YOU! are welcome to the brand new
exhibition by Pär Strömberg and Stief Desmet at Galerie Ron Mandos in
Amsterdam. Below is an invitation, press release and necessary
information.
Stief Desmet’s
work is concerned with the disturbed and complex relationship between
man and beats; culture and nature. His paintings, sculptures, videos and
installations often represent his attempts to bridge between a busy
urban existence and his craving for an unreachable and untouched state
of nature. For Desmet, art is a form of escapism: ‘It is a playground,
my studio functions as a space where I produce my own new vision of the
world’.
His
work is not idealistic however, as his idyllic imagery is contrasted
with a good dose of irony and humor. His use of iconography and symbols
undermine the viewer’s usual interpretation of his depicted motifs.
Desmet’s work encourages us to derive unusual associations and novel
meanings from images that are deeply ingrained in our collective memory.
A sense of escapism and a yearning for the unspoilt is also something embedded in the work of Pär Strömberg.
As Daniël Bertina comments ‘the Swedish landscapes of Strömberg,
painted with a strong contrast of light and dark paint, seem to be a
homage to the old worlds and gods. Mystic and natural forces unfold in
his work and contrast with our daily lives in which speed, technology
and consumerism dominate. As Strömberg states himself: ‘My work shows
islands of thought – mindscapes – where you can find rest.’
Stief Desmet lives and works in Gent, Belgium. He has had exhibitions at de Brakke Grond in Amsterdam and S.M.A.K. (the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art), Gent.
He has also completed several public space art projects. Pär Strömberg
lives and works in Amsterdam and Stockholm. He has had exhibitions at
the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. Both
artists have work included in prestigious collections such as the Caldic
Collection, the Nederlandsche bank Collection and the Akzo-Nobel Art
Foundation.
