz Pony

Lennard Schuurmans, This Is Not A Love Song