HERINGA / VAN KALSBEEK, ARTISTS

For more than 25 years, the artist duo Liet Heringa and Maarten van Kalsbeek have been known for their three-dimensional works of art. Nature and its typical aspects of growth and decay are an important starting point. The couple shows that static, visual art can look like a living natural phenomenon. This week in MASTERS GALLERY.Text: Larissa Schaule Jullens
Image: Tommy de Lange

Resonance

Our images often look like exotic plants with exuberant flowers. But take one step forward and you encounter skin that shines, ripples, bubbles and is anything but nature. You won't encounter the wild, sloshing over and past each other colors even in the heart of the Amazon. In our Amsterdam studio, we go beyond conventional sculpting. The sculptures are spatial paintings. In a transparent way the construction is shown: everything is open and exposed in sight. What you see is what you get. But yet also not. Because the amount of baroque detail and the accumulation of visual surprises do not allow a complete unveiling of the mystery. And so you keep looking.

Armor

The experimental handling of material and the plasticity of our expressive sculptures prompted a commission from the TextielMuseum. One of the most common uses of textile is for clothing and body decoration. Fabric and figure belong together naturally. Textiles also play a central, symbolic role in rites of passage such as birth, marriage and death. We looked closely at the colorful, decked-out actors of the Peking opera and costumes from India. Closer to home, we thought about the representation of fashion on the catwalk. The frontal view of all these expressions was striking. The Peking opera's dance costumes were designed to show the front. An aspect reinforced by the dancers' lateral movement. A similar phenomenon can be observed in baiting and courtship behavior in nature. What most captures the imagination is the male peacock showing off his beautifully colored fan to impress females and entice them to mate. Armor is an image, just like this peacock. Like an exotic flower and also the crown on the head of anyone who stands under it.

Future Past Glory

See yourself, the cloud sky and the trees fragmented and reflected in Future Past Glory. The sculpture stands in the Beatrixpark in Amsterdam and was commissioned by Stadsdeel Zuid. It is like a peacock, a dragon. You can stand under the statue and wear it like a crown. The side of the sculpture is actually very slender, at the front it creates a distinct form of depth. It is also reminiscent of Amsterdam ornamental facades held up by braces. We show what it takes for the front to shine. You look between and behind the scenes, as it were. The sculpture is an ode to urban planner Jakoba Mulder (1900-1988). We now live in a time where you can see Jakoba Mulder's building traces in the city. This is also how our sculpture is meant to be - for the future. You can picnic under it or take wedding photos.

View the Heringa/Van Kalsbeek website here.