Kiki Lamers
November 19, 2009 – January 24, 2010
Jordaan–van Heek Prize
Institut Néerlandais
121 rue de Lille 75007 Paris
T 0033 1 53 59 12 40
info [at] institutneerlandais.com
http://www.institutneerlandais.com
The Institut Néerlandais is pleased to announce an exhibition by Dutch artist, Kiki Lamers, as part of the Prix Jordaan–van Heek 2010.
The Jordaan–van Heek Foundation has supported and encouraged Dutch culture and art for many years. Every three years, the Prix Jordaan–van Heek is awarded by an independent judging panel to a contemporary artist living and working in the Netherlands. Since the prize was established in 1996, it has been awarded to Marien Schouten, Daan van Golden, Erik van Lieshout and Ina van Zyl. This year, the recipient of the prize is none other than Kiki Lamers, renowned for her portraits of children in a style that is both realist and mysterious at the same time. Using thick layers of paint that are delicately enriched with different pigments, the artist creates a hidden universe behind a realism inspired by photography.
Dan Cameron, the New York art critic and curator, has said of Kiki Lamers: “If any element of Kiki Lamers’ work invites us to deconstruct her painting in our search for a prurient subtext, it is colour. Although virtually all of her colours are directly taken from nature, one gets the sense from looking at Lamers’ paintings that the palette has been disassociated from its sources, so that the watery pinks, blues and greens have taken leave of their precise relationship to human flesh. As a rule, Lamers does not depict her subjects as either eternally innocent or as preternaturally mature. In fact, what is most immediately puzzling about her approach is the degree to which she insists on seeing her subjects as people first and children second.” (Kiki Lamers, Tender Age, Artimo, 2002.)
Lamers’ work can be found in major collections and on display in museums all over the world.
Founded in 1947 by Bertha Jordaan-van Heek, an art lover who lived for most of her life in Paris, the Jordaan-van Heek Foundation aims to support and encourage the visual arts in the Netherlands by awarding a Dutch painter. The winner receives a prize of 5,000 EURO and the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at the Institut Néerlandais, accompanied by a catalogue.
The judging panel for the 2010 award was composed of the following members: Janwillem Schrofer, director of the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam; Fabrice Hergott, Director of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris; Hilde Teerlinck, director of FRAC Nord Pas-de-Calais; Dominic van den Boogerd, director of De Ateliers in Amsterdam; Edwin Jacobs, director of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht.
After Paris, the exhibition will be on show from 6 March to 22 August 2010 at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, the Netherlands ( http://www.centraalmuseum.nl ), with the support of the Jordaan-van Heek Foundation and in cooperation with the Annet Gelink Gallery ( http://www.annetgelink.nl ).
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in French, English and Dutch, designed by graphic designer Gabrielle Goetz and with written contributions from Rudi Fuchs (former director of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), Marja Bosma (curator at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht) and Marieke Wiegel (head of exhibition programming at the Institut Néerlandais).
Institut Néerlandais 121 rue de Lille 75007 Paris
Info T 0033 1 53 59 12 40 ⁄ info [at] institutneerlandais.com ⁄ http://www.institutneerlandais.com
Opening 18th of November 18:00-20:00
Opening hours Tuesdays-Sundays 13:00-19:00
Coordination Marieke Wiegel, head of exhibition programming, m.wiegel [at] institutneerlandais.com
For media contacts and photography free of copyright Catherine Dufayet, Benoite Beaudenon T 0033 1 43 59 05 05 ⁄ catherine.dufayet [at] wanadoo.fr
