Various Artists: En verder... main, 30 June - 28 July 2001

On June 30, 2001 the Annet Gelink Gallery will round up the season with the group exhibition 'EN VERDER …', featuring new works by British and Dutch artists: Mat Collishaw (UK), Alicia Framis (SP/NL), Anya Gallaccio (UK), Kiki Lamers (NL), Govinda Mens (NL), David Shrigley (UK), Georgina Starr (UK) and Barbara Visser (NL).

The British artist Mat Collishaw (1966) is known for his computer-manipulated flowers, sinister videos and installations, which leave the attentive viewer somewhat mystified. Like an illusionist he conjures up impossible worlds which nevertheless seem to be real. Collishaw's illusionism often takes place on the borderline between video and photography, whereby the two disciplines are merged, thus emphasizing the possibilities of both media. In his new work in the Annet Gelink Gallery, however, Collishaw falls back on more traditional techniques. His colourful, often erotic water colours exist on the borderline between abstraction and figuration. The subjects of these works are cartoonlike, tattooed bodies of women, animal-like scenes of couples making love and colourful, amorphous figures. Once again Collishaw gives his audience a secretive glimpse into another world.

In January 2000 the Annet Gelink Gallery first opened its doors with the inaugurating exhibition 'Domestic Loneliness', a project by the artist Alicia Framis (1967). Framis invited several other artists to show works centered around the theme of 'loneliness in the city'. With this project she wanted to make the audience think about the idea of loneliness, thus giving this contemporary phenomenon a physical space. Alicia Framis showed us the life of her parents in Barcelona, emphasizing the concept of 'living alone together'. The focal point of Framis' social art is the campaign for the revaluation of the private space, where today's much-beleaguered and besieged individual is given the opportunity to catch one's breath. Sometimes this campaign gets a definite feminist touch, like in the Minibar-project which Framis presented in Berlin and Zürich and is currently presenting in the Kronenburg shopping mall, as part of Sonsbeek 9. In her new work 'Well-Matched houses' Framis shows us a model of architecture for  weekend relationships, in this case for a homosexual couple. In her new about different
New ways of living together, for instance….., Billboard Thailand and her newest work is model of het own apartment in Berlin where she wanted to live to


One year ago the Scottish artist Anya Gallaccio (1963), who gained fame as one of the Brit Pack artists of the nineties, showed the installation 'Falling from Grace' in the Annet Gelink Gallery. In the backroom of the gallery a curtain of apples hung from the ceiling, until the apples started to rot and the work of art gradually wasted away. Over the past 10 years Gallaccio has often worked with organic materials like flowers, ice, chocolate, limestone and vegetation. In the early nineties she became famous with her carpet of flowers in the ICA in London. In her new photographic work, 'Now the leaves are falling fast', Gallaccio depicts herself as Ophelia, drowing in a pond filled with flowers.

The Dutch artist Kiki Lamers (1964) will present new paintings. Lamers has been making portraits of children since 1995. In the new portraits Lamers is gradually moving away from her usual colour scheme of cool greys and pinks.  She is starting to use more colours, the brush strokes are becoming more loose and the compositions are getting to be more horizontal, almost landscape like. Small portraits, paintings of details (an ear or an eye) or life-sized portraits of a dancing, naked child manifest themselves on the canvas. Sometimes it is almost impossible to escape from the penetrating gaze or the deeply sad or uproariously stilled laughing expressions on the faces of Lamers' children.

The work of the Dutch artist Govinda Mens (1972) often evokes a physical experience. In January 2000 Mens presented the installation 'Breathing wall' in The Bakery. Mens is often concerned with the way in which the audience experiences a specific space. She changes the meaning of  this space without really changing the space itself. Govinda Mens graduated from the Rietveld Academy in 2000 and is currently enrolled at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. Mens was included in the show 'Skylarking 2' and in the 'Liste '01' in Basel. From July 21 until August 19 she will have a solo exhibition in the Begane Grond Center for contemporary art in Utrecht.

The British artist David Shrigley (1968) will show drawings and new photographs in the Annet Gelink Gallery. In his new drawings Shrigley depicts his doubts and fears with biting irony, an idea which is reinforced by his seemingly crude style. Text plays an important part in the work of  Shrigley. By adding text seemingly normal situations often get an unreal atmosphere. Cute, almost childlike photographic images -the sign 'Hallo' at the entrance to a park, a note with the words 'for sale' in a river bed, a scull cut out of a potato- often have a darkly sarcastic undertone.

In her work the Dutch artist Barbara Visser (1966), who lives in Brussels, investigates the meaning of images which, because of the way people look at them, appear to be beyond discussion. Her reconsideration of 'icons' like John Lennon and Yoko Ono in a bed in the Hilton hotel (1993) stems from her wish to put these well-known images in a new light, to look at them from the point of view of our own present time. Her fascination with the area between real and unreal has been a recurring theme in Visser's work for the past 10 years. Her documentary approach refers to the apparent objectivity of photography, film and video. By presenting a seemingly objective reproduction Visser exposes the constant manipulation and transformation of historical material. This is also the case in her new series of photographs, 'Maison Gregoire', for which she photographed a famous building designed by  the architect Henry van de Velde, putting it in a new light.

On Thursday July 26 from 9 pm to 11 pm the exhibition will close with a screening of the film registration of the performance 'Bunny Lakes', which the British artist Georgina Starr gave on June 7, 2001 in the Artiglierie building in Venice as part of the exhibition 'Plateau of Mankind', curated by Harold Szeemann for the 49th Venice Biennial. After the film, the audience will be invited to join in a discussion with Georgina Starr (the discussion will be led by a moderator). More information will follow at a later date.